To be worried about the Nat Insurance Increase?

[Folicky]

I work in the NHS, recently had a pay increase (not in line with inflation) and now this will come and take it away and more. I needed that increase, it gave me a bit more room rather than having money pressures. Feel very harsh despite me knowing what it is for (Covid) but then all those PPE contracts to mates. Feeling a bit shafted

YANBU and Boris and Rishi Rich trying to spin it as progressive is another insult to our intelligence.
It is yet another Tory way to take money form the poorest and give to their rich mates.

Yep. It is very concerning all these hikes. I have kittens in the pound shop these days! Watching every penny.

Thanks for the work you do. Yes I think we are all worried by the Nat Ins hike, it will effect a lot of people, as April everything goes up council tax, prescription charge, escalating utilities.

They are also freezing the student loan threshold which means, public sector workers who have degrees will be paying more monthly for their student loans.

I will be doubly hit by NI and student loans increase. No pay rise for me.

Completely with you. I just got a slight pay rise also and that has basically covered the increase in my gas/electric. Come April we will have to either have the heating on less or find another area to cut. It’s scary how fast things are rising.

I think this will be small compared to energy prices going up. That’s what worries me.
And petrol went sky high when you couldn’t get any, yet the prices haven’t gone down after.
It just seems like everything is creeping up under the radar.

I know it's crap isn't it, I'm thinking screw it might just go agency for a few years until things even out. Even without the extras such as pension contributions and leave etc the ridiculous amount of money for doing the same work a shift will help get through the next few years.

Is there a better way of coping with this than just making cutbacks?

@safetyfreak

They are also freezing the student loan threshold which means, public sector workers who have degrees will be paying more monthly for their student loans.

I will be doubly hit by NI and student loans increase. No pay rise for me.

All workers earning over the threshold, not just public sector.

I really feel for you. I've been in your situation not that long ago and it was a worrying time. Our lifeline now is that we don't pay childcare which gives us massive comfort financially.
This year is even worse than most years.
We always get a paltry payrise if one at all and it works out that I literally get my payrise and the next day get the years council tax bill through and it is always more each month than the net payrise works out at.
This year its even worse. There will bethe usual rises plus the likely massive rise in energy prices and now the NI rises too
I read on here about the payrises people get year on year and am amazed. It just doesn't happen in my job or my husbands for that matter
We either don't get an annual rise or we get like 1%. And no bonuses or anything like that

@coodawoodashooda

Is there a better way of coping with this than just making cutbacks?

Rishi could try to recover a few billion of the covid support/loans that was given out without proper checks because he screwed it up and didn't put proper checks in place.

@Lampshading

I know it's crap isn't it, I'm thinking screw it might just go agency for a few years until things even out. Even without the extras such as pension contributions and leave etc the ridiculous amount of money for doing the same work a shift will help get through the next few years.

Please don't give up your pension!

I won't be getting a payrise this year and didn't get one last year (small company). I live in a council house so the increases im looking at are rent, council tax, NI, fuel and gas and electric. Was only just managing before not sure where the extra is going to come from.

Petrol has gone down two pence in my area but this has not helped food prices. It used to help.

Me too. I had a very small ‘inflationary’ pay rise but it won’t even cover NI increase let alone massive fuel hike.

Do not give up your NHS pension or your NHS sick pay. You don’t realise how valuable it is until you need it.

@Lampshading that’s what I’m thinking too.

I think it's absolutely brutal, especially as the very poorest workers will be affected, because the NI threshold is so low (£190 pw). For years, the NI threshold was in line with the personal allowance for tax, so if you didn't earn enough to pay tax, you didn't pay NI either. That needs to be reinstated imo.

I find it obscene that the poorest workers are being hit with this so that the capital values of people's homes are protected. The £89k cap on the amount of capital that homeowners moving into residential care will have to pay is absurdly low for those who live in parts of the country where housing is expensive. It should be calculated as a percentage, not a flat rate. Why should the heirs of someone in Hartlepool lose most of their inheritance when someone like me, in the SE, will have to stump up less than 20%?

Typical Tories, protecting the asset-rich and their heirs at the expense of the poorest.

@GeneLovesJezebel

Do not give up your NHS pension or your NHS sick pay. You don’t realise how valuable it is until you need it.

Unless there's a miracle I'm sure there will be jobs in a few years if I want to return, bearing in mind there's such a shortage. Agency I'd be able to put away a substantial amount a month in case. With everything else going on as well I've just had enough but I trained hard for my career and enjoy the actual job so I don't want to leave altogether.

I'm worried about it too. No parishes for DH or I and we will be absolutely hammered. Council tax can rise by any figure, energy and NI all coming at the same time. I really think the NI should be postponed until things have settled and we all get back on an even keel.

Pay rises, not parishes. Bloody phone

@LakieLady

I think it's absolutely brutal, especially as the very poorest workers will be affected, because the NI threshold is so low (£190 pw). For years, the NI threshold was in line with the personal allowance for tax, so if you didn't earn enough to pay tax, you didn't pay NI either. That needs to be reinstated imo.

I find it obscene that the poorest workers are being hit with this so that the capital values of people's homes are protected. The £89k cap on the amount of capital that homeowners moving into residential care will have to pay is absurdly low for those who live in parts of the country where housing is expensive. It should be calculated as a percentage, not a flat rate. Why should the heirs of someone in Hartlepool lose most of their inheritance when someone like me, in the SE, will have to stump up less than 20%?

Typical Tories, protecting the asset-rich and their heirs at the expense of the poorest.

This.

Not forgetting that the employer contribution is going up, at a time where a lot of business have lost money during the pandemic. Businesses will put up prices to cover this increase.

Where is the £350m a week?

My NHS pay rise has just been swallowed up too. Yet wealthy PIL inc MIL who has never worked a day over 30 are applying for Attendance Allowance which like their heating allowance they're gloating, isn't even means tested. To add to the pile they don't spend.

@cptartapp

My NHS pay rise has just been swallowed up too. Yet wealthy PIL inc MIL who has never worked a day over 30 are applying for Attendance Allowance which like their heating allowance they're gloating, isn't even means tested. To add to the pile they don't spend.

Attendance Allowance is only payable to someone who qualifies through having a disability.