How do people in public sector jobs afford to live in London/SouthEast?

[KateSW1983]

Always been curious about how people in public sector jobs can afford to live in London and get on the property ladder? We live in London but earn a good wage between the two of us. Looking around us - I genuinely have no idea how teachers, nurses, policemen, staff in museums, libraries etc manage to live in London. They clearly do and London obviously needs them but how to do they manage to afford living in this city? Clearly not everyone leaves the South East, but I do often wonder why people stay and how they can afford to stay.

I’m public sector (civil servant). I live in social housing. I’m based in central London, the majority of my older colleagues bought properties years ago in outer London or the Home Counties and have long commutes.

The younger ones tend to flat share or live with their parents. The only young people I know who bought, did so with a substantial deposit from the bank of Mum and Dad.

When I worked in London as a single teacher in my 20s, I rented in a house share. Moved back to NE when married and with children as the lifestyle we could get up here was so much better on my salary and DH’s (higher than mine, but not huge) salary. Teachers I worked with who were ever so slightly older than me had all either bought houses much earlier, or lived with parents rather than renting in order to save to buy (and I can only assume also had a bit of help with deposits!)
My two younger brothers currently rent in London as a nurse and a teacher, but they too intend to move out to start a family. Of my university friends, only the lawyers and bankers still live in London, the rest of us all moved (usually back to where we grew up) in order to start a family or once we had started one.

I've worked in public sector for 15 years in London. I am a professional grade so certainly better paid than the entry-level positions but not a huge salary. I bought a small one-bed flat in a not very desirable zone 5 location 6 years ago for £169k. It's worth about £220k now. I paid for it through savings and a small inheritance. Prior to that I always lived in flat shares as sole rental was too expensive.
Most people I work with do manage to buy property at some point in their thirties. If you have 2 salaries and buy a shared ownership property it is relatively affordable. If you are single you probably do need to come into some money to help get a foot up.
Some of the older staff bought properties decades ago that are in what are now very desirable areas and they certainly wouldn't be able to afford anything like that now.

Museum worker here living in commuter belt south east. We bought in 2003 - tiny house in need of a lot of work and did it up ourselves. Moved on after 8 years to do the same again with a slightly bigger one. We were lucky and inherited money for a deposit.

I'm also very lucky to have had a stable job with good benefits for the last few years and annual payrises have built up my salary. I am aware this is not usual for my industry which tends to have a lot of short term contracts.

Live outside London and commute in. Though not currently due to lockdown.

A lot of them can't, at least if they want a decent quality of life. A friend was struggling to rent a crappy studio flat. She moved and now owns a 2 bedroom flat.

London and the SE will struggle more and more to recruit, and particularly retain, decent nurses, teachers, doctors, police, and other essential occupations if something isn't done about the out of control housing prices.

It just seems mad that our capital city essentially can't afford to give decent employment to essential workers such as teachers, nurses etc. I was considering switching to civil service but it just seems too much of a pay cut if I ever want to buy somewhere or have kids.

Well don't feel sorry for teachers, it's well paid - my dh is a teacher (vice principal) and earns £82k

As a young teacher he shared with others then when he met me we bought and moved up the property ladder - now live in a huge flat (1800 square feet) in zone 3 with a garden and terraces/garden/parking/12 foot ceilings and original Victorian fireplaces

So frankly I think we're doing great

My school in the expensive south east struggles to recruit teachers. The youngsters all leave after a year or two to cheaper areas. Its basically when they decide to settle down and move out of home or flat share life. We have older teachers who settled in the area when houses werent so expensive who stay but there is a shortage of those too because the profession struggles to retain staff too.

Its not good as it creates a churn of staff who are learning and then just as they are on top form they go. You'd want a balance of newbies, middlies and steady hands ideally.

Civil service also well paid I have a friend who's 25 and grade 7 in the civil service and earns £52k (actually she might be a 6 now)

They buy a leasehold 1 or 2 bed flat in zone 4,5,6 or get help from family or live in housing association or council housing- it’s not that hard to imagine.

Still plenty of relatively sensibly priced housing in the unfashionable suburbs of zone 5/6 eg the outer boroughs. And most towns and cities in the south east have cheaper areas, eg some parts of Portsmouth- not everywhere is priced like Tunbridge Wells!

Add in that some senior public sector workers earn very good salaries and may have bought 10+ years ago when prices were less mad, and it’s easily doable.

I'm a teacher on £41k ish. Husband works in private sector but earns roughly the same. We live comfortably in a 3 bed semi (mortaged) with 2 kids in Greater London (SE).

I'm public sector (DH isn't but I'm the higher earner). We bought a flat in Thamesmead in late 90s.

Then moved to a house in zone 4.

If you have a family you rent and get partial housing element in your UC. It's just madness.

Junior doctor and I rent. Was living in a house share in London but frankly it was utterly soul destroying so now rent a flat alone.

London weighting is barely anything compared to the added costs. I really do wonder if I will end up moving at the end of my training because I find it really disheartening that despite earning a good wage I cannot afford to buy anywhere near any of the hospitals I work at.

Working for the more wealthier Local Authorities in central London who pay more than other LAs. Also my other half earns well so that helps. Wouldn’t be able to do it on my own!

I did laugh at the poster that mentioned London Weighting it's utter peanuts compared to housing prices.

Yes it is, but an extra £10k or more a year certainly builds up over time saving for a deposit.

Used to work in civil service. My experience was that senior staff tended to have family money (inherited house / married rich spouse / made a lot of money in first career, etc). Many were mothers who were in civil service for the good hours / flexible working but married to a better paid man.

With junior staff the situation could get very sad. I knew several staff who couldn’t afford the tube to work and instead caught a series of different buses. Others couldn’t afford to do a complete shop at one supermarket and would instead price check and plan what to buy from Tesco what from lidl what from Sains etc. Many were in serious debt, none that I knew were homeowners.

Most teachers / firemen have second jobs in private sector: the firemen do plastering/electricity etc and the teachers tutor in evenings/weekends at £35-60 per hr.

I don’t know how medical staff manage.

I wouldn’t recommend a public sector career to anyone tbh.

London weighting covers your commute if you have to live in a dormitory town. That's about it.

I bought a shared ownership flat in my late 30s, 100% mortgage. Younger colleagues live in house shares, with parents or other relatives. One or two lucky enough to have council flats, some housing association flats. Generally if you're half of a couple on good salaries and your parents can help out with a deposit, it's not impossible to buy in the home counties but that's a lot of 'ifs'.

@Phineyj alas civil service London weighting is far from £10k per year.

Some of those professions pay fairly well when you are senior enough.
Some brought before the market went crazy, or inherited or flat/house share.
I suspect some of the lowest paid really struggle.

London weighting for junior doctors is just over £2k!

My friend lives in London, works for a local council, earns £55k. Lives in a nice leafy part of South London... in a house share with 3 other people which is fine but I wouldn't live in it. Has no hope of ever owning a house.

It just seems madness that professionals paid in a global city either have to leave or struggle if they want a home/family etc