Life during lockdown

The two biggest problems I face working from home are
(a) construction noise- for some unaccountable reason the Mayor has permitted no esssential building works to continue (such as house extensions)

(b) internet speeds and mobile phone connectivity - both poor in my area.

Love to go back into the office to work when social distancing allow, but can't see how I am going to do it by public transport.  Either that needs to be addressed rapidly or we need to free up car parking for the short term (car is by far the safest way to travel for the foreseeable future).  I appreciate this does not fit with Mayoral policy or the need to cut down on cars, but COVID-19 is hardly something that fits into any mayoral policy and, for the short term at least, policies will need to be adapted.  I recall that such changes we made in the past when railway strikes effectively did the same thing as COVID-19 in so far as it reduced the available rail capacity significantly.

As a NHS GP Surgery staff I have to work with my colleagues which you can imagine our offices are compact so social distancing can be very difficult as we are always close up..most of my colleagues have asthma and diabetes health issues but they do not have no care to stay home also the importance of wearing masks are not being used by my colleagues which I find thoughtless and irresponsible..The doctor has given masks to staff but they prefer not to wear them only myself which I have been made to feel very uncomfortable by my colleagues..this is troubling me now having to go to work..

Please ask the Government to make Masks compulsory as this way we can all abide by the same rules and not just tell people as it becomes wishy washy with people..we need to get rid of this freedom and liberty for the time being and think about saving lives and mean it..

I like to see a Park Inspector employed, as you may have seen people are continuing to ignore the rules and this makes all our lives much harder when we see people not caring and the virus will keep prolonging.

I've not seen my family for 2 months its been extremely hard not able to be close to them but thankful for video call..

I wasn't the brightest person in my school, so I would like to know how will we ever know if this awful virus will ever leave us for good so we can travel and shop with ease also to have human contact again and get on with our normal routines..without feeling anxiousness.

Strict measures are definitely needed in the UK like other countries during this horrific situation..we do not want anymore lives lost then we have..its been heartbreaking..

Had the UK immediately banned incoming flights & vigorously traced those already here with the virus, London’s workers would have suffered but not nearly as much as we all are suffering now.

The first way you get the virus is from people flying in with it. And the Mayor needs to act on news of a virus next time by closing the airports. Only look at what success Taiwan has achieved. 

I've just completed the survey, there was no categories for the self employed or sole traders or construction work.

I'm a skilled worker - a craftswoman who works largely on small construction sites, I often employ as subcontractors other artists and craftsmen & woman to help me do my work, London has a huge network of workers and trades people like me and there doesn't seem to be any thought given to us, when we are part of the immense construction industry that built this city and makes it the extraordinary place that it is today

I spend very little time in front of a computer but it's because I am one of the people who are actually constructing the real, not virtual city

Sorry, if people have already raised this, but I would really like to see guidance issued requiring people to wear face coverings on public transport and in shops/supermarkets. It's impossible to keep 2 metres away from people in these environments, and we know from the Far Eastern countries that if everyone is wearing masks, it really helps to keep transmission rates down.

They don't have to be surgical-grade masks - homemade fabric masks will do. Can't we please have some guidance issued by the Mayor's office on this?

Alan from Beckenham , 

self employed builder , my firm who I am working for have told its staff they can not work if they use public transport.

so have not worked since lockdown started , renting privately and cannot pay my rent as I have had no income . Being constantly hounded by my letting agent who manage the property to pay my rent . Am receiving working family’s tax credit but this is just enough to put food on the table for my family .

I am a new business not making profit yet, not entitled to any benefits, so pretty much I'm not getting any income sadly.

can survive until September but will struggle after that.

I have just seen that the government is going to pay healthcare/nhs staff's families £60,000 if they contract Coronavirus and die from it, Me and my partner are both key workers, I am looking after nhs staff's children and my partner is delivering food for a supermarket, I would like to see key workers families to be compensated, if they contract COVID 19

We need a universal basic income. I left my job in mid Feb with freelance work lined up in a self employed capacity. Up until then I worked in the public sector for 28 years. Went on holiday and by the time I returned we were in lockdown and the freelance work is no longer available. I have fallen through the net - can't ask previous employer to furlough me as I left the job without another job offer, can't claim as self employed, and not entitled to UC. 

I am a part time trade union officer - all work is now remote which makes representations for individual members more difficult for all concerned - particularly increasing stress for the member.

The measures are fine - but enforcement and more simplicity is required. I get many verbal reports of people in severe financial difficulties and this situation has exposed to more people the appalling benefits system which is absolutely inadequate for decent life.

For the future we need a complete change in attitude towards low paid workers. Low pay is not acceptable during the pandemic, and neither when the pandemic is over. Enforced changes must be put in place to protect tenants, rents must reduce.

I fear that the "herd immunity" policy is continuing in the elder care sector - it is horrifying that government claims not to know how many have died in homes or at home - sheer incompetence allied to couldn't give a damn. I fear this presages a continued disrespect of the value of the lives of older people and the continuing presentation of pensioners as fortunate and wealthy whilst many are in dire poverty - and a continuation of posing the interests of the young against the old.

The pandemic has exposed to a wider audience the inadequacy of health & safety at work legislation and enforcement. Returns to work must be preceded by proper and enforceable H&S planning involving recognised trade unions where they exist, and wider union involvement when there is no recognised trade union.

London's enormous wealth must be better distributed some of the above.

Supermarkets and other shops are the most dangerous places because social distancing has for most part not been enforced once you are in the shop (OK when queuing outside).

Staff have been at risk because they have not been provided with PPE and only recently have some shops erected some form of screen.  

And although my wife and I are in our late 70s we're finding it hard to map present circumstances to our previous way of shopping which was just shop for a few things each day.

Now, the more times we visit the shops the more dangerous it is.

We are not on government's list of vulnerable people and most supermarkets require you to buy far more than we would normally buy to make a delivery.

No option for the self employed in the survey, yet again we have been forgotten. I have seen half of my work disappear (I know there are people worst affected and seen it all disappear) but were is the help? We have to wait until June before any possibility of financial support, it's too long.  

I would like to see the construction industry stopped and the workers compensated so that the horrendous noise levels cease to make life unbearable for people like myself, in lockdown, and we don't have to suffer as we have been so far from the noise levels at 250 Goswell Road EC1V7PR. It constitutes mental torture. Workers are not social distancing either. There are 208 flats right next to the site. 

I'd like to see masks required on all public transport. I'd like to be reassured that stringent cleaning measures are in place for public transport. 

Fortunately, as a nurse my work has not been affected financially, like many others seem to have been.

My daily workload has increased and tasks are taking longer.  It can be quite uncomfortable when wearing PPE, especially in hot weather but I am not complaining as I do know others are experiencing very difficult financial and emotional hardships at this time

A number of my colleagues are unable to attend work due to their children's school not staying open for essential workers, meaning we are down on qualified nurses, which puts more pressure on those able to work.

If anything, I would like the powers that be to have better arrangements for childcare, especially for essential workers, when something like Covid 19 happens again.

I wish everyone all the best

I was shocked in the Survey on the employment page there is no slot for self employed!!! The self employed have been abandoned til JUNE!

There are hundreds of freelance Cycling Instructors on zero hours contracts, who live in and work London who are now out of a job. We work for local councils or arms reach contractors for local councils. TFL has a budget for us to be schools all year around, but from March to August is our busy season. Each borough has schemes for training adults 1-1. These free to the public and are mostly for people who ride already but are unsure how best to ride on London’s busy roads.

I feel that it would be perfectly feasible to deliver 1-1 cycle training and keep a safe social distance. There are many new to cycling key workers commuting to work to avoid public transport. However there has been a spike in cyclist deaths this year compared to last year. With the roads quieter than usual this is a brilliant time for people who are new to cycling to build up confidence on the roads.

So I urge that the first stage of lifting lock down in London should be to allow key workers to have free 1-1 lessons and employ these out of work freelance cycling instructors. By doing this we can protect our key workers better. 

I am retired but I have retained my membership of Unite, and I am heartened by their newsletter detailing some of the struggles that they have been involved in to protect workers as the lock down took effect. i also feel strongly that the lock down has really shown who the essential workers are in this society, all those people that we usually take for granted and who keep our society running smoothly. What I fear is not the Covid19 pandemic itself; it will eventually pass and others will come. What we must not lose is the workers own sense of their value and their right to a decent life without fear. More money and autonomy needs to be devolved to council and city level, so that resources for daily living can be better run.