How do people who are conscripted pay their bills and mortgages?

[Shedmass8]

Let's say you're on a very high salary, like a lawyer or an engineer. Your country goes to war and you are conscripted. Your bills and mortgage are in line with your wage, and an army salary will not cover these expenses. What do people do in such scenarios? As far as I can tell, there is no insurance for being conscripted and losing your income.

Interesting question!
Not from UK but from what I found about my country, IF the ultimate mobilisation happened (as in not just reservists) they would support up to average salary. Not sure if it's 100% correct.
Tbh there would be no bailiffs really and banks not forgiving non or low payments for that period if person showed they were conscripted would crash after. No one would bank with them.
Conscription/mobilisation has been actually been quite talked about with Russia being shitbag with big mouth.

Long before any conscription laws are passed, if there’s a high likelihood of war behind the scenes conversations start taking place about “skill mix”. How many people with particular qualifications do you need and where? How many people are qualified but currently doing something else? Is there any profession you need to exempt? Who can be upskilled? Etc etc… Running militaries is very complicated and need lots of skilled people but you also have to make sure that the population left behind has enough skilled people to both ensure adequate support and an economy that can still function reasonably well post war iyswim.

Yes, also lots of jobs are very well paid but do not involve any skills that would be useful in the army.

Yes, but if your country calls you up and you ignore the conscription, you may find that this is a criminal offense and you would never be able to go home for fear of imprisonment. If your country was attacked and its continued existence was threatened, you may also feel an obligation to play a part in trying to ensure its continued survival. Bit different than if you're the attacker and think it an unnecessary war. There are considerations beyond just 'you're not going to be deported to serve in another country's armed forces'.

Exactly. So what if there will be penalties for not returning in order to fight, but you have a high mortgage to pay in another country where you've been living?

I hate to break it to you, but rules are not applied equally to all, especially not in the UK.

People with lots of money / the right contacts would either not be conscripted at all, or would be immediately offered a very well-paid staff officer job somewhere very safe and comfortable.

Being called up and actually being compelled to go and fight is something that’s left to the poor and “disposable” working class.

A bit like during covid - the “disposable” nurses and shop workers had to work extra hard and take risks with their health, while those with money and influence were simply handed the opportunity to make more money (yes Baroness Mone, that’s you I’m thinking of). It would be exactly the same in a war.

Right now, Ukraine is saying they will be conscripting even more men who are living abroad. But there is quite a large Ukrainian diaspora across the world, including men who have built lives in other countries and have responsibilities and mortgages to pay. Many of these men will still be Ukrainian citizens.
If they don't return, Ukraine has said there will be penalties. So, after the war, if they did not respond to conscription, they may never be able to go home for fear of being fined or imprisoned.

I imagine that many such men will be in jobs that are not necessarily high-status, but that may a lot more than a Ukrainian military wage. E.g. A Ukrainian plumber living in Germany will earn much more than the average Ukrainian salary, perhaps even more than a Ukrainian doctor or engineer, and won't be able to cover their German mortgage on a Ukrainian military wage.

So what would that person do?

Yes, but if your country calls you up and you ignore the conscription, you may find that this is a criminal offense and you would never be able to go home for fear of imprisonment.

A good friend ended up in the UK fleeing the draft for Vietnam. They never went back after settling here.

Just not go back realistically. Very few will go back for conscription from another country.

They probably have savings to cover it for a few months whilst they adjust their lifestyle and cancel things they can’t afford

3 years ago you could have asked ' what would happen if there was a pandemic and ( mostly) everyone was forced to stay at home meaning many people couldn't work, how would they pay their mortgages '

4 years even. How time flies

Slightly different as not war but DH is from a country with compulsory conscription for all men over the age of 18. He was called up to complete conscription when he was 26 when he was the main earner and I was pregnant. His job refused to hold his position so he had to quit. We got a family stipend of approx £200 per month to help cover costs for him to come visit us in leave but the onus is put on the family to step in and support and for the DIL and any children to move in with his parents. Basic training takes about 9 months, but as was the case with DH, if you aren't fit or skilled enough, they won't keep you on for the remainder of your conscription after that.

I would imagine the usual rules wouldn’t apply and the government would have to prop up the economy, because even if the banks did repossess houses who’s going to buy them when the vast majority of the working age population are conscripted or could be conscripted shortly?

Surely they could just apply the same scheme as for jury service ?

dh (from forrin) was part of the reserved armed forces.
when he was called for service he had to take unpaid leave and receive a daily allowance (similar to jury duty). there was insurance available to cover part of the shortfall.

in case of war I guess all rules go out the window anyway...

Also, I don't know how things are in the Ukraine with housing but in DH's country mortgages aren't a thing. Housing is so much cheaper on comparison to England that you live with your parents till you can afford to buy somewhere outright so that fear if losing your home doesn't really exist.

I suspect Ukraine has a very different situation re mortgages, insurance and income protection scheme, I don’t mean now, I mean in general, even before the war. And they would also have laws covering conscription aspects. We don’t have such laws in the UK because we have a different system.

We might see what happens if one lives abroad, very soon in Ukraine. Afaik they haven't called them yet, but it's been in nees last week or so that it might happen

I'd imagine in case of war and national conscription that there would be a furlough type agreement with banks to give mortgage holidays and loan holidays etc. then the wage paid by the armed forces would cover basic wage to cover day to day living expenses

My nephew gets extra payment on top of his army salary when deployed overseas so I'd imagine there would be some sort of special pay rate if we ever had to bring back conscription. They'd likley recruit for short periods so you would only be away from your normal life for a couple of months.

That's interesting.

One of the things which really stands about the UK's 1939 register of population is that, unlike earlier censuses, all women's occupations were fully recorded. The government was keen to get a very realistic picture of the skill set.

By contrast, and I can't remember the exact details, for some 10-yr censuses the census-takers were instructed to record the head of household's source of income, and the jobs of unmarried sons and daughters, but not any job or source of income for a married woman living with her husband.

The majority of western countries who still have compulsory conscription usually require it of people (usually men) aged 17-19. Unlikely to be in highly paid jobs or have massive mortgages. Your average 40+year old is not getting pulled in for miliary service.

Someone from my husband's work went back to Ukraine to fight when the war started.
The company (family run oil related company) have been continuing to pay his wages since. They didn't have to but decided to do it.