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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

155 replies

MulledWineAndMingePies · 14/12/2022 16:06

... 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.

OP posts:
Lincolnremain · 15/12/2022 16:09

But she has much more than 34k as she has a husband who also works. She also applied for a hardship fund saying her outgoings were 2k more than her income of 34k at 36k.

YorkshireLass81 · 15/12/2022 16:17

So this is what a take home calculator shows for someone earning 34k a year paying tax, ni, student loan 1 deductions, 9% pension (this is what a nurse pays in the nhs on that wage) and £500 month towards childcare vouchers. She comes out with a take home wage of less then 20k per year! If her husband comes out with a take home pay of only £14k per year this makes £34k per year and their outgoings are 36k. There are lots of youngish families who are the squeezed middle who are so busy trying to pay for their past (student loan) and future (pension) that there is very little left over for the present. Lots of people are just struggling right now.

The irony of a Great Ormand Street charity worker coming to my door....
Blinkingheckythump · 15/12/2022 16:40

MulledWineAndMingePies · 15/12/2022 08:30

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

Show quote history

Erm because you've said your income in 34k and outgoings 36, so where is your husbands income included?!

GrutenFlea · 15/12/2022 17:23

@YorkshireLass81

Why are you deducting childcare from the gross amount?

Hankunamatata · 15/12/2022 17:39

From pay perspective no I don't thin nursers pay is too bad compared to other nhs graduate roles
Band 5
<2 years' experience
£27,055
2-4 years
£29,180
4+ years
£32,934
However work conditions are appalling. Under staffing to dangerous levels, no breaks, working too many hours, extremely poor senior management etc this isn't going to change by throwing more money at wages. There needs to be a radical change in working conditions.

YorkshireLass81 · 15/12/2022 17:39

I don't know the poster but i think she mentioned childcare fees and to buy childcare wages through your wage is the most tax efficient way I believe. I just chose £500 as an indicitive amount but I know in reality childcare can be double this. It was just a representative example of how contributions can really hit what looks like a decent wage.

GrutenFlea · 15/12/2022 17:44

@YorkshireLass81

But shouldn't you take that out of take home pay? Childcare is one of life's expenses, like utilities and food. Her actual take home pay is £34k minus taxes (and pension if she chooses). From that she needs to pay for life.

Toddlerteaplease · 15/12/2022 17:51

Notaflippinclue · 15/12/2022 12:07

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 agree with this. For most of my colleagues it's their nursery fees that are crippling them. Also agreed that it's the support staff that are treated like crap. I do do agency, but mainly to brush up on skills i haven't practiced in years.

Toddlerteaplease · 15/12/2022 17:52

My colleagues have been pulled back in anyway, as the people covering are only on short shifts.

Original poster
MulledWineAndMingePies · 15/12/2022 18:49

Jellycatspyjamas · 15/12/2022 09:36

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.

Brighton to be exact.

Im not putting my outgoings down.

But my husband does contribute. We don't have a massive mortgage (£500 a month) we have no debts aside from student loan, and we have no expensive habits.

We buy our kids clothes from eBay, as well as their Christmas presents.

But it's effing expensive here.
Childcare is extortionate, as is fuel (£260 a month) as is council tax and the fact that I have to pay every 3 months to even be on the nursing register.

I worked my absolute tits off to get where I am in a short space of time.
I always thought that earning 34k a year would be the answer to our prayers.

But we are more broke than we ever have been in our lives.

OP posts:
Original poster
MulledWineAndMingePies · 15/12/2022 18:50

And honestly, I totally understand those who are saying "wtf you have 34k and you're broke? Bullshit!"

Because I never would have believed it either.

OP posts:
Original poster
MulledWineAndMingePies · 15/12/2022 18:53

Jellycatspyjamas · 15/12/2022 11:24

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.

Yes they did, they wanted 2 months worth of all our accounts.

they wanted our income and outgoings and they needed proof that the latter was more than the former.

I did prove it. And they believed it. They said they totally understood, it absolutely sucks and they have more relying on the hardship
funds then ever.

My colleague referred me to a professionals food bank two weeks ago and I referred her.
We are all fucked.

OP posts:
Original poster
MulledWineAndMingePies · 15/12/2022 18:54

Also not to mention I pay nearly 10% of my pay into a pension.

OP posts:
Zib · 15/12/2022 18:57

I had been feeling grumpy about the nurses strike. This thread has changed my mind, thank you.

Original poster
MulledWineAndMingePies · 15/12/2022 20:26

Zib · 15/12/2022 18:57

I had been feeling grumpy about the nurses strike. This thread has changed my mind, thank you.

Thank you.

OP posts:
Lincolnremain · 15/12/2022 20:49

I'm not sure why you won't disclose your husbands earnings?

I also live in Brighton, I earn £25k as does my partner. Similar mortgage, we are not struggling in the same way you are. Does he earn less than £15k?

Lincolnremain · 15/12/2022 20:50

I understand the problem with conditions but not the pay.

oviraptor21 · 15/12/2022 20:54

Why do you pay 10% into a pension?

Original poster
MulledWineAndMingePies · 15/12/2022 21:03

oviraptor21 · 15/12/2022 20:54

Why do you pay 10% into a pension?

Bloody good question.

OP posts:
grayhairdontcare · 15/12/2022 21:07

So what is your joint income?
I honestly can't believe that with the outgoings you have mentioned that you can't manage!

FunctionalSkills · 15/12/2022 21:32

Hmmm. I'm not against a strike for conditions etc. (I thinknthe same 4 teachers tbh)

But 34k is above median so literally above average/half the country.

Our whole family lives on that.

With your partners salary AS WELL and a 500 pound mortgage something is going wrong. You're living above your means

Start a new thread with both your incomes and your outgoings and ask for help reducing them. Mn can eb really supportive if you ask in that way rather than "help I can't live on more than most people."

YetiTeri · 15/12/2022 21:37

Having seen that you live in Brighton I can totally understand why you are struggling.

Original poster
MulledWineAndMingePies · 16/12/2022 07:27

FunctionalSkills · 15/12/2022 21:32

Hmmm. I'm not against a strike for conditions etc. (I thinknthe same 4 teachers tbh)

But 34k is above median so literally above average/half the country.

Our whole family lives on that.

With your partners salary AS WELL and a 500 pound mortgage something is going wrong. You're living above your means

Start a new thread with both your incomes and your outgoings and ask for help reducing them. Mn can eb really supportive if you ask in that way rather than "help I can't live on more than most people."

I've read that the average full time worker earns 33k.

so once I've taken off my near 10% pension I earn well below the average?

How depressing is that?

Your post was very patronising. I do not live above my means, as I have shown repeatedly in this thread.

OP posts:
user53852098 · 16/12/2022 07:29

Don't most people pay 5-10% into a pension unless they are really low paid

FunctionalSkills · 16/12/2022 07:32

Sorry it wasn't meant to be patronising, but genuinely if you start another thread with income/outgoings then there are lots of people on mn who can help. Or alternatively money saving expert.

Mist people have to pay pension and as you've mentioned a second family salary there does sound like there is something you can do to reduce outgoings and there are people which can help with that.