How worried are employees in the UK about their current financial situation? The answer, according to new research, is very worried. 69% of employees said they felt worried, stressed or anxious about their financial situation.\u00a0The research\u00a0shows that employees are more stressed about their finances than other aspects of life like careers, health, and personal relationships.<\/p>\n
The research\u00a0also highlighted the UK employees’ savings crisis; 19% of UK employees have no savings at all and 20% only have savings of up to \u00a350. These figures show it\u2019s inevitable that when faced with a period of great economic instability, many people are feeling anxious and are left financially vulnerable.<\/p>\n
Estimates put the number of UK employees that have been furloughed as between 7-10 million, with around 50% of all UK companies putting staff onto the scheme.\u00a0For some, the furlough scheme will not have a serious impact on their financial well-being. But for others, a sudden and unexpected pay reduction has resulted in a precarious financial situation. Many households will also experience a more substantial pay reduction if multiple household earners have been furloughed.<\/p>\n
During this time, it\u2019s especially important for employers to be providing helpful advice and support that can help with employees\u2019 financial needs. 59% of UK employees felt they were either not getting any information from their employer, or that they would like more. Workplace financial well-being has been an overlooked aspect of employer support for employees, but now in the midst of this crisis, the benefits of having a functioning financial plan have been brought into sharp focus. If you\u2019re an employer or an employee, here are some tips to boost your financial health during these uncertain times:<\/p>\n
Make an emergency budget<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re worried about cash flow, have a look at what income you have coming in, and everything you\u2019re spending. Make a list of all your income (which of course may have been reduced recently) and a list of all your outgoings. This will illustrate exactly what your income is, and what you are spending your money on. You may need to cut back on certain things to get through the next few weeks or months. Make sure you know exactly where your money is going, and if you can cut back on any unnecessary spending then do it.<\/p>\n Use your savings<\/strong><\/p>\n Do you have any savings? You could access your money if it\u2019s in a fixed term or notice savings account \u2013 some banks and building societies are saying they\u2019ll give access to savings accounts, with no penalties. Check with your bank or building society and see if they\u2019re able to help.<\/p>\n Talk to your creditors if you think you\u2019re going to miss payments<\/strong><\/p>\n If you still think you\u2019re going to struggle to pay essential bills once you\u2019ve done your budget, make sure you talk to the people you owe money to before it becomes a problem. Don\u2019t ignore your creditors or bury your head in the sand. It\u2019s always better to let creditors know about your cash flow problems, they may be able to help.<\/p>\n Check your insurance policies<\/strong><\/p>\n You may have insurance policies that cover your mortgage payments or replace some of your income. For example:<\/p>\n These insurances are often offered with life insurance policies or mortgages, so it\u2019s easy to forget that you may be covered. There is usually a minimum time period which could be several months before these policies pay out so you should talk to your insurer to find out more, particularly if you are worried about redundancy.<\/p>\n Problems paying your rent or mortgage<\/strong><\/p>\n Something that is going to be hard to cover if you\u2019ve got a sudden drop in income and don\u2019t have access to savings is your mortgage or rent payments.<\/p>\n If you have a mortgage \u2013\u00a0mortgage lenders have announced support if you have to take time off work because of corona virus, including a repayment holiday of up to three months. This includes buy-to-let mortgages. Any decisions to offer this support will be made on a case-by-case basis. So, the most important thing is to talk to your lender as soon as possible to discuss your options if you think you could miss any mortgage payments.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re renting \u2013\u00a0the government has announced emergency legislation to suspend new evictions from social or private rented accommodation during the corona virus crisis. Your landlord will not be able to apply to start possession proceedings until you have missed rental payments for at least three months.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re living in a buy-to-let property, your landlord will be able to apply for the three-month mortgage payment holiday if you are experiencing financial difficulty so they shouldn\u2019t put any pressure on you to meet rent payments during this time.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re unable to meet rent payments after three months, your landlord should take every step to ensure that you continue to stay in your home. They will be expected to take into account your financial circumstances and try and work an affordable repayment plan with you before they start any proceedings.<\/p>\n Red Star Education has developed a wide ranging and pragmatic \u2018Financial Well-being in the Workplace\u2019 programme to help employers and employees navigate through this crisis with minimal financial damage. For more information on how to access this programme please get in touch with us – we\u2019re glad to help.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How worried are employees in the UK about their current financial situation? The answer, according to new research, is very worried. 69% of employees said they felt worried, stressed or anxious about their financial situation.\u00a0The research\u00a0shows that employees are more stressed about their finances than other aspects of life like careers, health, and personal relationships. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n