What's going to happen when essential workers can't afford to get to work?

[noblegiraffe]

I was just reading another thread about cutbacks people are making to deal with the price increases, and some people mentioned WFH or WFH more often to save petrol money on going into the office. Petrol and diesel seem to be going up in price daily with no end in sight.

Public transport isn't cheap either, and prices go up in line with inflation.

Not that public transport is always an option - my school has very poor public transport links.

Obviously everyone is affected by price increases, but with real terms pay cuts promised by the government for several key public sector areas, how are they going to be able to guarantee a workforce that can actually afford to get to work? A couple of teachers leaving my dept for other schools cited cost of commute as a factor.

Thinking of the keyworkers - those who were so essential to the running of the country that they had to go out to work during a pandemic when everyone else had to stay at home. What is the plan to enable them to keep going out to work during this cost of living crisis?

Either they will change their mind, or there’ll be more jobs un-filled. If it affects us we’ll move our children to private schools. I’m not going to lose any sleep about hypotheticals just because you do.

@IILoveAllRainbowsx

*We also need a change in the law so that people who don't want to go in to care homes have alternatives such as voluntary euthanasia.

I don't want to go in to a care home but at the moment I don't have any choice.

I also don't want to live when all I can do it wait for carers to come to my home to get me out of bed, wash me, dress me and sit me in front of the tv. That is not living.*

Never agreed with anything more in my life

Subsidised or free public transport for public sector key workers would be a simple and relatively affordable quick fix for a lot of people. Public transport subsidies have been implemented or recommended in a lot of countries as a response to the Russia/Ukraine oil crisis.

Incentives for car pooling will be an answer for many rural commuters.

Electric bicycles (hired or owned) will be a good solution in a lot of suburbs and small towns.

For rural home care workers though I think the answer has to be to pay more.

A lot of those areas have areas right next door where the catchment school isn't deemed to be so good and house prices are considerably less, maybe less than a couple of miles in it.
I worked throughout the pandemic and do you know what my pay increase was this year? 2.5% so basically near a 10% cut, but then I don't work for a publicly funded company which just raises taxes on every other person already struggling, in order to pay those with final/career average salary and unions (amongst other gripes not relevant to this), so we get shafted all the time, don't see anyone from the public sector giving sympathy for it.

@AllThingsServeTheBeam

Are you being serious or sarcastic?

No-one has every agreed with that in MN.

*on MN

I work in a different field in the private sector but we also contract workers who use their own vehicles and couldn't feasibly use public transport. We're also paying temporary mileage uplifts while pump prices remain above a set level.

We have a teacher in our family who is 12 years in, and still paying off his student loan. Approx £200 a month. Currently the word is a 3% payrise coming up. I'm horrified at how teachers are treated when they are responsible for the next generation of workers. He's head of year in a decent rural secondary school, but is tutoring on the side and is utterly shattered most of the time. He car shares to school when possible and can't live close to work as it's way too expensive.

I see chaos ahead, quite honestly, if people are priced out of being able to get to work.
We've created a society that is unsustainable, I think. I worry what will become of us all if i think too hard about it.

create a v easy visa scheme for people from poorer nations! Pay agency staff more to cover short falls.

RightCharlie Windsor will start lecturing them on their white privilege, even if they’re not white?

Killing the elderly to solve the issue of carers not being able to get to work is not something I thought would be a serious suggestion.

Ah well, what will happen is what always happens when people on low incomes say they are struggling.

In the DM and on MN people will be saying it's their own stupid fault they don't earn enough money, and they are the architects of their own misfortune. If they weren't such feckless layabouts and had worked hard and got proper qualifications and good jobs, then they wouldn't be in this fix. So they need to get off their lazy backsides and go and find a better-paid job.

You mark my words.

I can’t quote it, but someone early made a point about the cost of public sector pensions and needing to hope for a reduced life expectancy. That doesn’t really work. My DH worked for the public sector and died last year in his 40s. His pension now pays to me and our DC and he didn’t live long enough to pay as much into it.

Back to the general point of the thread, I work in a hospital, and I know support workers/ care assistants who are leaving because they can’t afford to commute to work with the cost of petrol and clean air zone charges on top of everything else (obviously can’t afford a newer car that would be exempt from clear air charges ). The hospital is practically in the city centre so they can’t afford to move nearer.

What will happen?
In my London primary school we are losing 3 teachers this year as they can no longer afford to live in London. Every few years we lose a member of staff who relocates out of London, but to lose 3 in one year has never happened before. It is also getting harder to get replacements.

A nice bit of levelling up then, if the deprived areas find recruitment easier?

Actually in my school, in a deprived area, we're finding teacher recruitment this summer much easier than it has been for years. I've no idea if this is the reason why mind.

We have created a society and economy which relies on cars )outside of major towns and cities). Long term we need to change this, probably becoming more localised again.

In the short term.... goodness only knows, under this government!

Although fwiw none of our teachers live in the deprived town. You really need to get over the idea that teachers are poor, maybe by seeing what real deprivation looks like .

I couldn’t afford to live in the catchment of my school-that will never happen. It cost me £110 to fill up my car last week-that is crazy as well.

What will happen? What is happening now. Service will reduce drastically.

Eg nurses are still paid the 45p per mile when going to do home visits. Now they can’t afford to them. So they won’t.
Guess who is going to suffer from it? Not the CEO of petrol companies tec….

What we are seeing is what happens when you leave capitalism run free with no limits. Those companies know very well people have no choice but to accept it. Governments aren’t compensating (eg windfall tax). And people end up exploited because they have no choice.

I agree, we should have the ch

@MultiBird they may not be poor, but they can still be 'broke' if that makes sense.
Although it doesn't compare with total deprivation, the fact remains that if people cant afford the fuel to get to work, chaos is likely to ensue, and that's what this thread is about

You really need to get over the idea that teachers are poor

It isn't about whether teachers are poor or not, is it? It's about whether they can afford to get to work as prices have gone insane.

Everyone has set costs that are hard to alter. If you have a car that is isn't very efficient, then the obvious solution would be to (if you need a car) switch to a more efficient car. But buying a new car is expensive and if you are trying to cut back, upfront costs are a barrier to the overall cheaper item. Same for living further away from school - buying a house closer would be a hugely expensive exercise.

Prices are changing very quickly and so short term fixes are needed urgently.

Yes, I know but OP said teachers can't afford to live near the sought after schools, which is not the case IME . They do almost always live close to good schools (if they have DC) and almost never live in the areas that need them most.

*choice regarding euthanasia

All workers are key workers - businesses are what keeps the economy going. Everyone cutting out their fitness classes and their weekly lunch out are benefitting their own pocket but putting another nail in the economy. Unfortunately we've been left with no choice but to cut back where we can. The resolution can only be government intervention into fuel and utilities.