Life during lockdown

Clarity needed for contingent workers in public sector working through umbrella companies. Our contracts terminated. We are being told furlough does not apply to us and umbrella companies not providing any clarity ir support even though they do our PAYE and payroll.  The situation is confusing and no one taking responsibility

As of March 13th I lost all my work and have no income. I care for my elderly mother so my work was living a little bit of my dream, now I have nothing. I was just getting on top of things money wise now I am just a full time carer who will eventually be destitute. I was self employed and also 0 hour contracted on another job. The nature of my self employed work means I might fall through the cracks and get no help. My pets keep me going just, but life feels hopeless.

I work for a teaching supply agency and besides all the measures given by the government, my contract will end at the end of April. I heard some teaching agencies have worked really hard to keep their teachers in employment, unfortunately my agency is not one of these. 
What I learnt from this whole lockdown is that there are a lot more services now that can be offered from home and enjoyed from that nobody wanted to do before the lockdown. I hope they keep some of these services open. Schools always struggles with some students unwilling or unable to attend school. It could be a possibility to offer them distance learning lessons in the future. 

When the government announced furlough pay and help for self employed, it should have included all agreeing to this to be registered with a National Service agreement, so those not required to stay at home for health reasons, would be required to work on national projects to support the community. This would be much the same as occurred during WW2

My main worry is for my granddaughter an NHS  nurse at St Thomas's.  How good is her protection? Please give PPE to postmen van drivers and especially bus and train drivers.They should be tested.

London's Churchyards should be open at this time not chained up. They are obvious places of calm and beauty for people to enjoy.

Parks should remain open but social distancing strictly enforced. Heavy exercise like jogging and fast cycling is not compatible with pedestrians oldies  mums and babies, dads with families of little boys, dog-walkers and their dogs. Joggers and co  should be given a timetable for exercise  eg before 8AM and after 7PM as in France.

Small businesses like my son's Fish and Chip restaurants should be supported but given strict practical safety guide lines   to get back into cheering people up with a staple British food. Pubs could operate beer takeaways.When the good weather comes, pubs could place tables and chairs outside with SD. 

 LIbraries should reopen at the first opportunity for safe  book borrowing . Bookshops too. We all need to be less dependent on internet shopping . 

I am a keyworker but I am not able to work from home, so I take the bus to work each day. If I am required to wear a facemask to travel to my keyworker role will they be supplied as I do not have any. I am not supplied with ppe at work

As a foster carer i am concerned for the safety of our children, there is little movement and emergency placements requirements have fallen dramatically which is highly alarming.  I also work at a family and child contact centre and have no idea how the government are going to reintroduce families back into that.  There is minimal information for my sector.  Mental health sector are in for tough times as already waiting lists are beyond practicle, and need for services will rise tremendously. Not enough is being done to protect front line staff or oue vulnerable and at risk, the government were not quick enough to act

As a foster carer i am concerned for the safety of our children, there is little movement and emergency placements requirements have fallen dramatically which is highly alarming.  I also work at a family and child contact centre and have no idea how the government are going to reintroduce families back into that.  There is minimal information for my sector.  Mental health sector are in for tough times as already waiting lists are beyond practicle, and need for services will rise tremendously. Not enough is being done to protect front line staff or oue vulnerable and at risk, the government were not quick enough to act

Brexit seems to be an additional threat to our food security and economy. There is no need for us to hurry to take chances with our economic future. The government should be persuaded to postpone any Brexit legislation until the Coronavirus situation is improved. Individual and party politics need to come second to national cooperation. 

I would like to go for walks on my days off work, but this is impossible due to reckless people not adhering to social distancing and masses of joggers on the pavements. In the shops people do not adhere to social distancing either. I try to shop online as much as possible in order to avoid people. Unfortunately most supermarkets are a disaster for key worker online shopping.  There are no slots ever. Luckily I found a local company that delivers to my home. I have no car and need to take the bus to work. There are too many people with kids who should not be on the bus during lockdown. It is not possible to socially distance in crowded buses. Another problem is the waste collection. Some waste has not been collected for over a month. That is slightly out of order. I appreciate that there are difficulties, but I work very hard too and cannot lapse. At least the council could try. Contacting them leads to nothing. So I pile up the waste in front of my door. It looks interesting. I wonder who in the London area produces face masks. It is extremely difficult to buy face masks. The country should produce their own. In my opinion everyone should wear a face mask when they are outside of their homes. That would reduce the spreading of the virus significantly. None of these reckless joggers should be allowed to run outside without a face mask on. 

I am one of the lucky few ones that has a full time job, and I am actually enjoying this new experience, although I am working many more hours. The improvement in air quality and tranquility due to huge reduction in traffic has been amazing. The cost saving from wfh and due to the lockdown has been huge - about 40%, due to no travel costs, no lunches and drinks out, and no dinners out. Overall, I am hoping that my employer has lot more wfh flexibility when everything geta back to normal. 

A MASK, A MASK, A KINGDOM FOR A MASK ...

I am not sure about the whole strategy in UK. I feel very uncomfortable about the incessant bitching about people going out while they are keeping the recommended distance and dare to enjoy nature. Police moving lone readers off park lawns when all they do is mind their own business and escaping their tiny living space for a while.

In stark contrast, I have not heard anything about how much people with self inflicted health issues are actually costing the nhs right now (majority of icu capacity for covid19 is taken by overweight people) In fact this very lockdown will cause even more obesity and weight issues as well as mental health issues. So, isn't it strange that the two most prevalent health issues around the world are currently being exacerbated to save people with severe underlying health conditions who still present the vast majority of deaths by measures taken to allegedly 'save lives'?

I don't think that any calculations have been made in regards to

How many people are now becoming very unhealthy as a result of the lockdown.

How many people will be dying because they can't currently access the treatment they require

How many people will be dying because illnesses that would be treatable now will not be diagnosed in time

How much time people who are now being 'saved' would have to live otherwise

How many of the people who are now being 'saved' actually WANT to be saved. As an example, my father who is 87 has water on his lungs and heart problems would not mind dying and even be relieved to die, actually, he would not want the world to stand still to save him.

We all have to die one day. And that hospital staff on the front lines have to die, now THAT IS TRULY DISGRACEFUL. WHY? There are too many questions that deserve an honest answer they will never get.

A MASK A MASK, A KINGDOM FOR A MASK ...

my employer is trying to make the whole company (a few on furlough but most still working full time from home or reduced shifts) take/waste half of our annual leave before end of june. i have tryed to look up employement rights but not found anything clearly stating what is the UK law saying about this... how many days can a company froce employees to take? under what conditions and what circumstances?

my company also allows us to buy up to 10 extra days, they now want us to also take half of these days (that we payed for) as well on top of half of the usual 25 days. is that legal? how can i find out? is there proptections for employees with health issues or disability to be less affected by that (in case having reduced holidays later in the year would potentialy impact their health for example)?

Hello I work in mental health,  one of the roles I do focus on is supporting people within the workplace to retain their employment and of course the world will be a different place going forward, I do sit on the London and south east job retention network, and coverage is hit and miss within each area of London, as a smaller charity working and funded within a borough only, we have struggled to highlight our services which we are keen to do. I believe as we start to return demand for the type of service we do rise. But I feel clearer pathways and some joined up pressure from above could help the people of London get the support they need.