When will this shit end?

[Northtim]

2 hours ago, Ozanne said:

One way round this could be the way wealth is distributed through the business at this difficult time. I'm assuming the directors are on fairly decent money, could some of their money be distributed down through the business in a way that covers some of ors all of these costs? I would imagine that these workers are on much less than the owners of the business, and the higher salaries could be spread out to show camaraderie with the rest of the work force.

 

That obviously won't happen because capitalism. Susan with her 2 kids at home will be expected to make these sacrifices whereas owners of businesses simply won't even though they have more resources to aid their own personal situations.

Quite an inaccurate generalisation there.  I'm an accountant in a small firm working with lots of small companies.  In the majority of cases where the businesses have been badly affected by Covid the staff have been furloughed, but will hopefully have jobs to come back to, and the biggest hit has been taken by Directors who often have not been able to take anything.  Most of these small business directors don't earn the £100k plus you might imagine.  Those busineses more marginally affected and still trading are still paying staff and again it is the directors who take the hit, and whilst they will take the gov't backed loans those will need paying back.  Watch this space in 12 months time when those loans need repaying, if a second wave is still affecting business then the economy will really tank.

You won't hear much about this.  It is small, often family owned companies, who don't get reported on.  

[shoptildrop]

2 hours ago, DeanoL said:

Yes. Because loads of your employees will have kids and they're not going to just go "I'll leave the kid unattended at home and come into work then". So you make them redundant (which takes time and money) and then you're faced with recruiting and training replacements for around half of your workforce. This would also be a disaster. So yeah, if it were my company I'd be very concerned.

To be fair, many companies are managing just fine with very low costs for furloughed workers. That your company has cocked up the NI arrangements (I know, transitions in size,  and it was going to get sorted out sooner or later, we just never did...) and pension contributions. You can also be forcing employees to take annual leave while on furlough so you shouldn't accrue it (though you would have to top up the 20%) - wouldn't be popular but again... there are steps your company could take to reduce their furlough costs and they're clearly not taking them.

Our company has just done that by stating all employees still on furlough will have to use 5 days holiday in June and 2 days per month hearafter whilst they are on furlough. Company's usual stance is they never allow any holidays to be carried over so guess this is why they are doing this.

We do get paid 100% for those holidays though 

[Northtim]

3 minutes ago, shoptildrop said:

Our company has just done that by stating all employees still on furlough will have to use 5 days holiday in June and 2 days per month hearafter whilst they are on furlough. Company's usual stance is they never allow any holidays to be carried over so guess this is why they are doing this.

We do get paid 100% for those holidays though 

I'm hearing about quite a few companies that are insisting furloughed staff take a couple of weeks as holiday before end August.  For staff furloughed on 80% they will get topped up to 100% for those holiday weeks.  I don't think that is a bad thing to be asked really.

[shoptildrop]

1 minute ago, Northtim said:

I'm hearing about quite a few companies that are insisting furloughed staff take a couple of weeks as holiday before end August.  For staff furloughed on 80% they will get topped up to 100% for those holiday weeks.  I don't think that is a bad thing to be asked really.

No I don't think it's that bad in my current circumstances as I would have taken 5 days by this point anyway due to a few festivals and gigs, I get a 100% pay so personally not seeing this as an issue - more pressing is hoping I have a job to go back too

[steviewevie]

I ended up going to the march with my kid.

[Crazyfool01]

9 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

I ended up going to the march with my kid.

Any evidence of social distance? These do worry me ... as do the beach scenes ... in fact most things worry me at present 

[steviewevie]

3 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

Any evidence of social distance? These do worry me ... as do the beach scenes ... in fact most things worry me at present 

No, no social distancing...but most people had masks on.

[shoptildrop]

4 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

Any evidence of social distance? These do worry me ... as do the beach scenes ... in fact most things worry me at present 

Not in Manchester as too many people and not enough space unfortunately  

[Crazyfool01]

2 minutes ago, shoptildrop said:

Not in Manchester as too many people and not enough space unfortunately  

I just hope the fresh air thing does it’s trick ... and the fact it’s blowy out there  

[shoptildrop]

1 minute ago, crazyfool1 said:

I just hope the fresh air thing does it’s trick ... and the fact it’s blowy out there  

I hope so but does look like most are wearing masks.... apparently there are around 15K people protesting that's alot of reach for a virus  

[squirrelarmy]

35 minutes ago, shoptildrop said:

Our company has just done that by stating all employees still on furlough will have to use 5 days holiday in June and 2 days per month hearafter whilst they are on furlough. Company's usual stance is they never allow any holidays to be carried over so guess this is why they are doing this.

We do get paid 100% for those holidays though 

I’m in the same situation. I have to take my accrued holiday this month as I won’t be able to use it once I go back to work. 
 

I’m going to have to speak to HR about an exception, I was hoping to save my holiday to give myself more of a break after my upcoming op as I only get 10 days of sickpay and I think I’ll be needing longer than that to recover and I don’t want to survive on SSP! 

My op has been put back anyway and don’t have a date for it yet so it could end up being next year anyway. 

[Crazyfool01]

anyone know what operations and treatments are being performed at hospitals at the moment ? presumably cancer treatments have started to resume ? ive not seen much about the resumption of health services .... obviously this is of major importance to the excess deaths going forward ...

[shoptildrop]

5 minutes ago, squirrelarmy said:

I’m in the same situation. I have to take my accrued holiday this month as I won’t be able to use it once I go back to work. 
 

I’m going to have to speak to HR about an exception, I was hoping to save my holiday to give myself more of a break after my upcoming op as I only get 10 days of sickpay and I think I’ll be needing longer than that to recover and I don’t want to survive on SSP! 

My op has been put back anyway and don’t have a date for it yet so it could end up being next year anyway. 

I am sure your HR will make allowances tbh

[Crazyfool01]

7 minutes ago, squirrelarmy said:

I’m in the same situation. I have to take my accrued holiday this month as I won’t be able to use it once I go back to work. 
 

I’m going to have to speak to HR about an exception, I was hoping to save my holiday to give myself more of a break after my upcoming op as I only get 10 days of sickpay and I think I’ll be needing longer than that to recover and I don’t want to survive on SSP! 

My op has been put back anyway and don’t have a date for it yet so it could end up being next year anyway. 

you dont have any kind of health plan at work that you can claim on for hospital stays do you ... might not be a fortune , I do a simply health plan that I often forget quite how much I can claim for 

[squirrelarmy]

56 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

you dont have any kind of health plan at work that you can claim on for hospital stays do you ... might not be a fortune , I do a simply health plan that I often forget quite how much I can claim for 

I’ve got something in place at work. I need to have a look at what it entails though but I may have to actually be in the office to find out. 

[squirrelarmy]

1 hour ago, shoptildrop said:

This is Manchester today  I get why they are protesting but this is really not going to help the region that currently has the highest R number in the UK reduce the spread of the virus

 

 

It’s a worthy cause and it’s good we’re showing support but it makes a mockery of the government plans for dealing with the virus. What’s the point of making us wear masks on public transport in 2 weeks when scenes like this are happening all over the country. 
 

I’ve seen similar videos from Newcastle and the vast majority of the crowd aren’t wearing masks. 
 

The governments policy seems to be more of a case of showing that they’re doing something rather than actually doing something that’s actually effective. 
 

Maybe it’s time to abandon this joke of a lockdown, concentrate on getting the country moving and provide support for those who need it. If more people could go back to work then there’s less strain on the employers who can then afford to keep their more vulnerable staff on furlough. 

[Ozanne]

15 minutes ago, squirrelarmy said:

It’s a worthy cause and it’s good we’re showing support but it makes a mockery of the government plans for dealing with the virus. What’s the point of making us wear masks on public transport in 2 weeks when scenes like this are happening all over the country. 
 

I’ve seen similar videos from Newcastle and the vast majority of the crowd aren’t wearing masks. 
 

The governments policy seems to be more of a case of showing that they’re doing something rather than actually doing something that’s actually effective. 
 

Maybe it’s time to abandon this joke of a lockdown, concentrate on getting the country moving and provide support for those who need it. If more people could go back to work then there’s less strain on the employers who can then afford to keep their more vulnerable staff on furlough. 

They have no leg to stand on anymore after the Cummings scandal, they can say stay at home this weekend but they have no real authority given they backed him 2 weeks ago.

 

I just hope the spread of the virus is so low now that these protests won't do any damage, as they are genuinely for a very good cause.

[steviewevie]

Well, I went...and I feel very conflicted. I'm not blaming the govt really...it was an individual choice, and I made it and went. What I will say though, I have been on a few protests...climate change, anti-tory, stop the war etc etc...and this felt really quite different...less middle class, more multi-cultural, more angy, and more weird cause everyone was wearing masks.

[stuartbert two hats]

28 minutes ago, squirrelarmy said:

It’s a worthy cause and it’s good we’re showing support but it makes a mockery of the government plans for dealing with the virus. What’s the point of making us wear masks on public transport in 2 weeks when scenes like this are happening all over the country. 

Because public transport is an enclosed space where it's very easy to transmit the virus, and the science is increasingly showing that outdoors gatherings are much safer than you might think.

To be honest, I'm more worried about how people got into town, since the train journey is probably the most dangerous part of the day.

Edited June 6, 2020 by stuartbert two hats

[Sdsm123]

Do we think all these black lives matters protests will be used as a weapon for the government to deflect responsibility for a second wave or a rising in the r number. I’m saying that as a Tory boy I just think they are not stopping them to add another line of blame to their arsenal of fuck ups?

Edited June 6, 2020 by Sdsm123

[morph100]

1 hour ago, crazyfool1 said:

anyone know what operations and treatments are being performed at hospitals at the moment ? presumably cancer treatments have started to resume ? ive not seen much about the resumption of health services .... obviously this is of major importance to the excess deaths going forward ...

Still delays but most staff have gone back to their normal roles rather than COVID ones

[zahidf]

Tamzin Outhwaite was on TalkRADIO this morning saying that the cast of The Seagull at the Playhouse had been given a date to go back into rehearsal with a view to reopening in September. Host asked her if it was with social distancing but she didn’t know the details.

[steviewevie]

6 minutes ago, Sdsm123 said:

Do we think all these black lives matters protests will be used as a weapon for the government to deflect responsibility for a second wave or a rising in the r number. I’m saying that as a Tory boy I just think they are not stopping them to add another line of blame to their arsenal of fuck ups?

I don't know, Hancock and Patel were advising people not to go yesterday, but maybe they're worried about civil unrest if they actually try and forcibly stop them. In Manchester I saw no police at all...I expect they were there watching screens and in plain clothes, but none visible.

Maybe they will blame the protesters in the future...but politically that probably won't look too good..

[Dave85radiohead]

19 minutes ago, Sdsm123 said:

Do we think all these black lives matters protests will be used as a weapon for the government to deflect responsibility for a second wave or a rising in the r number. I’m saying that as a Tory boy I just think they are not stopping them to add another line of blame to their arsenal of fuck ups?

I think that these protests probably will lead to an increase in the R number.  The scenes in Manchester were shocking.

If the lockdown isn’t going to be enforced and observed properly then perhaps it just needs to be scrapped and people just face the consequences. 

[Sdsm123]

20 minutes ago, Dave85radiohead said:

I think that these protests probably will lead to an increase in the R number.  The scenes in Manchester were shocking.

If the lockdown isn’t going to be enforced and observed properly then perhaps it just needs to be scrapped and people just face the consequences. 

It just seems unfair that festivals have been scrapped not just the big g but little ones like 2000 trees yet people are being allowed to meet up in tens of thousands to protest something which happened across the pond, now I am American born and have being upset and shocked by the way things have played out but I just don’t feel that the uk needs to risk hundreds of people dying to protest this. We all stand with George floyd but we can’t let another peak happen as a consequence of these protests. I still think it’s very important to voice our support for the movement but this is not the time to do it on an epic scale. Other ideas like a kneel at your front door on a certain time would be way more appropriate. It’s such a hard call to make.