What's your work status now? Back at work? Furloughed? Working from home? Or bugger all?

[Callum91]

Still working here, full time chef for a large pub chain in Blackpool (not Spoons ). We've had quite a few staff here go off on self isolation but so far it's not effected me much, other than making me work more hours than usual. Yesterday was fucking packed with all the football games going on.

 

[A380]

Feeling quite guilty as suckling at the Goverment teat so on full pay. For the first three months though was on 12/14 hour days and some weekends. Still doing well over ‘normal’ contract hours with no overtime, but that’s seems ok given it useful and what so many others are going through.

 

[Ms Ordinary]

Apparently legal to claim whole years tax relief for working at home, even if you WFH for just one day.

Usually up to £6 / week to cover heating & lighting, but this year according to HMRC it's possible to claim the full allowance for any number of days WFH.

HMRC says: “We recognise that the working from home situation is very fluid this year, so we’re accepting claims for the full year’s expenses. That includes even if people have only worked from home for some of the year, to avoid needing to contact us if you have to work from home again.”

You don't need receipts or proof of expenses to claim the tax back.

You can claim £62 a year for basic tax payers and £124 for those in the higher rate.

You can claim more if you think your expenses are higher - but will need to show proof.

Though £6 per week works out much more than £62 so I guess you need to show proof if you're claiming that much.

 

[Maltin]

Apparently legal to claim whole years tax relief for working at home, even if you WFH for just one day.

Usually up to £6 / week to cover heating & lighting, but this year according to HMRC it's possible to claim the full allowance for any number of days WFH.



Though £6 per week works out much more than £62 so I guess you need to show proof if you're claiming that much.

The amounts quoted are the tax savings so 20% of £6 per week and 40% for higher rate tax payers.

 

[nadia]

After furlough, back part time and redundant, I start a new job on Monday at an office I have never been to with people I have never met in the flesh

 

[Sprocket.]

I have been off work on sick pay since the last week in February. I was hoping and looking forward to starting back on light duties last Monday. But health issues prevented that and even if I can resume light work my manager has told me not to return until after January. They do not want me to endure all this to be knocked down by Covid.
So regularly updating with occupational health and phone consultations with my manager. But having to keep myself as busy as possible at home.

 

[Elpenor]

Applied for 20 jobs this week. Looking within a 100 mile radius now as I can always get a hotel / digs if it’s too far. In the process of selling house so once it’s gone I can easily relocate.

One virtual interview has led to a face to face second interview.

A question of throwing enough mud til something sticks. I’ve never had an issue finding work until Covid hit. Having what I guess was a nervous breakdown (marriage ended and getting out of that abusive relationship, mother having chemo as her cancer has spread, losing a close friend who turned on me suddenly and a general lack in confidence in myself) hasn’t helped.

however feel like I’m coming out of the fog and will keep buggering on as what else can I do eh

Well I'm now 3 weeks into an ongoing temp role, office based, 5 miles from home. Looking likely the person I am covering for will not return from sick leave so the job may be available on a permanent basis however I would have to take a pay cut probably - which I'd rather not do. Not that keen on the companies approach to staff, and the industry is very tight margins so also tight on salaries.

Please to finally have some good news to report

 

[sojourner]

Nice one for that Ms Ordinary - I just did the extremely simple claim online!

 

[Cloo]

Found out on Monday that, as expected, I have 'survived' redundancy and have a letter today to confirm my role is no longer at risk. I did apply for a new role in the org, but I haven't been shortlisted for that - they got back to me pretty fast, which suggests they had someone in particular in mind for it, also I did think they were looking for someone more senior in all likelihood, but it was worth a shot.

After (of choice) not being paid since July (he's working on his own software product) my other half has just been asked out of the blue by a former colleague to join a 6-week, 3-day-a-week project, which is pretty ideal - he can still do his own project but at consulting rates he'll bring in enough to keep going another few months. He also is hatching a plan with another former colleague to do some training work, and his colleague reckons he has some takers - again, that could be work he could do a few days a month and keep us afloat while our living costs are as low as they are no (mostly in terms of no childcare)

 

[marty21]

Did actually go on to the main office today , only for an hour or so , I was working on the wrong floor apparently but the desk marshalls didn't catch me . Apparently some people have been banned from working in the office for being too 'social'

 

[William of Walworth]

I was temporarily stood down yesterday (Weds 23rd)..

A person at work who (it seems) developed severe Covid symptoms (test result imminent), was not someone I worked anywhere at all close to, the bosses reassured me

But they were beng ultra-cautions and sending a fair few people home. What happens next depends on the person's test result. If negative, I'll be back on Monday -- that is if they know by then**.

If the person tests positive, I have no idea whether I'd be sent for a test myself, or simply just told to stay away for longer, as an associated person

**I am -- a bit guiltily but sod it!! -- hoping that I get Monday off as well as today!

Officially, almost all of us Civil Servants are meant to work through the Welsh lockdown -- two weeks.
We're classed as 'essential workers' and will be given letters on letterheaded paper, naming us, to prove our essentiality

 

[William of Walworth]

Apparently some people have been banned from working in the office for being too 'social'

We've recently introduced 'bubble zones' -- four zones on each (large) floor.

No-one in zone 1 (for e.g.) can associate/chat with anyone in zones 2, 3 and 4 -- you'd have to phone or email them. If you're walking to the loo or the fridge/hot-water-dispenser, you'll unavoidably pass by the edges of other zones as you return to your desk, because of our strict one-way system

But big restrictions on office 'sociability; means a fair bit less in the way of people hanging around and chatting -- abnormal suits me

 

[Argonia]

Why does Pickman's model vote on every option?

 

[Pickman's model]

Why does Pickman's model vote on every option?

Because I object to poorly thought out multivote polls

 

[Saul Goodman]

Why does Pickman's model vote on every option?

It says multiple votes are allowed. If someone offered you a plate of Rolos, and said you could have as many as you like, would you only take one?

 

[Voley]

Official line at ours is that we'll be back in the office a couple of days a week from January. Unofficially heard from a decent source that that'll probably be later in the year, maybe March. All sounds sensible tbf.

 

[skyscraper101]

I went to my Mum's for a few days and working from here. I do like this guilt free feeling of working from anywhere life. Even so, I prefer to be in the office most of the time, I'm more focused in an office setting but flexibility is helping a lot.

I am certainly counting my blessings though. I'm well aware that not everyone's life has been a barrel of laughs since all this, and not all jobs can just be WFH.

 

[Saul Goodman]

But working where you want with no guilt (if you can) has to be the biggest upside to Covid.

Nah, knowing that nobody will be knocking on your door and expecting you to let them in is by far the biggest upside.

 

[Cloo]

I suspect, depending on when the 3rd wave is , our office will reopen some days from March or April. Having been nervous about transport, I'm getting less so as weirdly there seems to be a lot of indications that public transport is not a big spreader, I think that is providing people wear masks

 

[Puddy_Tat]

well...

one colleague (who's only been coming in one day a week and wfh the rest of the time) - her husband has tested positive for teh plague. she can't get a test, as while he's told her, the track and trace bollocks hasn't so apparently that doesn't count.

another colleague (coming in even less often but has had a day in this week) has symptoms and is now waiting for test results.

rest of us have been pretty much forcibly evicted from the office and will be wfh as from tomorrow. (there are elements of it that i'm not sure how they are going to work but still)

i'd already booked day off tomorrow, and will have to call in or something on monday, as i'm being issued with a work computer, but IT people couldn't get some of the specialised software i use installed and working on it today. also had to stay late to finish one chunk of the stuff that can't be done from home.

 

[William of Walworth]

Puddy_Tat : very best of luck with all that ....

I have to say that I'm mildly (or more!) jealous of your WFH possibilities -- I'd fucking LOVE to work from home

I'm shovelling paperwork onto a PC -- so for me to work from home would involve a data secure PC (or maybe laptop) plus safe printer being brought home for me, plus big batches of work being brought by van and completed work being taken away again ....

Those in authority at our place have decided that the logistics of all that back and forth is too complicated.

To an extent, I understand that, because while we live very near town, around 80%-plus** (made-up-but-plausible statistic ) of my colleagues live miles out of Swansea in all possible directions ......

**Next-to-none of whom I ever seen out and about in town, and that's been true well before Covid too.

They could well be non-drinkers or rarely-drinkers with shedloads of family commitments up in the hills -- fair enough!!!

But depending in relevant age and demogaphic they'e also likely (IMO) to be either shit pub AND crap 'lager' favourers when (rarely) in town, or just generally boring tossers generally. Or both

 

[High Voltage]

Hmmm! Coming to the end of this round of furlough

And I've heard a rumour of a meeting this coming Monday with the owner

Watch this space I s'pose

 

[Voley]

Best of luck High Voltage and everyone else in a similarly anxious position just now.

 

[May Kasahara]

Yes, this ^^^

Good news chez K is that, after being made redundant at the start of the year and mostly being out of work since March, Mr K is finally back in permanent employment

Also good news: the role I'm currently in at work is technically a secondment; although the intention (I believe) is to make it permanent, there are some complex circumstances surrounding this. I really, really love this role and have been giving it everything, but the worry over what happens when the secondment ends is always there. Anyway, had a chat with the CEO yesterday, who told me that I have achieved more in the last five months than any previous incumbent in the last five years, that he needs me to keep doing it and that there is no chance of anyone kicking me out of this role so fingers crossed.

 

[William of Walworth]

Hmmm! Coming to the end of this round of furlough

And I've heard a rumour of a meeting this coming Monday with the owner

Watch this space I s'pose

Just seen this!
Good luck High Voltage , fingers crossed for you

 

[Puddy_Tat]

well...

one colleague (who's only been coming in one day a week and wfh the rest of the time) - her husband has tested positive for teh plague. she can't get a test, as while he's told her, the track and trace bollocks hasn't so apparently that doesn't count.

another colleague (coming in even less often but has had a day in this week) has symptoms and is now waiting for test results.

rest of us have been pretty much forcibly evicted from the office and will be wfh as from tomorrow. (there are elements of it that i'm not sure how they are going to work but still)

i'd already booked day off tomorrow, and will have to call in or something on monday, as i'm being issued with a work computer, but IT people couldn't get some of the specialised software i use installed and working on it today. also had to stay late to finish one chunk of the stuff that can't be done from home.

colleague with husband now has symptoms, colleague who had test had it come back positive

oh bugger

shopping run and fill the freezer later today...

 

[miss direct]

My earnings are now around £20-30 a week. Not eligible for any help so living off my savings, which are supposed to be my deposit for a house. Really wish I had a permanent job with a contract.

 

[spanglechick]

My earnings are now around £20-30 a week. Not eligible for any help so living off my savings, which are supposed to be my deposit for a house. Really wish I had a permanent job with a contract.

Have you looked in the TES for Cover Supervisor jobs? With so many teachers off, supply teachers are a horribly expensive solution and I’d think a lot of schools would be taking the option of employing full-time cover supervisors. No QTS / PGCE required.
It pays less than being a qualified teacher but is much better than £30 a week!

 

[Puddy_Tat]

My earnings are now around £20-30 a week. Not eligible for any help so living off my savings

i don't want to ask questions about your circumstances on here, but are you sure about the 'not eligible for any help' bit?

Benefits Calculator - entitledto - independent | accurate | reliable | www.entitledto.co.uk may be worth a look.

DWP approach these days tends to be to refuse as many benefits applications as possible in the hope people will just go away rather than challenge their decisions.

 

[miss direct]

Have you looked in the TES for Cover Supervisor jobs? With so many teachers off, supply teachers are a horribly expensive solution and I’d think a lot of schools would be taking the option of employing full-time cover supervisors. No QTS / PGCE required.
It pays less than being a qualified teacher but is much better than £30 a week!

I've got an interview with an agency for cover work. The recruiter said there is high demand and I should be able to get going right after half term. A bit anxious about it, but anything is better than this.