To ask, if you work in the Civil Service/ BBC etc in London and the SE and are asked to move North will you?

[Flumpaphone]

Ok, I know this might be a bit niche.

Following on from the recent announcements of Treasury and Department of International Trade jobs moving to Darlington and BBC jobs going to Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow, I was wondering if people currently in those jobs (or anyone else who might be asked to move out of London) will/would move?

If you would move - why?
If you wouldn't move - why?

My reason for asking is that I'm in the North and I'm trying to work out if all these announcements are genuinely a good thing for the economy or if the only real beneficiaries will be LNER and the regional Premier Inns for a couple of nights a week.

DP is in one of these jobs and we’re off like a shot! Only in London because of work, we’d far rather be north. DP’s sister moved to one of those cities for work years ago and has a much nicer life (and house) than our grotty London terrace.

I do think there’s going to be a negative impact because of London dickheads like us bringing London house equity with us and potentially pricing people out locally, BUT actually our shit London house is equivalent in price to cities we’re looking at north, you just get more/nicer house for it but still expensive, so it may not have that negative impact.

We’re able to go as we’ve not been in London long and children are v young, so few ties, can move them before starting school, and family all over england so no local support network anyway to leave behind.

Children's BBC & some other departments moved a few years ago from London to Salford

The original BBC garden was also relocated from London to Salford

The original London TV centre has been converted into flats, as seen on a recent Top Gear program

I wouldn’t - my OH’s job is here; my son’s school is here; family and most of my friends. Also, I’m used to working remotely (even before lockdown). I can see it might be quite an attractive proposition for younger people though (if it’s easier to get on the housing ladder that way, for example).

Similar occurred in another industry
Choice was redundancy or work in a location 100s of miles away
Some too redundancy
Some relocated
Some commute & stay locally whilst working, then travel home
This occurred pre covid & was related to cost cutting

My family relocated & it has worked out well

We think it’s going to be quite detrimental if they insist on a quota for our department, where the majority of us are solicitors, economists, accountants and other specialists. Particularly at trainee level to lower SCS grades, there just isn’t the same talent pool outside of London, the most talented and ambitious young people aren’t living in and don’t want to relocate to Darlington!

I won’t be moving, my friends, family and life are in London. I live here because I love it, not just for work opportunities.

Sorry Comtesse, detrimental for whom?

@ComtesseDeSpair How very rude!!!!!!! There are accountants, solicitors etc in Darlington you know!!!!!

@ComtesseDeSpair you really think there is no talent in those specialisms outside of London?

Actually Comtesse you can keep your bitchy snobby attitude down there in London. Anyone else from London you are more than welcome to come up to Darlington if you so wish (perfectly understand why you have lives outside of work in London that you don't want to leave though). We'd love to have you.

I dunno. Probably not. The attractive thing about my role is the ability to hop between jobs and departments, rather than stick to one told for life so whichever hub you moved to you'd be limiting the pool or committing to moving again. Those of us who have been around the block before are a bit skeptical because this always seems to be trialled and in the next cost cutting phase the regional offices are the first to close. But then things might be different with genuinely better tech and Comms, but then I see that as facilitating more home working and would be more interested in that. But then I'm settled in London, I have a house and kids in school. I'm sure others would be more tempted

Companies relocating within UK is not so bad

However, I am not so amenable with companies who off shore their work to cheaper non EU countries & make their UK staff redundant !

My guess is that very little will actually change. The jobs will be nominally relocated to the north, but the reality will be that the workers will stay in London and work remotely.

solicitors, economists, accountants and other specialists. Particularly at trainee level to lower SCS grades, there just isn’t the same talent pool outside of London, the most talented and ambitious young people aren’t living in and don’t want to relocate to Darlington!
Gosh could some kind soul please explain these jobs to me... am just a poor uneducated, talentless, unambitious pleb in the frozen North.
Oh please 'Costesse' honour us unworthy with your illustrious presence.
-please don't actually you sound pompously dreadful!

It’s just a necessary rebalancing. Talented ambitious people may well want to live in Darlington but have not had the chance before because all of the opportunities are in London. Some people may love London but for many it’s overpriced, overcrowded and overrated. Moving more opportunities to the regions is a really positive move that is long overdue. It’s hard to move people already based in London - the better way is to restrict recruitment to regional offices. It’s a massive cultural shift for the Civil Service but not before time.

I’m torn.

I’d struggle to relocate now - my DH’s job is in London, our kids are at school here, we’ve built a life and a community here.

But I relocated from “the north” to London many years ago, specifically for the job opportunities so in some ways I do welcome the greater availability of jobs outside the capital.

Actually there are a few departments who have already made progress with this and are a few years down the line with much bigger settled regional headcounts.

@ComtesseDeSpair
My OH was born in Teeside. He has two Oxford degrees and more letters after his name than in it. What bollocks you're spouting.

I am in North Wese and believe it will bring additional jobs into our area. A sizeable relocation of jobs in happening in my organisation at the moment and I know most people will not move North due to family commitments and less certainty about availability of roles with other companies when they want to move.

Also although our workplace will become more flexible in future, there are mumurings that we will be expected in the office at least part time so need to be commutable from our base. So that doesn't help colleagues that want to stay in the SE and work remotely.

It's about bloody time some well paid, secure jobs are moved out of the South East. Neither of my adult children could stay close to home with their families because of the lack of graduate jobs in this area.

I m hoping that one positive to come out of covid is the realisation that wfh is a viable, even cost effective option, and we will not see the brain drain of young people from here.

Both of mine would love to move back closer to home and raise their own children here.

The reality of this for many of the people affected is that the younger (under 30/35) can much more easily go, but older 49/50/60s find it much much harder - children in secondary school, partners with established careers in London, aging parents etc. So the result is mostly redundancy. Which for most people over 50 is absolutely SHIT.

I know many people affected by this in media (not just the BBC) and I genuinely think agism has a big part - so many people get made redundant in media when they get to a certain age and salary, to make room for younger cheaper (and less experienced) workforce. It is so hard to find a job at 50+ in this industry.

No way would I relocate. I was born in London, my parents are here, my PIL are here, I’ve got a house, my DC are settled at school.

I’m pleased if it spreads opportunities around more fairly - but personally, I will not move.

Comtesse, that is the whole point of the exercise! People qualified to do the jobs you mention tended to move to London, because that's where all the jobs were, the jobs didn't materialise in London because that's where all the intelligent go ahead people live. Moving some of the jobs North is an effort to redistribute the wealth across the country.

I love that decentralisation and wfh will enable me to relocate back to my home.

MN bangs on a lot about being near your support network - well, my support network is 150 miles from my job. I'd love to relocate to the North.

(currently live in the Midlands - standard response if I tell them where I'm from is "why have you come here, it's shit" - one thing I'll miss is that there's no sense of superiority here!)

We've been told it's optional. Personally I won't move, DH's job, kids settled in schools, decent house and I love where I live. But I know lots of people I work with are considering it. Mainly either people who have ties to the north or are keen to get on the housing ladder, late 20s, early 30s. I think it will stimulate the local economy, they're pledging to create more jobs.

@Flumpaphone

Sorry Comtesse, detrimental for whom?

It will most certainly have a detrimental impact on the North if Comtesse moves up here.