Reasons NOT to move to Scotland

[AprilHeather]

Hello all, have come across Scotsnet from some google searches - didn’t know it existed! And after some advice please. DH to be and I have considered moving out of England for a while and never taken the plunge. We originally looked at Denmark a few years ago but couldn’t afford at the time. Now my DS’s (11 and 13) are worried about the language, especially with getting behind at school and making friends. Scotland was our next choice. We like the scenery the outdoors and the more left leaning politics. We wanted to move to Kintyre or Arran, possibly Ayr, though we would like to be more remote really. My mum would be moving up with us too and we will build her a granny flat. I am an early career academic so I will be keeping my job at my institution in England (8 hour drive from Kintyre) and stay over at my Dads when I need to. Majority of the week and all weekends and holidays I will be in Scotland with my boys, OH and Mum. I’d like reasons NOT to come to Scotland - especially the areas I mention. The cold hard reality please! It’s so easy to see the life we want (Remote, peaceful, outdoor walks and not too many people to get to know, a small community) versus the reality of the life we will have. Also, can someone please please point out where I can go online to work out what year groups my sons would be in as my eldest would start/have started study for Nat 5s if he was in Scotland I believe? I can’t work it out! Thanks all xx

I moved from Hampshire to south Scotland 10 years ago and there is not one part of me that would ever move again. The people are wonderful, the scenery, the lifestyle, the quiet roads, the fresh air. Everything is just perfect here. I do live in a large town (Dumfries) and not sure I'd be quite as happy further north and colder but I just love Scotland

We went to uni in Scotland and would love to go back, and have been offered work there a couple of times. The left leaning politics and higher taxes put us off. Particularly with the push to increase them further and consider replacing council tax with a local income tax it would not make financial sense. If you are lower earners however the balance of tax vs services may be more favourable.

Killearn is lovely and Balfron High School has a good rep. Lovely countryside but not too far from Glasgow when your boys are teenagers.

Scotland is great but wet, wet, wet.

@fascinated

applesandpears33 Fri 05-Jun-20 19:35:20 Are there any statistics to substantiate the claim of alcoholism? IME people don't tend to drink more or less in Argyll than elsewhere in Scotland.

^^

That’s not really saying much though, is it? I think Scotland in general has an issue with alcohol.

Lazy stereotype, in face Scotland brought in minimum alcohol pricing which has actually led to a drop in drinking so probably lower than the rest of the UK.

I personally wouldn't move teenagers to a very rural area, the chances are they will be bored and want to move away as soon as they can.

The SNP

This stubborn discrepancy between Scottish and English life expectancies has flummoxed public health experts and policymakers since it was first identified in the 1980s. But what explains it? “Lifestyle is hugely important,” says Lunan. “We have a very complicated relationship with alcohol in Scotland, which accounts for a lot of our healthcare problems and may account for some of the persisting health inequalities we see across the rest of the UK.”

www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/2019/06/scotland-effect-why-life-expectancy-lower-north-border

Scotland does beautiful scenery and talks the talk but the reality is it has a huge welfare state and bits have had to suffer social and financial deprivation for generations now. Health inequities are not shifting easily. If you scratch the surface there is a lot going on that you wouldn't necessarily move towards.

I said this on another thread, but if you're looking at a nice house and a middle-class lifestyle, it's pretty great, all that outdoor stuff etc. Superficially it's a good place to live.

I'd be really careful moving children into a small west coast town without doing a LOT of research - unless you are planning boarding school, in which case, crack on.

When people say 'rain', they forget the all-important prefix 'horizontal'. Makes it seem more aggressive, somehow.

www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/data/weather/uk/climate/anomacts/2019/17/2019_17_Rainfall_Actual.gif

You can play with the data here. Go east.
www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-actual-and-anomaly-maps

Anecdotally central Scotland (including just north of Glasgow) doesn't feel any wetter than Devon or Shropshire...

We've had better weather in lockdown than relatives in East Anglia.

Was pretty wild during the named storms in Winter but around Glasgow they seem very much on top of gritting, snow ploughs etc. Much less disruption than England.

You can smell quite a lot of cannabis being smoked, possibly more than where I lived before but our neighbours there were fairly open about smoking it too.

It might be a blip but it feels in the past five years that the weather's warmer in summer than it used to be, and winter hasn't been bad since 2010.
OTOH everyone I know who has moved up from midlands/southern England says you acclimatise in a few years.

The vast majority of people pay less tax in Scotland than the rest of the UK. If you're earning over £150 k you pay one percent more.
You do of course get free university education plus if your children take out a loan for living costs , the interest rate is substantially lower in Scotland.

Bad weather. No summer. Narrow minded people . The Independence question. The winters are very depressing. Other than that I love the scenery and the walking. Midges on the West coast are a nightmare.

It’s not true the tax change only impacted those on over £150k - (leaving aside the budget deficit and affordability of current spending Scotland if independent, so all future proofing).

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/tax/income-tax-how-much-should-you-pay/income-tax-rates/

@MumofHunter

The vast majority of people pay less tax in Scotland than the rest of the UK. If you're earning over £150 k you pay one percent more. You do of course get free university education plus if your children take out a loan for living costs , the interest rate is substantially lower in Scotland.

Unfortunately this isn’t entirely true. We each earn under £150k but would be paid a not insignificant amount more tax which would likely have worsened as our careers progress.

No plans for kids to benefit from the Scottish system, although for many that may offset some of the increased taxation.

Re teaching in Scotland. The Scottish teaching body are much stricter in needing the majority of your degree related to subject you are teaching-I has to send transcript of degree modules. You will have to re do your nqt with requisite pay. There is a lot of anti English sentiment. I would suggest renting your home out for a year and renting somewhere that you want to live for at least six months over winter before selling up.

I stand corrected re tax 😉

I know you are thinking about places on the west coast but the east is much brighter and drier, though the wind is often chilly!
The lack of midges is another plus.

Arran is beautiful though. I don't know anything about the schools there but educational standards in Scotland generally are going down. There's too much mediocrity and too much complacency.

We’re also thinking of moving to Scotland next year, east coast towns near Edinburgh. I know Scotland somewhat as my dad is from the highlands (we spent our summer hols there) and they’ve retired there. I’m disturbed by the mentions of anti-English sentiment - I have an English accent as do the children. I vaguely recall when I was a kid in the 80s and 90s some of that directed at the English hotel owners in the village by had was from but I’d assumed it was long gone.

Also on the education front I need to do my research as that was news to me. I did two terms when I was 11 in Scotland and remember how advanced the class was compared to my schooling which had been elsewhere. I realise that’s long ago. What’s so awful about the current standard or method of teaching?

I’m a Scot who married and Englishman and my kids speak with English accents.

I completely believe that Scotland has become pretty anti English in the past 10 years in line with the independence debate rumbling and the rise of the SNP. The SNP are not a xenophobic party but you bet your life some of their fans are.

It’s depressing and makes me want to move back south. Never experienced anything like it before.

Tax, if you earn £50k you pay £1500 more tax in Scotland. The threshold for paying more tax is definitely a lot less that £150k. You have to decide if that extra tax is worth it.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-scotland-51407239

Freezing icy winds. Cold damp miserable long winters. But if you love it then why not.

Higher stamp duty

Depressing weather, grey buildings, villages are shit not like the chocolate box ones you get in England. Pubs are a bit spit and sawdust not like proper English pubs, people can seem a bit jaded and cynical, lots of banter but not always positive. ( however loads of really good things too! )