MNHQ here: are you a JAM ("Just About Managing")?

[FinnMumsnet]

Hello,

With the Chancellor's Autumn Statement coming up next Wednesday (23 November), rumours swirl that it will include measures targeted at a group the government has been calling "JAMs", or those "just about managing." There's some suggestion that this will include action on things like childcare subsidies, the cost of holiday flights and fuel duty. (For more, here's the Mirror, the Telegraph and the FT.)

We know from previous conversations that many MNers are having to work hard to make ends meet, and we'd love to hear your thoughts on whether you think you fall into this category, what action you'd like the government to take, and whether any of the proposed measures (though we don't have any more details we're afraid!) would make a difference to your lives.

Thanks,
MNHQ

Fluffy - some truths are too true to be spoken. I agree entirely with you - I've had close family begging to die. Beat that, people who whimper suicide by choice is 'distressing'.

Flights???!! WTF?!!

I'd like to see:

• lower childcare costs for working parents (not more "education/free hours" for pre-schoolers & where 1/both parents do not work)

• better legislation on flexible working, making it compulsory for employers to implement this.

• all benefits means-tested, including state pensions.

Agree with PP with clamping down on tax evasion/avoidance.

Highly unlikely the conservatives will ever legislate about private renting, although I agree this is necessary.

I'm hoping my JAM situation will be temporary & things will be better when DC starts school, as childcare costs will reduce significantly.

sauvignon - so you think that its fine for me not to get a state pension, when I've spent the last 35 years paying into the scheme for one? When I've based my financial planning on getting one? Because that was the agreement i had with successive governments?

Job security.

Tighten employment law so that companies cannot run entirely on an endless supply of cheap labour.

In many sectors, ( eg care, construction, removals, handywork, retail, warehousing) - undercutting is a problem - to the extent that there is fierce competition for every hour of work and never enough.

Improve working conditions and enforce them.

Raise the tax threshold - significantly - so that work pays

dreaming of sun I too have paid NI contributions for over 30 years. All the economic projections state that it's unsustainable for the state pension to continue in it's current form, and that it will not exist in about 20 years. No political party will ever address this, as they want the Silver Vote just now.

I think it's incredibly unfair that pensions are being paid out to those who have adequate private pensions & are well off. Same with child benefit for a couple where both earn 49K (total income 99k) - that's not right.

I'm shitting myself about old age.

sauvignon - many people will have worked very hard for that pension provision (both state and private) for many years. You think its OK for that to be removed, yet given to those who haven't been so prudent? People like my SIL who has never worked because she just didn't fancy it?

I would like see a ban on unpaid internships unless the company is a registered charity. This is crushing social mobility as only someone with rich parents could realistically entertain the idea of working 6 months for free. Internships should, at the very least, pay the NMW.

Someone already mentioned Brexit. The idea is that we will lose all employment rights on leaving EU yet most of the thread talks about how we have lost those anyway and we are all on temporary contracts or freelance, (including me - and it is shit)

Companies have :
a) got around the employment rights by creating temporary /zero hours/freelance labour contracts

and

b) been able to do that because there is a supply of cheap eu labour that can work for far less than the local workforce

Brexit might just stem that and mean employers have to pay to keep good staff. We shall see

There to be a massive expansion in evening classes and online learning. Lots of JAMs are stuck in crap jobs but with the right training could gain promotion or move to a better paid sector. Ar the moment a lot of people feel trapped and without hope but gaining new qualifications whilst holding down a job could restore hope to many.

Childcare costs are our biggest issue. 2 under 3s costs us £96 a day. We both work and on decent salaries in professional roles so shouldn't be struggling. I'm only hanging on to my job as I hope it'll pay off when they are in school. We can't afford any type of holidays, new clothes etc.

We are just skimming the top of the JAM income bracket - net income of £36K a year - but it certainly doesn't feel like it, although that sounds like a lot. We are crippled by debt from luxuries like taking maternity leave and going to university so about 30% of our monthly income goes on our IVA and student loans.

Extending the universal FSM to all primary kids would make a HUGE difference, as would cheaper petrol. Our water, electricity and oil costs are absurd too. DH is desperate to get out of his crap PT job in a supermarket but we can't afford the training. We're entitled to nothing because, on paper, we look like we should be comfortably off but we aren't.

Lots of our friends are way worse off than we are; we have several who are self-employed builders and barely make the mortgage or rent each month. God forbid they get ill and lose a day's wages. Others are running up huge personal credit card debts to support their small businesses and pay for essentials. It feels a bit grim tbh.

Lots of JAMs are stuck in crap jobs but with the right training could gain promotion or move to a better paid sector.

The crap jobs would still need to be done. The working conditions could be better, but cleaners, factory workers, labourers, carers and waiters are still needed. And Brexit, as PP said, will mean there are fewer migrant workers to take them. Factory workers might be fewer in number in 10-15 years time due to automation, but carers will be in more demand than ever. Better working conditions (especially for carers) and improved housing availability and conditions are relatively realistic ways to make this work. After the rulings about Uber and Hermes, it seems things are ripe to do something for carers, pay them for travel time for starters and stop agencies creaming so much from them. If the conditions are liveable, more people will work in that sector.

Evening classes are a nice idea and could be a means of fulfilment for bright people doing non-professional work (if they have the time and energy after being given better conditions), but seem like the sort of thing the Attlee government might have done; far down the list now. We need to concentrate on the essentials.

I think other things need to be done instead of increasing the minimum wage; I suspect it will be frozen for a while because it is such a squeeze on employers combined with Brexit changes. Improvements to working conditions and housing rights and availability (and even continuing to raise the tax free personal allowance to cover more of the lowest earners) are better ways to help.

"Ah yes, I forgot - another rental problem is insecurity of lease. Standard shorthold tenancy is for six months only - tenants (especially those with families, but even just those with jobs) need to have security of tenancy - to be able to secure a lease for 36 months at a time (or longer)."

Careful what you wish for there as it works both ways. When I lived on the continent I was tied in for 3 years so couldn't look for a job elsewhere.

"Ladies PLEASE : start to think it through - stop leaving the door open for the political wonks"

Surely this is a brainstorming session (or thought shower if you find brainstorming offensive). Mumsnetters have not been asked to provide a fully costed manifesto.

"The crap jobs would still need to be done. The working conditions could be better, but cleaners, factory workers, labourers, carers and waiters are still needed."

It doesn't have to be the same people doing them all their lives though.

Yes, of course it works both ways Gwen - that is the point . I was thinking about the situation on the continent (where renting is so much easier and more desirable.

TalkIn, rent caps or rent controls are not a new thing - used in some states in the US from 60s/70s IIRC, and currently in force in Berlin.

And flights are just a joke.

Housing is crucial but I don't even know where to start with that.

I am certainly a JAM.

Not entitled to anything as scraping by with bits of work and using all my savings from my previous career. Far worse off on a daily basis than someone on full benefits - BUT I do have my savings - nearly all gone now. (No pension except possible future state, ( keeps moving further away like a mirage)
Had to cash in private pension such as it was in to pay for living expenses.

When kids were young free childcare would have been the thing that helped me. Now what would help would be a student grant for my DD and a proper job with sick pay, holiday pay, pension contributions and job security.

I am freelance so no job security at all. None.

Lots more posts wanting free stuff and tax cuts.
No mention of supporting the significant tax rises needed to pay for them.

Rent controls are indeed common. Darned near impossible to bring back once gone - parts of New York have tried.

Ta1kinpeece - your posts are always informative and I for one value them.

If you look at the thread as a whole the requests are contradictory and unaffordable - but they are just ideas in answer to the question "what would help you personally". Not everybody wants everything. It is just that taken as a whole that it appears that way.

Each of these things is affordable individually - but no-one wants to get into a discussion about costs and choices at this stage.

Also, whilst I agree with you Ta1kinpeece I think, (my personal view only), that if on MN you suggest that anything other than "making the rich pay" as a way to cover these costs you are attacked.

For example if you suggest that maybe certain benefits should be cut, that ESA is often abused, all EU migrants shouldn't be allowed to have council houses, you are jumped on.

If you say the old should not get pensions, that not everyone should be allowed to go to university, that we should not pay child benefit to families with more than two kids etc you are not only a terrible person but also some sort of ...ist

(Just to cover myself I am not saying any of those things!!)

This is a very virtue signalling place and it is not popular to be otherwise. Threads often turn into a bunfight and serious discussion is abandoned.

"Yes, of course it works both ways Gwen - that is the point smile. I was thinking about the situation on the continent (where renting is so much easier and more desirable."

So you want to be stuck and not able to move for a better job or whatever reason because that's the reality?

Careful what you wish for there as it works both ways. When I lived on the continent I was tied in for 3 years so couldn't look for a job elsewhere.

Yes, or landlords and agencies saying they might take you if you agree to an initial 18 month tenancy. Not having spent more than half an hour in the property, you've no idea if the neighbours are awful, or if there is a leaky roof lurking under new paintwork, and they know they won't keep you otherwise .

Why assume people don't want tax rises (for middle and higher earners)?
They don't have to mention it in every single post that would require a spending policy.

Plenty of well off pensioners, relatives of mine included, don't think they need state pension either. I think there is a lot less opposition than some assume to means testing state pension. However - means testing and all the bureaucracy that goes with it can itself be very costly. Same with child benefit for more than two kids, I get the impression a lot of people on all parts of the political spectrum think that is quite sensible. And "council houses for all EU migrants" - that is pure misinformation, most councils have waiting lists years long, and people have to have local connections.

Yes, that's the gamble you take, of course - being tied in to a rental contract (like any other contract - mobile phone, car, job, what have you). There are ways around it - some LL will allow for subletting in these instances. Or sometimes you just have to suck it up (as I have done in the past) and pay until the end of your contract or pay a breach fee - if you have something significantly better to go to then that is sometimes the way. These things have to be fair to both parties.

This system works well in other countries, and enables families to stay in one place for schools etc (a real problem here in the UK). Those who need a shorter-term tenancy can choose that of course - I'm just saying it would be helpful to many people if longer leases were an option. Many people are quite tied to their location anyway - eg as carers, for schooling, etc.

TalkIn, I was responding to your "Rent cap - HOW" post when I mentioned that rent caps/controls are used in other countries.

Yes, or landlords and agencies saying they might take you if you agree to an initial 18 month tenancy. Not having spent more than half an hour in the property, you've no idea if the neighbours are awful, or if there is a leaky roof lurking under new paintwork, and they know they won't keep you otherwise .

This is why it must be introduced in conjunction with licensing, TipTop. LL who do not provide safe accommodation in good repair will be fined / struck off register. But in fact a landlord who did not repair the roof would be in breach of contract anyway - so you could cut your tenancy short.

(And I also support tax rises, btw).