How has the COVID19 affected you financially?

[DreamChaser23]

Are you able to pay all your bills/mortgage/rent?

Do you think you will have a job come November?

My company forced 40% pay cuts on staff and then furloughed (not topping up either) - I used to earn over £30k so due to the cap my income is halved. With the mortgage holiday we are on but the banks haven't said if they are extending it???
Even then if I come off furlough my company hasn't said when it will reinstate our salaries....

Childminder was insisting on full fees even though she was closed (£800 a month) so we had to give notice. So if brought off furlough on my reduced salary can't afford childcare.....bit of a mess really!

Hearing a lot of similar stories. I know a friend who wasn't put on furlough but the company made him redundant. Unfortunately, there are so many bad situations happening during the crisis (deaths, illness, mental health issues, redundancies, pay cuts, not being able to bills etc...)

And the sad thing is stories like this will become a lot more common :(

I am self employed and WFH , my earnings have not been affected so far , but I am running out of stock and my suppliers are closed , with no sign of reopening (Scotland) - so my sales will now start to be affected badly
DH has been off sick on full pay since December after an accident
He was due to have a second operation in March , , which was cancelled due to Covid- He will shortly be going onto 50% pay , we think his work might pay him off , if he can't get back to full mobility.
Our private pensions have also taken a tanking - DH was hoping to retire in a couple of years

Dh been working all through wfh but now back out so no affect there but unfortunately I had started a new job so have lost mine as couldn't be furloughed and can't see there being a job for me when they re open as will take time for them to recover
Looking for something else but obviously not a lot about

I am furloughed on 80% as my workplace is closed and looking like will stay that way until July. DH was furloughed for first 3 weeks but has been back at work since then and they have been unexpectedly extremely busy so no worries about the security of his job thankfully.

We aren’t paying nursery fees and saving a lot on petrol/parking etc so that’s more than making up for my 20% loss. The problem will come once we have to start paying nursery fees again if I am still not back at work but we have some savings which we can dip into and we are continuing to try and save as much as poss. All in all we are in a fortune position.

Rather embarrassingly we're better off Working at home saves us £300 a month each commuting, both dc's uni rents which we pay have been reduced this term and we're not buying coffee and takeaway lunch every day although the increased food bill negates the latter.

I was moving home and my new home was too far away from my old job to commute so I handed in my notice to leave at Easter. Moved during beginning of lockdown. I have a new job starting September but was planning to do supply work until then. Due to covid and schools being closed I won't be able to do supply work! My new school were also going to offer me a support role starting after May half term to do until end of term, but due to closing the role was no longer available! If I hadn't left my old job and decided to commute until end of summer term I was be earning a salary and working from home mostly... So that stings a bit...but I wouldn't have chosen that option as it would have been a 4 hr commute a day...so no chance I would have gone for that!

We are ok financially as we made sure we saved enough before moving to get through the summer before my job starts as a worst case scenario...well it's worst case scenario and I can't work! Was thinking about doing fruit picking but decided against it as I still need to look after my kids.

But we are saving on fuel as my husband is working from home. But same time spending more on household bills..... But saving on not being able to go out....but spending more on food.... 😂

We're in a lucky position so far. DH is a secondary teacher and I had just finished ML (handed in notice in January and going back to freelance work), so used to a reduced income.
So far, I am still getting the same amount of work in as I planned at this point (ie. not much!), but I had hoped to increase it incrementally, which seems less likely now. We don't need for me to work though and DH's subject matter is one of the hardest to recruit for in terms of supply of teachers in that field, and is a core subject, so his job should be secure. Once the older two DC are settled into the new academic year, I will fit some training in around the baby if freelance work still looks unlikely to increase.
Spending around £200 per month less: petrol, DC's activities, the monthly night out!

We've actually benefited from it, perversely, as our incomes have remained the same but less outgoings (less leisure/recreational spends, less travel particularly as I'm WFH, and less nursery as DD has been going less than before). Also neither of us worried about job security. We have been so lucky, I feel for everyone struggling.

I've lost a shitload on my pension. But it will go up again over time. Dh is an essential worker so no worries there. We are very fortunate.

Went self-employed at the wrong time. Will get a few hundred quid from Chancellor which is not enough for my direct debits & standing orders which obviously don't include food or other items eg medication & am in leisure club sector so no idea when will get back to work. It's rubbish but plenty of people have it worse at the moment.

Single parent who is shielding. Was refused furlough and have had to go onto benefits. I've had a drop of 65% in our household income.

I am currently on a mortgage holiday but will not be able to pay it once the payment holiday ends.

Hoping I can either return to work in June or they sort out some sort of financial care package for shielded workers so I can afford to stay at home.

Ah yes I have lost some money on my pension too, but I hardly have anything in it yet as am young and low paid. So not worried about that.

Pension investments have reduced and house value likely as well, but we are working from home for the same pay in what currently looks like safe jobs. Some childcare costs are temporarily gone. We spent money on setting up home office and DIY.

I'm actually slightly better off wfh and receiving full pay no travel costs I have been donating the money i would have spent on travel to a local charity as it feels wrong in the current situation to be gaining and my job is pretty secure for now but obviously this could change

We're better off. My dh has a six figure salary and we've no real outgoing. So have been able to save most of it. Only food going out really right now

Much better off now that DH is working from home.

He normally works away Mon-Fri and as a contractor pays for all his own accommodation and travel. He has saved a fortune on hotels, flights, transfers and parking costs.

I wfh anyway and my income hasn’t changed.

Food costs and utilities have gone up but we have barely left the house in 8 weeks so this is off set by not eating out, entertaining, shopping etc.
We won’t be going abroad on holiday this year so that will be a huge saving too.

I will still be working come November. DH’s position is always rather precarious, but as a contractor he is used to that uncertainty. The main project he is working on has been delayed due to Covid but I expect he will still be involved with it until completion next year.

Some sobering stories here.

Does anyone know if full redundancy pay must still be met (and how) if the Company is bankrupt/insolvent?

I think its 50/50 as to whether I'll have a job in Nov. Currently furloughed on 80%.

I'm working full-time from home (office-based role in HE), DP is a truck driver so working as normal. We're very lucky that both of us are still earning our usual salaries. There's talk of future redundancies in HE though, so the money I'm not spending in pubs/restaurants or on day trips is being put away just in case.

My dh took voluntary redundancy from his role two weeks before lockdown. Time will tell whether this was good or not. His previous company may have to make further redundancies and staff won't get what he got. Luckily he's paid until august. But given current situations he has struggled to find a new job despite being highly skilled and working in a niche but buoyant sector. Only the past two weeks have opportunities opened up and he's likely to have two job offers this week or early next week. Fingers crossed.

I'm busier than ever. Part time public sector and 3 days self- employed. It's worked out that he's looked after dc while I've worked.

So at present no change but if he doesn't get a job with a soonish start date our finances will be down.

Affected me for the better as can’t spend any money, not going away so saving that and still working.

10% pay cut. We are working very hard to keep the business going and making some progress so hope to be back to normal by end of June, but there could be anything round the corner. Cautiously optimistic that our team will all still have jobs.

@ChrissieKeller61

Are things picking up? DP is furloughed but doesn’t think he has a job to go back to, so has been looking for a new role. There hasn’t been anything around until this week. He’s had a call from a recruiter about a role (I think a lot of recruiters have been furloughed too) and seen 2 roles on Indeed that he has applied for.

I think when things pick up for recruiters, it’s a sign that the economy is picking up.

@TazSyd - exactly right. Quite a lot of the rubbish recruiters will start calling him to pump him for information as to where he’s interviewed so be wary of that. Most of the big players are gearing up for a September start with 50% redundancies. I think that’s going to be industry specific... IT is relatively untouched