To think that financially, Covid hasn't changed much for many people.

[blueblueblue101]

I keep hearing that we are in a recession that will be the longest and deepest in history. Yet when I look around, no one seems to be financially hit. Plenty of people going out for their meal out to help out. People still able to afford holidays. No one around me has been made redundant and no one I know seems to be remotely concerned about what the future holds in regards to finances Meanwhile, I am eaten up with worry that we'll lose our jobs our home etc.

We own an insolvency practice. Last week the phones were ringing of the hook. People are going under. People who were already in debt and then lost their jobs through COVID are fucked. Most people are only about three pay checks away from losing the lot. There will be more redundancies when furlough officially ends.

Going to be a tough xmas for some people

There are definitely people i know who will be nothing more than delighted to here of other very well off individuals we know being hard up and might be about to lose their very nice house.

The trouble is what they dont realise is that if the well off educated middle class takes a hamnering, their life which has a council house, maintenance from their ex, and benefits is going to rapidly decline in line with that too. Their nice council house in a nice area, might well be sold off and they might be relocated to the other side of the council authority. If they are lucky.

Theres going to be a redrawing of the socio-economic lines. If you are on the right side of that line, you'll be fine. If you are the wrong side, you are going to be well and truly fucked.

@notimagain

It is scare mongering to say a company is going to make huge huge cuts, but then no mention of the company (obviously)

OK since you want names I'll fill in the gaps of my much earlier post..BA gave 250 pilots one months notice of compulsory redundancy yesterday, the remainder have taken significant cuts in T&Cs to try and save some jobs..Jet2 laid off 100 ish earlier this week, there are more..

In other departments untold numbers of cabin crew are being eased out by various means, same going on with Ground Staff, including Engineers..by various means..That's been much more widely publicised and I'm sure a UNITE member will be along in a while with numbers, they are fairly eye watering..

Cut and paste to other airlines/other parts of the industry, think about the knock on to the support industries and you are looking at a major storm for the "travel industry".
.
We're barely seen the start of the economic effects of this epidemic.

Yep. Virgin are fucked too.

Also my dd1 works for emirates. They’ve just laid off seven thousand staff.

Any one that had one or more lates, sicknesses or warnings got the chop. No bias. Just computer filtered.

I guess at present not much had changed. My husband is with a company (British Gas) who are doing the whole fire and rehire thing which will massively affect us with a loss of about 20% of his wages AND mean he will be at home much less as they are enforcing much longer hours, less holidays and no perks/benefits. We had invested in started my own business, which then wasn't and still isn't able to launch because of the pandemic (it's entertainment/education) so it's taken a lot of our money and we haven't seen any return nor will we for some time.

It will affect us but it currently hasn't changed much for us. There is obviously hope that the company don't do this (it's not COVID related and it's actually had a good year financially, it's just a way skim back the business, probably to sell it), but it seems quite bleak for us. But I guess I'm also of the impression that so much has changed so quickly and therefore I'm trying not to stress about the future.

We haven't ate out, we still try to socially distance and be careful as my mother is vulnerable and in our bubble.

What about the thousands of people losing their jobs? The impending repossessions?

I’ve just project managed 500 redundancies many people are terrified we also reducing pay permanently Across parts of an organisation that’s had months long temporary reductions

My husband been on reduced pay due to furlough for 4 months
Thankfully we’ve managed by taking a mortgage holiday and not paying nursery fees for months
Overall we fine but know plenty of people who have been redundant

Things are going to get Worse just hope it doesn’t for you

@Someonesayroadtrip

I guess at present not much had changed. My husband is with a company (British Gas) who are doing the whole fire and rehire thing which will massively affect us with a loss of about 20% of his wages AND mean he will be at home much less as they are enforcing much longer hours, less holidays and no perks/benefits. We had invested in started my own business, which then wasn't and still isn't able to launch because of the pandemic (it's entertainment/education) so it's taken a lot of our money and we haven't seen any return nor will we for some time.

It will affect us but it currently hasn't changed much for us. There is obviously hope that the company don't do this (it's not COVID related and it's actually had a good year financially, it's just a way skim back the business, probably to sell it), but it seems quite bleak for us. But I guess I'm also of the impression that so much has changed so quickly and therefore I'm trying not to stress about the future.

We haven't ate out, we still try to socially distance and be careful as my mother is vulnerable and in our bubble.

My family member works for British gas. They have been treated awfully tbh.

All my friends are sporting glorious tans from being on furlough!

The firm I work for is now seeing normal levels of work but they’ve still not asked us furloughed to come back to work. 5 months. It’s like maternity leave without the joy of a squishy new baby.

@ballsdeep thanks, yes, it's been a bit unbelievable how they have been treated. They put them all on notice before they even told them the terms. i think it will kill the business, I don't think people will stay. Just wish my business was able to run to make up some shortfall.

My cousin has been made redundant after 30 years working in business conferences. No one no one is travelling to a conference. Worse, no one is even planning on having them. Not just the conference organisers fucked, but the travel, hotels and hospitality too.

Ds has just graduated. His internship (paid!) was cancelled. Many of his friends have have had graduate training scheme places postponed or cancelled. Yesterday one was told that her place, which had been deferred till the start of 2021, was cancelled as the company will not be returning to the London office and they are fully staffed.

I think some people are all right Jack. Secure job wfh, able to save on commuting and childcare. Others are absolutely fucked... and it came out of nowhere.

Food definitely seems to have gone up. I've bought more premium stuff during lockdown for treats so my bills were always going to go higher, but the basic groceries have got more expensive too.

Almost every industry is waiting for the other shoe to drop

It's going to be absolutely catastrophic and I've lived through 2 serious recessions

We have been only slightly affected financially (I'm self employed) but have paid off 11k of debt in last 6 months to make sure we're in a stronger financial position

That's because we are still relatively early in the cycle.

The proverbial will really hit the fan when furlough ends.

The professional service provider, who relies on a small business, who relies on a worker that's currently furloughed buying things will be slower to feel things, but it doesn't mean it isn't still coming. If the worker is unemployed and stops spending money there's a lag before the small business folds, and a lag again before the professional firm providing them with services throws up its hands. And many workers are still furloughed.

I lost my job about 4 days before lockdown. I'd worked there 12 years and the company was gone overnight. I do now have a job, 4 months on, but it's basic admin and a 25% pay cut. I am incredibly grateful for it.

I was a buyer but I had to get out of the fashion/retail sector as I couldn't take being told I was at risk every 6 months, which had been the case since Brexit.

How prices seem to be going up though which is strange. One of my friends has just purchased a gorgeous property after selling her modest house. I know nothing about her financial situation but I’m surprised people are keen on taking out massive mortgages still. There must just be winners and losers in this situation. I think the government will try and rake in some of the debt via high taxes on lower and middle earners so even those with a job will suffer.

stairway I wonder how many realise what's coming yet.

I know people involved well upstream of an industry which has been hammered because of covid, but they're still spending. In their place I would be holding back, even temporarily, to see how things look in 12 months time, they may yet wish they'd saved what they spent on a new car, etc.

We have 2 adult children. All 4 of us are on UC
Some work has come back but not everything and dp who was a City worker is doing some agency work in a field he never would have thought he would work in.

He has been quite successful in getting 3 months work in this field (Starts in a weeks time) and he is getting quite excited as he is going to end up with more money each month than his previous salary minus his travel, clothing and lunches
This new job they pay for your travel and feed you as well.

But after that he is back on UC

That has been the only good news on the job front since March.

Dc were in hospitality (large corporate events etc) No idea when that is going to start up again.
Some work has started as I said but most hasn’t and trying to get a job in a supermarket or anywhere really has been impossible.

If you don’t know anyone who has lost their jobs then you must live in a bubble.

Our bubble is full of people who worked in hospitality, the theatre and other industries that rely on hospitality, the theatre and other industries being open

Does it cost more to build houses or to house them in emergency accomodation? Who makes money from emergency accomodation? Key questions

To take the last question first, whoever owns the accommodation. The owners of a large hotel in Eastbourne entirely used for housing homeless people make a fortune.

I've no idea how much it costs for emergency accommodation these days. But building houses for social housing pays for itself in the long term, as the rental income will cover the cost over time.

I wonder if councils will still treat families as intentionally homeless if they've been evicted because of rent arrears. Once they've decided someone's intentionally homeless, they don't have a duty to house them.

I'm self-employed and worked in theatre/entertainment. On March 16th my work disappeared and I had no income until I started a minimum wage job last week, despite applying for hundreds of jobs in all sorts of sectors.

Theatres cannot afford to reopen with 30% of their audience capacity to ensure social distancing, and the promised £1.57bn for the arts/ culture has disappeared into thin air.

Millions of self employed people weren't eligible for Seiss, and can't apply for universal credit.

I glad for the OP that they don't know anyone who has been adversely affected financially, but I assure you, we're out here, and things are only going to get worse.

Retail was already in denial over the future.

Consumers were moving to Amazon etc long before 2019. Covid-19 will accelerate and introduce methods of home delivery and local manufacturing. Covid-19 is not the cause, but a catalyst in the retail sector. Let's get that right.

A lot of habits have been changed, and this is affecting businesses.The obvious example is the shift in retail to home delivery. Its screwing up business's sales models and how they are set up entirely

Statements like the above, made without context, are of no value. They need to be made in the context of general business evolution and not Covid-19. That poster was not wrong, though the bigger truth is people and habits change over time. Consumers react to change and they also drive it. Successful businesses smell the winds of change. Change happens - it is in us and is part of life because we live on this spherical rock that is always spinning (it is rocket science as they say ).

It is better to call it evolution.

Society and businesses have been changing for years and certainly the last 150 years or so since the industrial revolution. That is why today Tesla overtook Walmart in market value. Investors feel a company that looks to electric vehicles and green energy battery storage as being that which will produce greater returns in future over retail shops. Tesla and similar is where the money is. By implication more people will be involved supporting that sector which will create structural long term wealth and jobs. Show me a financial journalist that has not paid a bill since March 2020 on the back of a Tesla column. Change is also why WPP, the largest advertising agency in the world slumped in value by 50% in just 12 months only relatively recently. It did not wake up to the reality that old style advertising has been overtaken by the likes of Instagram and social influencers. So it now has to change and adapt.

Each of us are really just a bug on a spinning spherical rock with the benefit of oxygen, water, sunlight and a lifelong supply of detritus and worms, bees and stuff that provide food. These things just come to us as gifts. There is no order to it all, it just happens and we best adapt ourselves to it, as a species and as individuals. And we do well on both counts.

In the short term for our species it is a mixed picture. The Covid-19 virus is as much a part of Life on this spherical rock as has been tsunamis, evil-Hitler and key-hole surgery. It is all the mixture of 'stuff'. It is messy as Obama says. But it is not all doom and gloom. In my work I see massive new investment across many sectors and that has continued throughout this year, albeit at a slower pace not because of lack of will, but for the sheer mechanics of getting people used to Zoom or Teams. Now how many people will those companies need to take on I wonder, to adapt to OUR change.......

I have seen the following only today in my work. A manufacturing software company receiving an investment of £14m which will partly go on 35 new staff full time including training over the next 36 months. A publishing and training organisation being fully-subscribed for £5m for investment in new titles, new manuals and live professional development packages that will produce another 17 jobs. An investment in four green energy production sites of £18m that will safeguard the design, manufacturing, professional services and finance jobs for another 30 people - the icing on the cake is that 3 local authority employees have been offered jobs if they wish to go to the private sector. It is Friday night and I do not want to look at any more until Monday.

This is what I see. Facts, not hearsay.

I have said it before here under different circumstances. The greatest threat we face is not a virus. The greatest threats we face are threefold.

Firstly - we need to learn to live with less because climate change will enforce constraints upon us that make Covid-19 feel like 'chicken feed'.

Secondly - whatever we live with needs to adapt into responsible capitalism so that wealth in whatever form it is created (money, food or health) is fairly distributed and not by just by the whim of parliament as we know it.

Thirdly - and this is the biggie - we need leadership that combines BOTH of the above.

Change is also why WPP, the largest advertising agency in the world slumped in value by 50% in just 12 months only relatively recently. It did not wake up to the reality that old style advertising has been overtaken by the likes of Instagram and social influencers. So it now has to change and adapt.

This is worth mentioning. Ad revenues have been in decline for a while and companies that rely heavily on ad revenues are going to have to evolve. Mumsnet relies heavily on ad revenues, we all got that email about mumsnet premium a few months ago, which sounds like it was in the pipeline for later in this year (i would guess as a result of ad revenues falling pre COVID) but COVID had accelerated the decline in ad revenues, so mumsnet decided to bring it forward. Interestingly, a lot of the newspapers, including the Daily Mail Group have announced redundancies, they are also highly reliant on traditional ad revenues.

As a family, we haven't suffered too much however the part of the company I work in has made a relatively large number redundant, DH's old lot have also made a lot of redundancies and are in the list of the companies that the Daily Mail trot out every fortnight or so.

What a ridiculous, naive, and frankly insulting op. Try speaking to people in live events, theatre, music, retail, the aviation industry. My dh's events Co has gone bust this year thanks to covid. Please don't be so ignorant

@gingganggooleywotsit

What a ridiculous, naive, and frankly insulting op. Try speaking to people in live events, theatre, music, retail, the aviation industry. My dh's events Co has gone bust this year thanks to covid. Please don't be so ignorant

Rtft ffs

Sorry just skimmed op, I see it wasn't meant like that. Just had a shit time lately and fed up with people who think nothing has changed

I’m sorry you’re having a hard time OP

I do get what you’re saying - I do not know anyone personally that is struggling. Most of us have been better off during lockdown.
It seems so unfair. I hope things pick up for you.