If you are still going out to work what do you do?

[louise5754]

I'm just nosey and wonder which industries are classed as key workers other than the NHS Police Fire Brigade and Shop Staff.

I know of 3 in my family.

Armed Forces
Social Worker
Dog Unit Support

Rest of the family are working from home but aren't key workers so can't actually go out to work.

Non-clinical manager at a Veterinary hospital. Busier than ever...

@userxx Exactly!

I work in a primary school and we have a few vulnerable children who still come to school and some key worker children who sometimes come in if their parent is on shift. We are all on a rota so not going in every day.

l work on a supermarket checkout.

Lawyers will be providing advice on acquisitions and mergers; employment law; criminal law; conveyancing (house move) etc. It all hasn’t stopped. Might not be a priority but it’s still needed.

You forgot about wills and probate! Those lawyers actually are key workers. We're massively busy.

I've been able to wfh (because I'm vulnerable and we had the appropriate tech) but some of my colleagues are still in the office. Most of the other support staff in the other depts have been furloughed.

DH is a Post Office counter clerk. Thankfully he has a bandit screen and industrial quantities of hand sanitizer.

@StCharlotte I didn't realise post offices were open either. I wondered how people would collect their pension if they don't like to have it paid into the bank.

I'm a school administrator. We're open for key workers' children. The admin team are on a rota so usually it's one day a week for me. I organise the lunches, fill in the government's spreadsheet, and then get on with my usual work. There's a great atmosphere in school and I love going in.

Yep they're still out there

Post Office staff are also key workers. We're thinking of sending our kittens into school

I have had a few disagreements with people about this because DP is still working. He isn't a key worker but he can't work from home and he works by himself so he can still work.

Railway worker

The first post is utterly wrong. Everyone is allowed by law to go to work whether a key worker or not (other than the very few who could work from home and a few industries which have shops etc which were forced to close). It is because people are carrying on working in non essential work that nurses have their pay and teachers do and we can feed the poor.

Xenia - is there a difference between wrong and utterly wrong? Did you have to try and make the OP feel worse?

I'm still working as a Cleaner

Pensioners will no longer be able to go to their local post office from the end of next year For their pensions as The Dwp contract will have finished by then.
Such a shame.

I'm an accountant. Been rushed off my feet for the past few weeks from small business clients needing advice re support etc to survive the crisis.

We do payroll for a few dozen small firms. They've all needed the payroll runs doing for the past few weeks/months, so their staff can be paid. This week, we've done nothing but furlough claims on HMRC's portal that opened on Monday.

In between all that, we've been helping clients claim the small business support business rate grants from local authorities. Also helping clients make universal credit claims (they need monthly profit figures so lots of book-keeping to do). Some have been applying for loans under the Covid loan scheme which need forecasts and projections preparing. Others need to know how much they'll be eligible for when the sole trader support starts in June.

It's all a matter of helping small business clients survive this crisis. We need to keep those able to open functioning and help stop them going bankrupt, and the country needs those who've been forced to close, to be ready to hit the ground running when they can re-open.

It was confusing, after the government announcement about lockdown a few colleagues didn't turn up for work as they thought they couldn't as they weren't key workers, I work in a laboratory so cannot wfh, we are still operating with local distancing measures

Dp works in an oil refinery, they have just a tiny amount of people on site just to keep it ticking over but you can't just shut down the whole refinery as that's dangerous!

I work for a homeless charity, doing the admin and receiving deliveries while the project workers are remote working.

I work in social housing doing a multitude of property a H&S related things, 3/4 weeks ago we were told to make housing available for the homeless. A straight forward task getting the refurbs done IF you can get hold of materials... the amount industries are linked together isn't full appreciated!

@bez91 I work in the industry that supplies you. It’s been a nightmare. Competitors closed, customers (builders merchants) closed and those that open got a huge backlash in the media. Calmed down now and many reopening.

@StCharlotte I was trying to list all the types of solicitor work and new I’d forgotten one (probate/wills) and that’s the one I should have remembered given I had a zoom meeting last week about our will which we’ve updated! (non covid related but because our old one is now void because we’re married!)

Our Solictor said he was as busy as ever. And the Employment Law service we use at work is crazy busy due to furlough rules, redundancies etc.

It was confusing, after the government announcement about lockdown a few colleagues didn't turn up for work as they thought they couldn't as they weren't key workers

I dont understand why though. We were told that if you can't work from home then go to work, at no point did it say key workers only. I think the media have helped in the confusion. I stick to the official government website.

I dont understand why though. We were told that if you can't work from home then go to work, at no point did it say key workers only. I think the media have helped in the confusion. I stick to the official government website.

The "key workers" term came about only in relation to schools, i.e. children of "key workers" could carry on going to school. Unfortunately, as is often the case, the media misunderstood and started applying the "key worker" phrase out of context which caused a lot of confusion and caused a number of businesses to close when they didn't actually need to. Personally, I think the media have done a lot of damage during this pandemic either due to sheer incompetence and misunderstandings or to further their own biases.

School office here. 8 children in. It is very quiet.

I'm cleaning for a few clients and also delivering parcels for a well known parcel company, were very busy!

DH is a gardener and hasn't stopped working apart from a week's self isolation at the end of March. I'm an accountant in the NHS and have been WFH for 5 weeks now. I agree, it was the media that got it wrong and still do sometimes. BJ's message on 23/3 was perfectly clear, but media immediately reported it as noone but 'essential workers' could go to work.