The irony of a Great Ormand Street charity worker coming to my door....

[MulledWineAndMingePies]

... asking for money when I'm a full time nurse with paediatric background that just today was accepted for an RCN hardship fund because we are so painfully broke.

I can't give 30p to a charity.

We don't have debt, we don't have habits like smoking or drinking, we don't even have a massive mortgage.

We are just utterly and painfully broke.

These strikes can't come quick enough.

People on this thread seem to be saying that nurses aren't poor enough to deserve a pay rise. Whereas I believe nursing should well-paid profession.

Literally no one had said that, you're ignoring what everyone is actually saying to fit your own narrative. The point being made is that nurses pay shouldn't lead to poverty or food banks. People should be able to make ends meet on 34k - It's not a bad salary generally speaking.

I don't know how many times it has to be reiterated, but the vast majority of the population, including myself, believe nurses should be paid more.

My husband works! Where did you read that he doesn't?!

My husband works! Where did you read that he doesn't?!

In which case, I'm also another one struggling to understand your posts. You said you earned £34k but your outgoings are £36+? Does he not contribute?

From reading other threads on this, I think unless you post a list of all your whole household income and expenditure people are going to keep questioning you. Mumsnet chat always asks for details…

I'd like to know why the NHS is paying up to £2.5k to agency nurses per shift to cover the striking nurses.

The solution isn't just that the NHS needs more money. It needs a total overhaul and to stop wasting money.

I'm totally confused now.
I assumed you were a single mum with extortionate childcare fees.
If you earn 34k and your outgoings are 36k then does your dh have different outgoings?

You earn slightly above the median wage so you are obviously living beyond your means

Fancy thinking £34k was similar to minimum wage

I do think the situation with the NHS (similar to teachers) is that pay isn't good enough to attract people to the job, but its conditions that drive people to leave.
The money is ok (I am on around 34k myself, single parent, but no childcare so I realise all situations are different) but the conditions are terrible.
The NHS is on its knees. Its not just staff, the buildings are awful, the whole estate is in need of an overhaul.
The strikes to me are a symptom of a sustained lack of investment over many many years.

I would bloody hope so!

I can't believe it needs to be said that people providing life saving, skilled, emotionally and physically demanding care should be paid more than people knocking on your door asking for money!

Whilst I have sympathies, it's worth remembering when I had DD1 24 years ago we didn't get ANY free childcare, nor did we have maternity pay of the length allowed now. I had to shelve my career due to the fact I couldn't get childcare to cover the hours I'd have needed, and DH's job was such unpredictable hours often away for days on customer sites there was no way he could pick up any childcare arrangements. We picked a time to start our family much much later in life when we'd got a house, reduced our outgoings, saved a small fortune and thus had money to tide us over, and factored in the then 6% mortgage rate doubling (we still remembered past financial crisis!....) , and I found ways to top up our income largely working from home.
OK not everyone is able to do this, but I think it's difficult to bring up kids without some financial pre-planning as to how this is going to work, and to build in a contingency to cover many if not most eventualities. As it was we cut holidays, new cars, and various other things in order to afford the reduction in income necessitated, and all along we've understood the importance of future-proofing the house by adding insulation, double glazing, more efficient heating, low cost LED lighting so now we are able to reap the benefits (although oil is STILL cheaper than 2012-2014, no gas in this area).
I thought at first you were a lone parent, which is fair enough. But now you say you also have a DH living with you, which surely will help. Even so, I think your costs seem high - how much of that £36k is mortgage, and does your DH put anything into the pot?

Quite a few holes in this story. You wouldn't be some Tory shill whipping up anger towards striking nurses, would you, OP?

Surely it depends on where you live though? I can see £34K being enough to live somewhere cheaper but in major English cities, or more expensive parts of the country it's not going to get you far when you consider housing costs. I know there will be a slew of folk saying they earn half that and live a perfectly comfortable life in central London, but really the problem with a national salary scale is that it doesn't consider higher living costs in parts of the country who still need nurses, police etc.

It may be fine in the North East but not in the South East, for example.

Can you post your DH’s pay? It might make it easier to understand things.

Oh dear this has backfired spectacularly OP.
You're on 34K, your DH is on presumably on a similar amount, if not more and yet you were accepted for an RCN hardship fund because you are 'so painfully broke'. I think someone needs to live within their means, not take money from a hardship fund which is there for people in real dire straits.

And yes I do think nurses should earn more money but you're taking the piss.

I’m assuming the hardship fund have done their own assessment of the OPs situation and found her in need but of course mumsnet knows better!

The government have done an amazing job at pitching people against each other - it’s not a race to the bottom. While there are people worse off, it’s not unreasonable to think that folk who were previously doing ok are now finding themselves in difficulties and it’s not unreasonable for people to try and alleviate those difficulties using the resources available to them. People working a professional job which requires a high level of education and training shouldn’t be on the bones of their arse.

People working a professional job which requires a high level of education and training shouldn’t be on the bones of their arse

I agree but £34k plus another probably full time wage is hardly 'the bones of their arse', even if the second income is minimum wage.

Obviously you know where they live, what their housing costs are, what else needs to be covered by that salary?

In my experience occupational hardship funds don’t give out money easily so someone who does know the ins and outs of the OPs financial situation clearly thinks they need the help.

Unless your husband earns less than £2k per year I don't understand the budget rationale.
Sorry I'm sympathetic in principle but many earn a lot less.

If anyone else but a nurse came on to MN and said they were struggling on an income of £54,000 (assuming the DH works full time on minimum wage. It's probably more), they'd be ripped to shreds, told live within their means etc.

I'm not against nurses striking to get paid more and get better working conditions. But to pretend £34k a year is a crap wage is rubbish. £34k for what they do? Absolutely it is and they should be paid more. £34k a year plus another wage is not enough to live on for a family with no debt, apparently? Nah, I'm buying it, sorry.

*NOT buying it

I’ve never said it’s a crap wage, but folk shouldn’t need to post a statement of affairs for the court of mumsnet to decide if they’re worthy of support when the organisation actually giving the help have decided they are.

Didn't go into nursing for the money, Out of the 40 or so I work with I don't know any on the breadline, a couple are single mums with rotten x partners but they do 16 hours or whatever for the benefits, yes I do 13 hour shifts and all the death and dying stuff and it's a privilege. Won't strike not in most nurses DNA but we are just people like everyone else all different. I m Guaranteed a job, Good pension, sickness benefits are massive and where I live £35000 I earned last year is very good. I did work bloody hard for that, it's the health carers and the carers in the community that deserve 20per cent. Oh and ban agency they are crippling us morally and financially.

I notice the OP hasn't come back since she made a boo boo with her story.

OP you're getting a hard time here but I get it. A 34k salary is NOT what you take home every year, people forget that after you pay your tax/NI/student loan/pension/professional registration fees/childcare vouchers/annual car parking pass etc then you can actually come out with less than someone on a part-time wage or benefits would as the system tops them up with money that they don't pay contributions on! It's incredibly frustrating and souls destroying. I hear you and hope things improve for your family soon xx