Cost of living crisis.

[Wymsey]

I do think there are some roles in the NHS that are probably unnecessary and taking are too much money that could be used elsewhere, for example 'Head of Diversity'.

Edited 16 August 2023 by Wymsey

[Grebfromgrebland]

We have record inflation while company profits are at a 70 year high.

 

We discuss one thing but rarely the other.

[dsr-burnley]

35 minutes ago, Grebfromgrebland said:

We have record inflation while company profits are at a 70 year high.

 

We discuss one thing but rarely the other.

Record inflation?  In what sense is it a record?  6.8% at the moment, I believe?  26.6% is the highest in my lifetime.

[Daggers]

 

9 hours ago, Steve_Walsh5 said:

They just need to knuckle down and work harder, apparently. 

Or wander off and get one of those better paid jobs some jackasses are always banging on about. 

[Lionator]

9 hours ago, Wymsey said:

I do think there are some roles in the NHS that are probably unnecessary and taking are too much money that could be used elsewhere, for example 'Head of Diversity'.

Jobs like that are fine, there’s 700,000 nurses so a few job roles focused towards ensuring equality in healthcare isn’t an issue imo. That’s just a daily mail moral panic type thing. The real issues with nhs finances are waste and procurement. The lost money in those areas is absolutely astounding. 

[kenny]

1 hour ago, Lionator said:

JobAs like that are fine, there’s 700,000 nurses so a few job roles focused towards ensuring equality in healthcare isn’t an issue imo. That’s just a daily mail moral panic type thing. The real issues with nhs finances are waste and procurement. The lost money in those areas is absolutely astounding. 

All true. It's staggering, the government should also be looking at how agencies are ripping off the NHS, there would be more cash available to pay staff if less of the workforce came through private providers.

 

 

[fox_up_north]

The reason agencies are used for NHS and teaching is because they just can't fill permanent roles.

 

They can't do that because a lot of the jobs are undervalued and underpaid. 

[Lionator]

5 minutes ago, fox_up_north said:

The reason agencies are used for NHS and teaching is because they just can't fill permanent roles.

 

They can't do that because a lot of the jobs are undervalued and underpaid. 

My flatmate is a pharmacist. Upon graduation he took a band 6 role which was £31k per year. He quit after 6 months to become a locum as he could bid for daily work starting at £60 an hour. If he worked the same hours at that rate then he’d earn in a week what he’d earn in a month on his contract. That’s why you never seen the same GP/doctor/pharmacist. 

[kenny]

5 minutes ago, Lionator said:

My flatmate is a pharmacist. Upon graduation he took a band 6 role which was £31k per year. He quit after 6 months to become a locum as he could bid for daily work starting at £60 an hour. If he worked the same hours at that rate then he’d earn in a week what he’d earn in a month on his contract. That’s why you never seen the same GP/doctor/pharmacist. 

All earned on training provided by the NHS and it's not like it's an open market. Other than the small private sector, it's a monopoly and the government could fix agency prices.

[fox_up_north]

If I wanted to, I could earn about £150 per day (£25-30 per hour) agency with my teaching quals. Although I'd be limited to term time only, I've done it in the past and earned about £20-22k per year.

 

Doesn't sound a lot but it's, effectively, 35 weeks a year at 4 days per week. For someone with low outgoings, it's a real boon because you're getting enough to live on but plenty of time off. 

 

That means the agency is charging the school or college around £180-200 per day. But they're tied in to these agencies when they should really be handing out proper contracts with sickness and benefits.

[Buzzard]

My gas and electric is now over £7.50/day and that's before we're hitting winter months 

[Tommy G]

11 hours ago, Buzzard said:

My gas and electric is now over £7.50/day and that's before we're hitting winter months 

What’s the context though - have you got kids, a 5 bed house, new build or an old cottage etc. 

[Zear0]

11 hours ago, Buzzard said:

My gas and electric is now over £7.50/day and that's before we're hitting winter months 

I wish...currently on £458 p/m here and I'm a miser with the thermostat (18).  Children + electric car = appalling energy bill.

[lcfc278]

I looked at my most recent bill to see how much my energy bills had come down since they reduced the cap on October 1st, the daily rate has indeed come down a little, however the daily standing charge for both Electricity and Gas seems to have gone up by the exact amount in pence that my daily energy use has come down by. Is this a one-off or are we all just mugs? 

[Tommy G]

Just now, lcfc278 said:

I looked at my most recent bill to see how much my energy bills had come down since they reduced the cap on October 1st, the daily rate has indeed come down a little, however the daily standing charge for both Electricity and Gas seems to have gone up by the exact amount in pence that my daily energy use has come down by. Is this a one-off or are we all just mugs? 

You also have to factor in no £60 a month blanket govt support per month for all households, taking that into account most will be worse off this winter. 

[Greg2607]

just out of interest, for those that do have electric cars.... roughly how much to you spend per month to charge the car? (I realise there are going to be HUGE fluctuations in this based on mileage etc) 

 

[Tommy G]

6 minutes ago, Greg2607 said:

just out of interest, for those that do have electric cars.... roughly how much to you spend per month to charge the car? (I realise there are going to be HUGE fluctuations in this based on mileage etc) 

 

£0 if you put chargers in your workplace for everyone to use for free .

 

On a serious note if you don’t have free access I guess based on a 70kw car, at 25ppk it going to cost you the best part of £20 to fill up, I get 200 miles from a full charge. You can get tariffs where it’s cheaper to home charge, but I don’t have a home charger so other posters will be better placed to advise. 
 

if I’m ever stuck (rare) I’ll pay the 85ppk at McDonalds, I find their superchargers reliable and quick. 

[Greg2607]

Thanks Tom. 

 

We do have chargers at work... but we've also moved to an EV Company Car scheme... so it's fair to say there aren't enough to go around!  just trying to navigate my way around it all, but there is almost too much information out there. 

 

In an ideal world, I'd have solar panels and batteries at home... but i haven't figured out how to rob a bank yet... so it's an unlikely solution! 

[Tommy G]

6 minutes ago, Greg2607 said:

Thanks Tom. 

 

We do have chargers at work... but we've also moved to an EV Company Car scheme... so it's fair to say there aren't enough to go around!  just trying to navigate my way around it all, but there is almost too much information out there. 

 

In an ideal world, I'd have solar panels and batteries at home... but i haven't figured out how to rob a bank yet... so it's an unlikely solution! 

I think the way the company car tax is in favour of EVs it’s a no brainier if you can chop it in instead of a car allowance etc. 

 

it’s a rare perk where you can shaft HMRC rather than the other way around these days.

 

Happy to advise if you need it 

[goose2010]

20 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

£0 if you put chargers in your workplace for everyone to use for free .

 

On a serious note if you don’t have free access I guess based on a 70kw car, at 25ppk it going to cost you the best part of £20 to fill up, I get 200 miles from a full charge. You can get tariffs where it’s cheaper to home charge, but I don’t have a home charger so other posters will be better placed to advise. 
 

if I’m ever stuck (rare) I’ll pay the 85ppk at McDonalds, I find their superchargers reliable and quick. 

i would enjoy it whilst it lasts our company have changed the policy from 2024 that employees will have to pay for charging at work. As it is classed as a taxable benefit. 

 

It is really going to screw over a lot of people when this kicks in. 

[Tommy G]

5 minutes ago, goose2010 said:

i would enjoy it whilst it lasts our company have changed the policy from 2024 that employees will have to pay for charging at work. As it is classed as a taxable benefit. 

 

It is really going to screw over a lot of people when this kicks in. 

The policy at our place won’t change 

[Zear0]

1 hour ago, Greg2607 said:

just out of interest, for those that do have electric cars.... roughly how much to you spend per month to charge the car? (I realise there are going to be HUGE fluctuations in this based on mileage etc) 

 

This was October for me. 

 

314.1kWh added for a cost of £31.02. So 9.8p per kWh (my Tariff price is 9.4p so close enough as sometimes charge in day if desperate) . Quick check of the car shows I'm averaging between 3.2 miles per kWh to 4. So on those numbers it's between 3.06p-2.45p per mile. 

 

Hopefully you know how many miles you'd expect to drive and can compare that to what you'd use. 

[FoyleFox]

5 hours ago, Greg2607 said:

just out of interest, for those that do have electric cars.... roughly how much to you spend per month to charge the car? (I realise there are going to be HUGE fluctuations in this based on mileage etc) 

 

Only had ours a few months but between £10 and £20. We had a dual rate E7 tariff but only moved to Octopus Intelligent end of September. The October bill was £10.50.

Our car has been showing a full range of 265, that will probably drop with the colder weather. It's currently in the airport car park and won't get another charge until the end of November, we'll see what the range is then. 300 to 400 miles a month is all we do anyway. 

[danny.]

14 hours ago, Greg2607 said:

just out of interest, for those that do have electric cars.... roughly how much to you spend per month to charge the car? (I realise there are going to be HUGE fluctuations in this based on mileage etc) 

 

Almost nothing, less than £2-3/month for most of this year, but I only do about 600-700 miles a month. On Octopus Agile there are quite a few hours every month of free or negative rate electricity so I usually charge then. 

[Milo]

23 hours ago, Greg2607 said:

just out of interest, for those that do have electric cars.... roughly how much to you spend per month to charge the car? (I realise there are going to be HUGE fluctuations in this based on mileage etc) 

 

I’m 6 months in to my EV experience. I was pretty sceptical to start with, but the reality is that I'm saving bundles. 
 

My 6 monthly total from home charging is £146, with a few public top up sessions to add to that. 
 

In comparison, I was spending around £90 plus per month on filling up my old car. 
 

(I’m also saving a fair chunk on road tax/ULEZ/congestion/insurance and monthly payments). 
 

So, whilst I don’t love my EV as much as I did my old car, I can’t argue with the finances of it. 

 

Edited 7 November 2023 by Milo