What are your thoughts?

[jansman]

But; for anyone on a low income,or on benefits, there is likely to be no,or very limited resilience to ride tough situations or life events. I am currently listening to You and Yours on BBC R4. It’s about how folks are dealing with fuel bills. One guy has worked for 46 years,had a work injury,and now struggling.One guy is working on in his 70’s to pay the bills. That can happen to anyone!

There but for the grace of god, go I.

I listened to that myself and it does make you wonder. Taking in lodgers was mentioned although they never went into the legal aspects. We have a house that has been rented out a!though because of a situation I won't go into we haven't had any rent since november but that aside there are legal obligations to being a landlord so the financial viability might need closer scrutiny.
Interesting comment about turning off water heaters and needing to raise it to at least 60* centigrade to kill off legionella bacteria. No good saving a few quid if you end up ill.
There seems to be a lot of talk of windfall taxes , certainly on breakfast tv they go on about it a lot and I have mixed feelings about this. There seems to be some debate about how much it would raise but it would help out the poorest in society. I can't help thinking that what happens next year if prices stay high. Windfall taxes are by their nature one offs so where would the money come from next year. Unless I'm missing something that question hasn't been asked. Long term I don't see paying people's energy bills is sustainable. Perhaps using that windfall on an insulation campaign would prove more beneficial in the long run but of course that doesn't help those struggling now. It's not an easy fix if it's even fixable.

I Agree with all you say there.

[GillyBee]

I really feel for those people suffering illness that requires energy spending just to stay alive. It is bad enough if you have to try to keep someone warm becuase of frailty. Add in powered hoists, breathing machines and the rest and a lot of people may lose their life or become poorly enough to need inpatient care.
It is all very well telling people to take on more or better paid work but how do you do that if you are a carer and the government is paying you Universal Credit to do so. They won't want to pay for the cost of commercial care if you go back to work!

[Frnc]

Taking in lodgers was mentioned although they never went into the legal aspects.

I have lodgers. There aren't really any legal aspects. Legally they are paying guests. They are not tenants if they share kitchen and bathroom with you, and don't have locks on their doors. You can earn £7,500 and pay no tax. If you earn £8,000, then £500 goes against your personal allowance. This is called the Rent A Room scheme. You can have 2 lodgers. It could theoretically leave you with a small capital gains tax bill if you sell. There is no law on how much notice you have to give them, just a "reasonable" amount. I had one who didn't come up with his first month's rent, and didn't apologise, so I gave him 2 days notice. Obviously you have to tell your insurers, and you're probably not not covered if they forget to lock up properly and you get burgled.

[grenfell]

Thanks for the explanation. I don't have experience of lodgers just renting out a whole house which seems to be becoming a bigger and bigger pain in the blunt end.
One of the people on the radio programme made the point that it was a bit of a double edged sword to a degree in that they were thinking take in a lodger to help pay the bills but that might mean losing a bit of control with regards to when the lodger has the heating on although I doubt they'd use more than they pay in rent so not a huge offset

[diamond lil]

Looking likely that we're going to have strikes this summer onwards. Which unions or sectors do you think will come out?

[Yorkshire Andy]

Looking likely that we're going to have strikes this summer onwards. Which unions or sectors do you think will come out?

Power generation the staff will want their cut

Road Haulage association. = Fuel prices

Oh and the RMT / network rail are going to kick off imminently

[diamond lil]

So that's powercuts and food shortages.

[jennyjj01]

Looking likely that we're going to have strikes this summer onwards. Which unions or sectors do you think will come out?

amazon..... No. Not really


Usual.... Lorry Drivers, Railways, Ports?

Are there any strong unions left?

[jansman]

I’ll make it clear that my wife and I are trade union members.She is an Area Rep ,in fact. She is in teaching,and at anytime she can be accused of assault,inappropriate language etc etc. The union stands her corner. It also helped her when she was stabbed by a child too! Me,I am a member to cover my back in case of an accident at work,as technically ( according to my life insurance) in a dangerous job.

It’s not about the ‘Strength’ of unions,it’s whether it’s members have the WILL to take action. Trade unions are not autonomous institutions.They are run by their members.Strike action is the absolute last resort in a dispute. Inthe 70’s ( which people so boringly refer to when talking about unions) , nobody had anything. Now they have mortgages,phone contracts,car payments. The last things union members need - especially now - is to be losing wages. One of the most effective actions is Work To Rule. So many employees do far more than they are paid for in their jobs. Working to the book ,shows how much unpaid work is being done!

It’s interesting,isn’t it,how people think of unions? Usually,it’s reverting to type,and recalling the Winter of Discontent. My wife and me consider our membership to be a work insurance policy.

If sectors do strike though ,good luck to them. The top dogs of corporate organisations are raking money in for themselves,so why shouldn’t the Worker Ants get some more in these troubled times?

[Arzosah]

Big time union supporter here. The 70s ... I went for a job interview in 1976 at the factory where my dad worked, he was Father of the Chapel (printing) and the managing director came to see the personnel director while I was in his office. I was introduced as my father's daughter, and the reaction was very warm, welcoming and friendly. Even in the 70s, there were still good relations between some management and some workers.

Since then ... yes, jansman's point about Work To Rule shows what's going on. All during my 20s, I thought nothing of working an extra hour a day for no pay, it was the norm. I didn't have a union.

Beside-the-point blather about self employment deleted