Working/living in the UK?

[KalahariFerrari]

Hey guys whatsup, so me and 3 friends are SERIOUSLY considering moving over to the UK and we dont know exactly where to start YET we will get to that later though, we just need to urgently get out of this country before it ends up like Zimbabwe.......

I just wana find out, for interest sake, where would be the ideal place to start a living in the UK as i see you guys have a TON of small towns as where we here in South Africa dont haha, taking into account crime and job opportunities and cost of renting a apartment etc etc. We're all 23 years old atm and thinking of getting a "entry level job" there and then lookout to start studying asap. My friend is allready doing IT studies atm so he's got a headstart on me at the moment.

Whats the cost of living like there? Hows the economy...TAXES etc from your point of view?

We will obviously be doing extensive research before deciding on where to go but just thought i'd ask people who lives there 1st.


I know its a weird place to ask this kinda stuff but its the only UK people i currently know of where i can ask freely hope you guys dont think weird now:thumbup:

 

[klem]

Hi

The work situation isn't as bad as the media would have you believe in my experience, at least not in professional job areas... Apprenticeships are big growth area for post 19 students too.

The tax system isn't great but it's not prohibitive... There is talk of abolishing the "10p" tax rate so you wouldn't pay any income tax on the 1st £10k you earn. The higher rate is a bit of a kick in the teeth though. However, compared to Northern European countries like Denmark(50%) it's not that bad.

There are plenty of decent places to consider living. I would say you chosen careers would influence this decision quite heavily. Some areas such have Cambridgeshire have a strong IT sector whereas Nottingham has lots of Bioscience opportunities.

Good luck!

 

[Robo_#1]

^^ I have to agree with Klem.

The tax system (although we all complain), isn't the worst your going to find in Europe. The economy has pretty much levelled out and compared to other countries (Ireland for example) is actually not as bad as some media outlets would like people to believe.

As for cost of living; Again, its not cheap. Likewise its not the most expensive. I travel to Ireland a lot with work, and I've noticed a swing in cost of living, which has (for the first time in 10 years) made the UK a more expensive place to live.

Location; As Klem has touched on, your chosen career path can have a big say on where you want to live and TBH I would imagine a lot of the opinions on here will be biased towards where they live/have lived. Another factor to bear in mind is what kind of lifestyle you want, and what sort of money you are bringing with you. A rough guide is the further north you go, the cheaper it gets. The price of a 2bed apartment in a relatively affordable area near london would get you a 4bed detached house and garage where I live. Lots of people move to the UK and head straight for London, I'm not saying its a bad choice, infact I love London, BUT, theres plenty of other big cities worth looking at...
Every area will have its good and bad places parts, so when you have picked your City, then get posting on here about exactly where your looking at, I'm sure we'll have someone that knows the area

Given the choice, and putting my bias towards my hometown (Sheffield) to one side, I really like Manchester. Its a huge city (especially if you include 'Greater Manchester'). There's plenty of culture, great nightlife and a good mix of career opportunities. Its up north so its cheaper than living further down south. Newcastle is a good city too, but everyone talks funny and geographically its a bit isolated. That being said; Sheffield, Leeds and Nottingham are all great places to live and well worth looking in to, they all have good universities and colleges so plenty of places to gain further education once your here too. (just don't expect it to come cheap, they like to exploit foreign students!), they all also have good nightlife (Don't worry, I've tested them all for you. Just let me know if you want me to do more research ). They all also have a great culture and some job opportunities.

Weather; This might sound like I'm taking the p*ss a little. But honestly you need to consider this. The weather here is pretty crap, its not horrendously cold, its not horrendously hot. Its generally just a bit crap, we have snow in spring, we have heatwaves in autumn, when it snows the country falls apart, and summer can last anywhere from 2days to 2months and can happen at any point so you have to be ready for it. It's caused lots of my friends to leave the country completely, but I also have friends from the Philippines and Canada that just laugh it off and love living here :rain:


Sorry for the long post, but as I'm sure your starting to realise, the UK is a VERY diverse and populated place! To be honest, my post is probably a bit long as these are all things I've been considering lately because I've been toying with the idea of picking up my sh*t and leaving for America the last couple of years, but as yet haven't managed to convince the Mrs

 

[SarGara]

Your biggest factor here is location.

It will make the difference between succeeding and failing. Ideally you need to think about the work you want to do, find a city that offers alot of those types of jobs, and then look at towns to live within commuting distance. Avoid living in the city you are trying to find work in as that will help reduce living costs (rent).

The "bigger" cities i would recommend focusing on are: Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Nottingham.

Good luck!

 

[Foxspeed]

the jobs market isnt as good as everyone makes out! wages are going down and costs going up...many jobs the money is alot lower

and the newest cost cutting from the government hasnt kicked in yet....next 3yrs is going to be not that good :'(

 

[X82]

I think possibly one of your biggest difficulties with working here is that there is already an abundance of graduates from university all with the same widely recognised qualifications, many people in their early 20s (sometimes tens, if not hundreds) all applying for the same job with just about nothing to choose between them.
You'd need some good experience to separate yourself from these graduates or you'll struggle to land a job you want.

 

[Gam]

the jobs market isnt as good as everyone makes out! wages are going down and costs going up...many jobs the money is alot lower

and the newest cost cutting from the government hasnt kicked in yet....next 3yrs is going to be not that good :'(

This right here.

I don't expect this countries economy to begin to pick up for at least another 3 years, that's with out any more problems factored in. We are still no where near out of this recession. One of the main dangers is the poxy Euro crisis. I will tell you now gentlemen. It is not if it is when will the Euro break, because trust me it will. We dodged a bullet not joining it for sure but we have not escaped unscathed. The French and Germans are quite literally propping up the entire program.

Watching the budget last week really did not fill me with any confidence of this countries attempt at fixing its current financial problems. These things aren't fixed quickly but seeing the figures I did I quite nearly choked to death.

Costs of living unfortunately WILL be rising at a slow rate that not many people will notice, Those people being in the higher tax brackets. The people in the mid and lower range of these will notice this however. Until we have a chancellor who quite clearly understands what this country's problems are and how to fix them we won't be out of this anytime soon.

 

[ben_r1]

the jobs market isnt as good as everyone makes out! wages are going down and costs going up...many jobs the money is alot lower

and the newest cost cutting from the government hasnt kicked in yet....next 3yrs is going to be not that good :'(

Pretty much what I would have said to be honest, cost of livings going up and wages going down.

 

[SarGara]

"Wages going down" will depend on your job/employer though more than anything. I suspect if they can play the "oh its the ecenomy" card and save themselves ££££ not having to pay i suspect many will exploit that.

We have had payrises resumed this year for the first time since it all began and as of this month im now better off! Its not all doom and gloom

 

[marshall]

We had a bonus at Christmas, allbeit a small one but its the first in many many many years

 

[KalahariFerrari]

damn ok thats definitely not the picture we were getting when considering to go there...i really appreciate all the responses and we'll take into account everything thats been said here.

 

[Willis]

You'd be better off looking at USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand.

 

[deadmau5]

Yeah, the USA is absolutely thriving at the moment...

 

[Gam]

Just out of interest what sectors do people work in here?

 

[Willis]

Yeah, the USA is absolutely thriving at the moment...

Wars make money, they're on the brink of one.

In all seriousness though, they have it pretty good over there. Something like $6 per gallon of fuel at the moment, cost of groceries is about 1/3 of what we pay for equivalent items, land and house prices are at a similar level as well. No welfare system raping the working man, imagine that... But, the gap between the haves and have-nots there is much greater than it is here.

 

[Robo_#1]

War makes money, they're on the brink of one.

When aren't they?

 

[Willis]

Good point hahaha!!!

 

[Foxspeed]

"Wages going down" will depend on your job/employer though more than anything. I suspect if they can play the "oh its the ecenomy" card and save themselves ££££ not having to pay i suspect many will exploit that.

We have had payrises resumed this year for the first time since it all began and as of this month im now better off! Its not all doom and gloom

well thats lucky for you...

someo of us that got forced to leave their employment arent as lucky at the moment and i can assure you theres plenty out there taking advantage of those unemployed and wanting a living wage :bounce:

 

[nicknameless]

wage deflation, erosion of pension provision, job security, welfare and health systems vs rising cost of living and impending public sector anihilation that foxspeed points out

no point considering the states as we're fast becoming them - haves vs have nots (check), no or vastly weakened safety net for the vulnerable (check), vastly inflated cost of healthcare making big business loads of money and ordinary folk poorer (wait a few years and then check)

it's all comparative however and IMHO the uk is still a fantastic place to live and work if you can avoid the negatives of the above. we still have a relatively cohesive, tolerant and safe society

AND

clio 197/200s

 

[Jason]

My Girlfriend is half south-african, her dad came over here around 30 years ago.

I'd much rather live in South Africa than England, the problems South Africa have had don't seem as much of a "serious" issue anymore. I'd stay in SA personally, there's not that many opportunities over here at the moment with the current state we're in.