ask if the rise in Covid is being fuelled by the working poor?

[Wantubackforgood]

It seems to me that there must be millions of low paid workers who are not in receipt of benefits (to trigger the £500 one off payment) and are working in jobs where only SSP is paid during self isolation/sickness.

They simply cannot afford to take the cut in income so carry on going to work .

It is part of it and it is not their fault it is the usually the wealthy owners of these companies not wanting to pay full sick pay that the salaried people often get that work for the same companies. It is not always up to the government to fill the coffers of these companies with taxpayers money by subsidising sick pay.

My parents are probably what you would class as the working poor, they work in a factory and supermarket respectively. They can't wfh and my mum has to use public transport to get to work. Aside from going to work they stay at home and stick to the rules. If they had symptoms they would isolate, my mum's employer would likely still pay her but my dad's wouldn't. Thankfully they would still get by and my siblings and I can afford to top them up if that happens and would offer in a heartbeat but not everyone is that lucky.

Poor workers might have jobs where they can't wfh and be more likely to need to use public transport but yabu to assume that they would break the rules in terms of going to work with a positive test or when they should be isolating.

What about all the rich people or reality TV stars jetting to dubai and the Maldives? Or the people who still went to parties on new years eve? Or those that are still going to visit family even when they shouldn't be?

We had to isolate for a whole month because my wifes trust are arseholes and made her test a 2nd time right before the end of my 14 days, i lost a whole months wage, £90 a week just doesnt cut it, the following month, we was unable to pay our rent and nursery fee, we have since moved out because we can no longer afford it and we are at my parents house!

As part of the working middle I work 4 jobs in a week and cannot wfh. There are people of different social classes who have multiple jobs, who cannot work from home, so are mixing households within the current rules. Adult care, childcare, is a risk sector.

I think if the govt paid a proper level of sick pay so that people can actually afford to isolate (because who can actually live on £95 a week) then that would go a long way to reducing transmission.

There are an awful lot of people who have to go to work to keep the country running, even if everyone else really did stay at home (tier 6?). Retail workers, NHS, police, transport, delivery/distribution, power/gas/water/telephony, maintenance, agriculture, food processing, packaging - the list goes on.
Some of them may well be the working poor, but the simple fact we need these people to leave their home everyday, travel to work (by public transport in many cases), deal with the public and then travel home. A virulent virus will continue to spread in that situation, at a slower rate, but it will be transmitted.

Yes.
Especially the newly self employed who didn’t qualify for the financial help.
My neighbours are in this position. The parents even still went to work when the children had been isolating awaiting test results they couldn’t afford to lose any pay, they have rent and bills and food to buy. I feel for them but yes people In this situation who can’t work from home are pushed into a corner

in the beginning of the pandemic my ds said Nobody had better be ill as I cannot manager on sickpay.
it is a real worry for many people.
now they are giving out lateral flow tests that should make some sort of difference.

and people are totally and willfully misunderstanding bubbles

I think that the rise in cases is mainly down to the fact that the new variant is far more transmissable.

It's down to people passing the buck and thinking the rules don't apply to them.... can't blame the poor for everyone's stupidity

I saw a report about bus drivers not getting proper sick pay so working with covid symptoms. There really needs to be a way to support people who do not receive proper sick pay to isolate as needed.

Its a case that people need support to be able to do what is needed I think. Builders on small work may be similar, huge sites i suspect if you stifle a sneeze you will be booted off fast!

It's down to many things. A quick look through MN any hour of any day and you find:

Never going to wear a mask (they can't make me/they don't work etc)
No longer going to follow the rules
Can't do another lockdown (newsflash, the UK hasn't actually had one yet, and if there is ever a real one, which is policed like in other countries, we will be able to do it because thanks to the fuckwits not following the advice now, we'll have no choice)

You also find, hidden in plain sight, the sheer number of people who had a normal Christmas, or who are going about their daily life as normal right now. Flick through Aibu and you find numerous stories that should never have happened in the UK at this time because people shouldn't have been doing the things they weave into their stories.

It's also down to a shit government wanting to dictate the narrative. "We are advising you" "you shouldn't" "it would probably be better if"
Where are the actual clear rules there?

The politico-bots on here who link to the scaremongering clickbait from morning to night (easy to spot, they drop in a hyperbolic thread title to get you clicking, a link to the Daily Mail - which they accept as total, unadulterated fact, and then they never post again)

I don't see how the working poor can be blamed unless procedures aren't being followed in their workplaces. And if they're working, then presumably they are allowed to.

Who blamed the poor. Jesus people love to rewrite posts to serve their own narrative on here.

Fact is that many people who can’t afford to not go to work, or whose employers either can’t or won’t enable working from home are going to be out and about more than those who can. And many of those people are on a lower wage.

And anyone who breaks the rules is a twat. Whether it’s the celeb who travels abroad or the person who visits their mother against lockdown rules.

People seem to be unable to take personal responsibility. People say things like “well Piers Morgan travelled abroad so why shouldn’t I visit my mother?” If piers Morgan jumped off a cliff would you follow? I suspect not given the feeling against piers Morgan on here, but you get the gist.

Some people do drugs, doesn’t mean that I should.

Some people commit crimes, fraud etc, doesn’t mean that I should.

Some people break the lockdown rules and for every one who does others’ lives are put at risk. Doesn’t mean that you should.

It's also down to a shit government wanting to dictate the narrative. "We are advising you" "you shouldn't" "it would probably be better if" no it’s down to people wanting to live in a nanny state because they can’t possibly think for themselves.

The daily figures alone tell us how much of a bad idea it is to go out socialising and drinking coffees and shagging the latest one on tinder, but as long as the government say “we advise you don’t...” they take it as a green light to do what the hell they like, even though the consequences are laid out before them.

And then when the government do set rules and tell people that you “can’t go into other’s houses/bars will be closed,” those same people complain that they’re being told what to do.

The main criteria for it are that you have to have been told by track and trace to isolate. You are eligible if you can prove you are on low income such as needing working tax credit, universal credit, income support etc but if you’re not on these you can still apply for the discretionary payment if you are on a low income.

I claimed it and had it approved. Had to send proof of earnings, proof of test and trace and proof of the support I receive - in my case working tax credits - and a bank statement. It came through in about ten days from my application.

I believe it’s currently set to finish on 31st Jan unless it gets extended.

Supermarkets are raking it in at the moment. How about they pay a decent rate of sick pay for starters? They can afford to.

Rates have soared in Bowdon, a wealthy suburb of Manchester near me. From what I read their children were still partying and mixing schools. Presumably the parents were still meeting up too because they're wealthy and important so the rules don't apply.

@BlairCorneliaWaldorf

Supermarkets are raking it in at the moment. How about they pay a decent rate of sick pay for starters? They can afford to.

Yes, why should tax payers pay for this which is what would happen if the government started topping it up.

Yes agree 100%. People are on their knees and have no choice.

Plus the government’s failure to lockdown pre Xmas when they knew of new variant. Their inability to do so has cost thousands of lives and put our poor healthcare workers under unacceptable and dangerous levels of stress.

@Waxonwaxoff0

That's not the fault of the working poor. It's the fault of the government. Everyone under a certain wage should be paid to isolate, not just those in receipt of UC.

I think people are missing the point here: no-one is blaming the working poor here, quite the reverse. They are saying its a scandal that there's a huge social divide between those people whose jobs allow them to protect themselves from COVID (because they are white collar) and those which don't.

This is one of the toxic social legacies of this dreadful disease for me and its something we as a society need to confront when this is over.

Yes, lack of support to isolate is a major factor. UK sick pay is very low. Many people can't access the £500 isolation payment.

Government has resisted any real change to support low income people.

Eat out to help out was bollocks btw, stupid idea.

Ive seen pictures on Facebook (pointed out to my by a friend so these people are not my friends) Of 3 care workers who work in different establishments having a get together before Christmas and at Christmas. Then they all have kids in school and pass it around. Thats a huge problem on housing estates (these girls live on one) as they often are very close nit.

Its people like them who spread it. Not those of us who meet a friend outside for a walk or a run.
They are just fucking thick.

I didn't read the OP as if it were blaming the working poor at all - it was pointing out that some people have no choice but to work.

As pp have said, without all the low-paid frontline workers, the infrastructure would collapse.

That's why they need to be paid more, or at least as much as, the people who are able to WFH. There needs to be a drastic rethink of pay structure in this country, but I doubt it will happen while the Tories are in power.

It's not blaming the working poor to say this is part of the problem.

I would say employers forcing people into work when they don't really need to be there is a big part of the problem, actually. I don't think this just affects the working poor- how many people can just afford to quit their job on the spot?

And yes, those on low pay are less likely to be able to afford to self isolate, and maybe more likely to use public transport. But anyone could be ill asymptomatically, or have only mild symptoms which they ignore.

And they are all sending their kids to school, too.