To want to move to the UK? And if not, what part to move to?

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I am needing a little help at the moment trying to decide what to do. We are from Ireland, but really want/need a change. We don't have jobs where we can work remotely, we don't have a particularly "saught after" skillset etc but we think England may be a good choice for us, not "too" far. We absolutely love the English countryside, we find the people so friendly and helpful, we have never lived in England but have visited and always found there was so much more "on" for families etc.
We are also very unsure of where to look to move too? Somewhere relatively "safe" and "affordable" in today's standards, we absolutely love the outdoors and the sea but somewhere near the sea may be totally out of budget, we love the countryside but not sure if that would limit work opportunities?
Any information or tips would be so greatly appreciated.

Background info : married couple, in late 30's, moving towards early 40's, we will have 1 dc by the time we make the move (planning late 2026 for the move) we do not own our home, we are renting in Ireland (more by choice as we do have a deposit and mortgage approval but houses are so overpriced in Ireland and we don't feel "settled" here so buying seemed stupid unless we wanted to stay here for sure)

I work in disability suppport which is called "social care" here in Ireland, I have a Bachelor degree in social care but from what I've read I understand in England this may not be recognised quite the same, in Ireland I earn €40,000-€50,000 per year so that's roughly £33700-£42000 but from what I can see online I would only be earning £32000 per year in England in this line of work

My husband works in construction mainly driving diggers (excavators) and that line of work, he is pretty well paid at roughly €48,000 per year in Ireland. He has looked up work in England and a lot of it seems like short term work where maybe there is a job local for a couple of weeks/months and then you are out of work again (or maybe that is just how it is advertised) he would prefer a job where he could be home every evening so he wouldn't mind a change in sector, hes very hardworking and the type who can throw his hand to anything really, in terms of yearly salary its looking like about £35000 for him.

We would have about £60,000 in savings moving over which we would use to eventually put a deposit on a house.

So all in all we would have a combined salary of roughly £67,000 and we would need full time childcare for 1 young child, and to rent a 2 bed flat, probably need 2 cars, and we would like to get a yearly holiday in...

Is this do-able? Or are we totally mad? We need a change so desperately, we love so much about Ireland but it is wearing us down and sometimes a fresh start is needed. It looks like we would be taking a big hit in salary but the cost of living seems a lot cheaper in England.

Agree with many other posters about going north. The main problem with Northumberland is that (although it is stunning) the likelihood of you both finding work will probably be slim. Transport also isn’t as good as it could be.

Newcastle/Gateshead/Sunderland/Durham/Teesside have better transport links, housing and job opportunities. You need to be aware that there are pockets of high deprivation and but also high house prices (Gosforth etc). There’s loads of building going on so DH probably won’t find it hard to find work and unfortunately given the nature of our area, neither will you.

There are some beautiful little market towns bordering N Yorkshire that don’t feel the Harrogate/York pricing effect but are close enough to Teesside for work. Stunning countryside too.

I’m from the NW but I’ll never leave the NE, this place is the friendliest on earth imo. It can’t hurt but to try something new, can it?

I like England, even though it is a bit grumpy at the moment. I agree with PPs saying that the doommongers take a lot of good things in England for granted. We live in Chesham, a small, friendly town that's commutable to London (it's right on the end of the met line). Houses are pricier than in the north for sure, but 300kish would get you a 2/3 bed family home. There are lots of amenities and decentish public transport - in general Buckinghamshire/Chiltern villages are nice places for families - the schools are superb, there's lots of community stuff and I know they are absolutely desperate for people in both your lines of work. Do agree that I am living in fear of the right wing govt possibility but hopefully the more people we have here who want to help others and contribute, the less likely that becomes!

I wouldn't move here at all. If reform get in the country will be well and truly screwed.

You have transferrable skills. If you don't care what types of work you do, tell the employment agencies you'll take office work like admin etc too. I expect they'll automatically offer you cleaning roles too since part of your job probably involves cleaning up mess at times and carer roles for personal care. The employment agencies just want to basically pimp you out for their cut, so you don't need to worry about looking desperate for ANY job, desperate is good in their eyes! You can specify only support worker roles for permanent, if that's your preference and turn down interviews to other roles you're not interested in. They'll ask you before sending in an application for you anyway. But if the object is to put money in the bank then there's loads of temporary stuff you could do.

Look at roles specifically for Social Workers Assistant too for permanent, you have skills beyond a basic support worker who does all the grunt work. Social workers do overall care plans here, for clients with social services funding or those too mentally impaired and lacking in relatives to organise their own care even if they're rich (social services will organise it but not pay for it for those ones). Although the various care providers, such as the one you worked for, also would have their own care plans written up specific to that organisation for the work they're doing with the client. Mostly it would say what social services told you they wanted and you'd just be ironing out the details of who/how/when. You sound like you've been doing the organising of it more in the way of a social worker TBH. Or perhaps how these companies do it for the rich ones who can organise their own care and don't have a social worker. A social worker assistant doesn't require the same qualifications as an actual social worker.

There's also related roles in woman's charities for helping people fleeing domestic violence or victims of forced marriage, people trafficking etc.

Your qualifications may be equivalent to a BTEC HNC or HND, which are good, so take a look at the syllabus because it might help you to explain yourself to prospective employers at interview. There's bound to be a BTEC for social care, it's the vocational qualification route at colleges, sort of instead of taking a degree route at university. I don't know if we have degrees in social care here, possibly we do and people will understand anyway.

Yes this. I can imagine it might be a culture shock but people aren't horrible for the most part.

There's not necessarily a community feel depending on where you are. If you want to get to know your neighbours go knock on their door, tell them you've just moved in next door and ask them where the best Chinese take away is or if they know a decent dentist to join or something. Don't invite them in for a cuppa right away you'll seem like a weirdo and they might be a genuine weirdo for all you know! And don't be surprised if they peek out the window and then don't answer the door, not everyone is sociable even if they're not horrible. Some people are wary of strangers or have enough friends and don't want more.

Take it easy and become friends slowly with people. Don't seem too desperate, it puts people off. Some jobs people will socialise after work. Plenty of hobby groups to join where people will naturally be more open to making friends.

People can be busy, working all hours to pay for their lifestyle. Reserved, so you'll have to put yourself out there to make friends, they won't come looking for you! And abrupt at times, tired and busy and chasing your tail to get everything done will do that. Full of swearing, some of them, too. Which isn't necessarily nastiness in either case. We'll sometimes call our loved ones an old bastard, for instance, as a term of endearment. Depends on background.

I'm a Londoner. On the whole if you're nice people will be nice back but you'll have to put effort in to make friends. If you're coming from somewhere where people tend to scoop you up and put you under their wing upon first meeting, it might feel cold and rude by comparison. Rowing (the shouty kind not the boaty kind) is practically a hobby too 😉, it doesn't necessarily mean anything or that you're hated, arguing can be a way of hashing things out and coming to some sort of conclusion. It's not necessarily a precursor to murder! And doesn't have to be friendship ending. Being too nice can get you walked all over depending on the setting and who you're dealing with.

People are people wherever you go. Some are shit bags but most are basically ok and some are lovely. If you stay inside and never go out or speak to people and invite them to do things then you'll probably not make friends though.

Whoever said people don't say what they mean is right too, you have to learn to translate. Especially when people don't want to do something they'll politely brush you off with an excuse instead of saying so. If someone randomly says "alright?" They're just saying hi, they probably don't want to know how you are and aren't necessarily trying to start a conversation, but they also aren't going to shoot you for making a comment about the weather or the bus being late or whatever. If you're busy just smile and nod and be on your way. If you do want to chat put the feelers out and see if they respond.

School text books and copy books are provided in Ireland now, for all classes/years.