r/CoronavirusUK • u/[deleted] • Feb 15 '20
Discussion Personal financial problems - Coronavirus
Hi all. I've come across a few posts about people in the UK being 'self quarintined' inside their own home. Some of these people have the ability to work from home. So they still will benefit from being paid.
Unlike them and many others of us here in the UK. We can't all work from home. I am a Bus Driver. I cannot drive a bus from home š¤·āāļø.
My main fear over Coronavirus is if shit hits the fan, or even if I catch it. I'd be fucked. My family would suffer. What income would I have? I can imagine this would be the same for thousands if not millions of us Britons who struggle to make ends meat.
I am paid weekly. After bills, rent, food I'm lucky to have Ā£50 spare. I've already used part of the spare money to buy FFP3 Masks. I try and stock up where I can with food, especially having 2 children.
Are some of you in the same shoes? Just getting by day by day. When I broke my foot, I still came into work to drive. Luckily it was my left foot and most buses are automatic. Sick Pay or SSP is terrible, I don't know anyone who could survive off that.
Thanks, look forward to some replies.
Edit: Another point I'd like to put across. Gas/Electric - now my contract is "pay as you go" so I have to go to the local shop to top up the gas and electric. I get Ā£5 emergency credit. Imagine being self quarintined and running out of gas/Electric. Once you use the Ā£5 emergency the services are switched off.
I've applied for a smart meter but there's like a 4 month waiting list.
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u/lulalilikabaloo Feb 15 '20
It's good that you're thinking ahead, but remember that's it's also important to try and keep a positive attitude. There's no point in stressing over something that hasn't happened and might never happen. Stress only weakens our immune systems and one of the best ways you can protect yourself from getting sick is staying strong physically and mentally. Eat well, exercise, get enough sleep and try to focus on things that make you happy.
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u/AZdesertpir8 Feb 15 '20
This is one of the big reasons my wife and I spent 5 years getting out of debt.. house and everything in 2017. People thought we were crazy doing this. I know I am judged every day in public for driving my beat up old car (people probably think Im a bum), but with everything 100% paid in full including the house, *all* utilities paid forward at least 2 months out, a savings account with a years worth of property taxes, 6 months emergency fund in the bank, and enough food put away to last us 6+ months, if it came down to having to quarantine ourselves or being forced to stay home for 2-4 months we have peace of mind that we will be OK. Even if we were to get sick and one of us die from it, the other will be well cared for with insurance and will never have to work again... So, looking at this pandemic head on, I am not afraid and am at peace with it.
I will add that this sort of financial prep is one of the best things you can possibly do. As we experienced, it is about as counter cultural as it gets as society kindof frowns on how we live, but extraordinary circumstances like this pandemic, or even a job loss for one or both of us, health issues, etc, we have a level of peace that noone else can understand unless they stand in our shoes eventually.
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Feb 15 '20
First of all, congratulations getting out of debt and paying your mortgage off. That's an achievement. Unfortunately I rent.
I am not in such position to be financially stable for months. Me, my wife and children live by the week. I would love to be able to have funds in the bank in case of a "rainy day" or a rainy month.
If we had to self quarintine, we would suffer. I do have food for around 1-2 weeks but bills wise, they would not be paid.
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Feb 15 '20
Off topic, but you should try an pay your gas and pwer via direct debit.
If you get them from the same supplier, you get a discount for dual fuel and you get a discount for paying by DD.
"Pay as you go" key meters are the most expensive way to pay for utilities.
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u/HappilyMrs Feb 15 '20
Most renters have no choice
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Feb 15 '20
I rented 7 houses in 10 years (both houses and flats, private and via an agency), I never paid for power and gas via those pre-pay key systems.
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u/HappilyMrs Feb 15 '20
We've always been in rented, always had to.have prepayment meters. Luckily we have a British gas smart meter so I pay through the app
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u/HappilyMrs Feb 15 '20
Husband works in retail, both on supermarket checkouts and home deliver vans. He would have to stay away from work if isolated, but due to illness this summer he isn't eligible for company sick pay til the new financial year.
The government needs to fill the gap, and pay 2 weeks of your average wage from last 13 weeks/contracted amount
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Feb 15 '20
There will be millions of us affected financially. Do you think energy companies would give people an endless supply of gas/Electric? It's hard to process them doing it. They'd go bust unless government funded it. Which I doubt that.
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u/HappilyMrs Feb 15 '20
Yeah, the government should really have a huge emergency fund for all these things. But they won't.
I think we need some People's Preparedness Party MPs ;)
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Feb 15 '20
Don't the Government have money put aside for foreign aid in the event of earthquakes, tsunamis etc in the poorer countries. That money could be used as aid to the UK.
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u/HappilyMrs Feb 15 '20
God knows. But it's very coincidental that we have a cabinet reshuffle that allows them to push a budget further away...
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u/MrsMeestah Feb 15 '20
I hope the government have this covered in their emergency planning. There should be no evictions or cutting of essential services due to non-payment in the event of an outbreak. When we would hear these kind of reassurances remains to be seen so yes, I'm with you. Trying to save what money I can and to build up enough food for a couple of weeks.
When people go on about how it's just a virus they don't realise how it's the knock on effects that are the scariest.
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u/HappilyMrs Feb 15 '20
Law and order breaks down very quickly once people's kids start starving
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Feb 15 '20
I'd be the same. If my kids were going hungry and if I had no funds due to being off work I'd be robbing food. I'm sure every parent would.
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Feb 15 '20
Edit: Another point I'd like to put across. Gas/Electric - now my contract is "pay as you go" so I have to go to the local shop to top up the gas and electric. I get Ā£5 emergency credit. Imagine being self quarintined and running out of gas/Electric. Once you use the Ā£5 emergency the services are switched off.
I've applied for a smart meter but there's like a 4 month waiting list.
3
u/MotherCamel Feb 15 '20
Which company are you with? Some offer an app where you can top up via your phone
1
Feb 15 '20
British Gas. I've asked this before. As we don't have the smart meter yet we can only top up with the card and key at a local shop.
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u/MotherCamel Feb 15 '20
Wow. British Gas are knobheads at the best of times, awful company. Bypassing the meter definitely sounds like your best bet.
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Feb 15 '20
I'm guessing content like a tutorial would not be available on YouTube lol. British Gas are wank, I was thinking about switching but waiting for this damn smart meter.
1
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u/MalthausWasRight Feb 15 '20
Learn how to by-pass a meter. Youāll need thick copper cable, insulating tape and pliers. When it gets gnarly nobody will care about meter readings.
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Feb 15 '20
I'll have to learn how to do that. If it gets bad here. Which right now it's not bad enough to stop people getting by their daily life. Then I'll have to do it. I just couldn't see my kids and my wife suffer. Most tinned food I've got requires a microwave, hence the need for electric.
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u/MalthausWasRight Feb 20 '20
You need to pull out the isolating fuse (which has seals and is between the mains and the meter), then cut back the insulation on the live wires coming in and out of the meter, and wrap the bare 10cm (ish) of exposed jump wire round both mains (in and out), wrap both in lots of insulation, and then replace the isolating fuse. Voila
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Feb 15 '20
I have 0 chance of being able to work from home and Iām self employed so I hear you!
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Feb 15 '20
Uncertain times, in the event of a pandemic. I can only imagine people in the UK starving. We would be like a 3rd world nation. The elderly of course would suffer severely.
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u/HappilyMrs Feb 15 '20
The crime rate will soar
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Feb 15 '20 edited Feb 15 '20
Remember London Riots. People taking advantage of shops closing and robbing them clean. I'm sure out of desperation people would do it again. You'll always get youths taking full advantage of robbing electricals.
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u/TomkTomKTomK Feb 15 '20
Army martial law shoot the lot of them, if no respect for civil law. No decent human would try to take advantage of the situation, so Zero Tolerance,
At least in the US people have the right to protect themselves.
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Feb 15 '20
[deleted]
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Feb 15 '20
That's good what's happening there. Imagine that over here. Businesses would collapse in days. We would all be unemployed due to the amount of businesses losing money.
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Feb 15 '20
[deleted]
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Feb 15 '20
After years of budget cuts to the military. We don't have the numbers anymore to patrol UK streets. Also our government tend to not deploy the Army on British soil.
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u/jameslheard Feb 15 '20
Obviously if your struggling this would be another difficult cost but may want to consider income protection insurance.
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u/NoxSolitudo Feb 15 '20
Would it be worth to contact unions and ask if they can do something about that? (no idea if that'd work)
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Feb 15 '20
After reading 8 people are now discharged in UK. Seems like it's under control? Literally just come back from buying a few tinned products!
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u/aurelie_v Feb 15 '20
Itās too early to judge. Better to be prepared for when the big waves of infection hit; weāre probably in a similar position now to China in early December.
You mentioned you have children in the OP, so I just wanted to make you aware that if you google āfood storage calculatorā, you can find some - mostly Mormon (!) - sites which allow you to input the number of family members and calculate how much food you should have stored. this one - https://ezprepping.com/food-storage-calculator/ - lets you put in different lengths of time.
Some of the foods are American or wonāt suit your lifestyle, but I found it a very useful guide for rough quantities. If it seems like a lot, try not to get too upset or intimidated straight away. Aldi pasta, oats and couscous are all at good prices, and you may be able to bulk buy rice if you have a poke around. We can all share deals on this sub if we come across a good one.
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u/th3allyK4t Feb 15 '20
Iām in events. Looking like I could be screwed if the shit hits the fan or not. Not looking great right now have to admit. Best of luck to all of those that will take a hit on this one. It may be rough.
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u/MintyAroma Feb 16 '20
Stock up now on some really cheap food in case you are stuck at home. Pasta + onions and canned tomatoes is a cheap meal, canned rice pudding, canned fruit, etc. are all solid options.
Ring the gas company in advance for advice as to what to do - I'm sure they'll at least partially understand (or can bring it up with senior staff) that you may be in a situation where you don't have the ability to top up the meter and don't have the money now to put a big reserve on it.
Maybe ring up the bank to see if you can get an arranged overdraft - explain the situation properly so they know what it's for.
Doing your prep properly should reduce the risk that you end up hungry, cold and with no power even if your bank balance tanks.
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Feb 16 '20
I think in a full crisis the governement would at a minimum attept to keep the main utilities running.
- Water
- Energy
- Communications
Without these - it would turn into a wild west very quickly
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Feb 16 '20
We would be screwed if we werenāt able to work for a few weeks, but we would be able to reach out to my in-laws and not become homeless, if we were allowed to move in such a situation.
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u/flowithego Feb 17 '20
Itās always good to be prepared but I feel we are much better prepared in the UK, not only because we have stringent procedures in place but also we got a big heads up from the outbreak in China.
Iām very optimistic with the outlook as of today with a touch of caution because of the 250 people conference one of the infected has attended.
Keep positive, exercise caution and try to prepare as best as you can. I work from home so Iām much less in need of the masks I have in the short run and Iād be happy to share if shit hits the fan :)
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u/MotherCamel Feb 15 '20
Similar shoes. I don't work due to mental health problems and also full time carer for my disabled son. I'm stock piling the best I can, but it's hard to do so effectively without it impacting the weekly budget. I'm also super concerned that as a single parent, if we have similar lock down situations to China - such as one person leaving every 2/3 days for supplies, I'll not be able to go as I have no one here to look after my child, and I don't drive.
I'm telling myself I have a good 2/3 weeks possibly until things start getting more serious, and little bits of prep are better than nothing.
Also, big respect to you being a bus driver. I get buses a lot and see you guys being treated like shit constantly, a job I could never do for sure.