It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

sleepless_saver

grannytwice wrote: »

Just had my working hours reduced to 13hours, boss has decided to close shop early, ... i do have a contract of employment for at least 17 hours i dont know if that makes any difference or not but must admit i'm a bit scared to say anything as dont want to risk losing job altogether

Sorry you're being put in this position, are you a union member?. A cut like that could seriously affect people who are entitled to working tax credit if they work over 16 hours but would lose it if their hours dropped below that. Interesting article in the Observer about implications of accepting pay cuts/reduced hours. for some people, it could make life a lot more complicated in ways I hadn't even thought about.

ceridwen

grannytwice wrote: »

Just had my working hours reduced to 13hours, boss has decided to close shop early, trying to look on positive side, grow veg as i am lucky enough to have a garden will spend more time with elderly family, but it did come as a shock makes you wonder if some employers are using this credit crunch as an excuse to do what they want , not sure, feel a bit let down as it came out of the blue and hours have to be implimented immediatly, ahh well will just have to make the most of all the advice on this board to get us through at least i am still in a job, i do have a contract of employment for at least 17 hours i dont know if that makes any difference or not but must admit i'm a bit scared to say anything as dont want to risk losing job altogether as there is not much work round here and a lot of bigger firms are paying off people so i'm luckier than most. keep up the good advice its makes such a difference and keeps us all going, old style is a great virtual community.

You could always put this as a specific query on the Employment Board - ie whether an employer has to give appropriate amount of notice to remove part of a job. It seems logical to me that if an employer has to give notice to take your whole job away from you - then they would presumably have to give that same amount of notice to take part of your job away from you??? Dont know how the law stands on that - but it would make sense.

Sorry to hear that.

fedupfreda

fletch3163 wrote: »

I've forgotten loads of names from back the thread but can I ask about growing raspberries? Autumn tumble I think it was. Do they grow tall? I could do this in my front garden (facing north east) but not if they grow tall.

Hi Fletch

Unfortunately rasperries do grow tall, they are supposed to reach 5-6 ft but in my garden they get to 4ft tall, but you can train them over an arch or similar structure - can make quite a decorative feature.

Theres lots of different varieties depending on whether you want summer or autumn fruiting. For summer fruit try Glen Ample or Glen Clova. For autumn try Autumn bliss or All Gold (a yellow raspberry - never tried it but supposed to be excellent). Main difference is summer fruiters crop on last years wood, so you have bare canes on show all winter. Autumn fruiters crop on this years wood, so when they have finished fruiting, you cut the canes down to the ground, leaves the garden looking tidier for winter. HTH. Freda.

mummysaver

Morning all!

D&DD - hope life is getting back to normal, not that I'm certain what normal actually is, and that your ds2 is recovering well x

My garden plans are coming along well, kids are enthusiastic still, so looking promising, all we need now is spring!

Replaced some of my dwindling tomato supplies yesterday, for some reason Heinz 4 packs of them were reduced to £1, not out of date till Sept 09, so not sure why, perhaps they aren't stocking them in the little one any more? Bought the 3 packs that were left. Also noticed bread flour was 48p there, not sure if it's come down again or it's old stock? Good news anyway! And Branston beans were 4 for £1, so cheaper than the value ones, strange!

I've noticed that a lot of items are cheaper per 100g for the smaller bags, lentils and oats being two of them! Drives me insane having to check labels constantly!

I swear that the supermarkets are trying to confuse me! I refuse to be beaten though lol!

On the subject of retiring and doing voluntary work, I think that a form of voluntary work should be compulsory for a year after leaving school! It would be good experience for the individuals, hopefully safer than national service was, and there must be something that everyone could enjoy and it would benefit society no end. Of course if it was compulsory I guess there would need to be some form of pay, but I do wonder if this would work out cheaper in the long run for society?

grannytwice

Thanks for the advice ceridwen,and sleepless saver, will go and have a look at the employment board, haven't looked at it before, this is a very supportive board and there are lots of good ideas and everyone seems to help each other, Thanks again

elizabunny

grannytwice -so sorry to hear your news. Hope you manage to get some clarification on your position soon. You will definately find lots of advice and support on this thread.

mummysaver -Glad your garden plans are coming on well. You've inspired me to get on with mine for the coming year.

I've just bought 2 new gro-bags. I plan to get these into the greenhouse asap and start off my salad leaves. We have an under soil warming cable, I think it cost me about £30 about 6 years ago, but has been well worth the expense, as the seeds germinate really quickly with this under them and the gentle heat gets the seedlings off to a really strong start -especially at this time of year. I usually put the cable on the gravel on the bench in the greenhouse. Then I put a couple of old fridge shelves over it so that they hold the gro-bag above the cable without allowing the bag to actually touch the cable. It usually works ok for me doing this. Then into the gro-bag go about 3 rows of mixed lettuce seeds. I start pulling the leaves as soon as they're a few inches high. Just a few to begin with then more as they mature. They filled the bag and if I remember correctly one bag produced leaves for over 2 months last year. I staggered about 4 bags during the year so we had lettuce from about March to October.

I've also started off my indoor Mushroom growing kit now so looking forward to the 1st offerings. We tried some of the mushroom plugs which you put into and old log last year -but unfortunately -we're still waiting.......................... It may be that we just need to be a bit more patient.

Pink.

Hi everyone,

I know there are some who post in this thread who are facing redundancy or who have already been made redundant, so just to let you know that there is a new board that may help:

Redundancy

Sending thoughts and good wishes to all who are going through hard times right now.

Pink

fletch3163

Hi all

Found this in the FT when I got to work today

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/80829e0e-dedd-11dd-9464-000077b07658,dwp_uuid=f69652e2-ee93-11dc-97ec-0000779fd2ac.html

and to think I get the mick taken when I go on about this website

Caterina

fletch3163 wrote: »

Hi all

Found this in the FT when I got to work today

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/80829e0e-dedd-11dd-9464-000077b07658,dwp_uuid=f69652e2-ee93-11dc-97ec-0000779fd2ac.html

and to think I get the mick taken when I go on about this website

Thank you Fletch!

I am glad I am not the only one who gets the mick taken when I speak (at great lengths :rotfl: ) of the MSE site and especially the OS thread! I don't mean that I am glad that you have the mick taken of - but I find it so surprising that so few people are interested when I tell them about here and the benefits that they would gain.

On the other hand, when you hear someone moaning about being skint (and you KNOW!!! that they are overspending in so many areas of their life and could do sooooo much for helping themselves!) it sounds really uncharitable if you take the mick out of their behaviour, no? Ah well, their loss!

I hope that Approved food don't become so popular/fashionable that they end up charging a lot more just because of this! I think they ought to offer OS clients a special incentive or discount because it is due to us here that they have taken off the way they have!

Charis

mummysaver wrote: »

Morning all!

On the subject of retiring and doing voluntary work, I think that a form of voluntary work should be compulsory for a year after leaving school! It would be good experience for the individuals, hopefully safer than national service was, and there must be something that everyone could enjoy and it would benefit society no end. Of course if it was compulsory I guess there would need to be some form of pay, but I do wonder if this would work out cheaper in the long run for society?

It sounds like a good idea on the surface but it is unlikely ever to happen. The goverment has, a couple of years ago, seriously mooted compulsory volunteering for young unemployed people. Volunteer supporting agencies were aghast. Compulsory volunteering? It can only be one or the other, not both. Imagine a crowd of disaffected youngsters being made to volunteer. Who would oversee the process? Who would be responsible for the youngsters' safety?

What effect would it have on existing volunteers, some of whom have learning difficulties, mental health issues, or are elderly and frail. For the sake of such volunteers and for the sake of all young people, all volunteers and volunteer managers would have to be screened via a Criminal Records check (aka CRB). It is a legal requirement and can take months. Meanwhile the potential volunteer is left in limbo. In case anyone thinks that is overkill, I have encountered (before CRBs) two people who were left in charge of children who should not have been. That was before I heard other stories in my time at the volunteer centre.

From the young person's point of view, they may be keen to get on with finishing their studies. My DS has decided to do an extra year and will already be two months short of 20 when he goes off to uni (or whatever). Many parents would be hard pressed to support each of their children through a gap year and charitable organisations cannot afford to take on extra staff to supervise, they don't always do a wonderful job of looking after volunteers as it is. The government was hoping it would be a cheap way to keep kids involved in community issues. I think the idea has been shelved.

BTW As UK legislation stands, it is illegal to pay for voluntary work, even if the charities had the money to spare. Anyone employed in this country is entitled to a minimum wage, even youngsters. Even giving someone 'perks' (e.g. first pickings at a charity shop) is treading on thin ice if HMRC finds out, although it does go on unofficially. All that may be allowed is literally out-of-pocket expenses and training which is relevant to the job.

I think kids would view it as slave labour, like they did the old Youth Training Scheme. Not-for-profit organisations and charities would have a fresh batch every year, so why employ someone to sweep the floor?

I'd love to think of an incentive for youngsters to truly volunteer, they can be passionate about causes. Maybe if we adults regarded voluntary work highly enough to expect to do at least a few hours every week, then it would have a different profile. The government expects people to volunteer, even has a 'budget' of what it expects and targets for volunteer agencies to reach. Not nearly enough funding, though. And rather derogatorily labelled 'third sector', which reminds me of 'third world' and the connotations thereof.

Of course, most women (and some men and even schoolchildren) do undertake voluntary work all the time, but it is never recognised as such. Caring for others: family, friends, neighbours, sometimes in very difficult circumstances, goes on all the time but is invisible to the wider world.