Latest news with #secondjobs
Times
10-07-2025
- Business
- Times
One in six UK workers struggling to pay bills
One in six UK workers are struggling to pay their bills, helping drive up the number of people with second jobs to the highest on record, according to new data on the cost of living crisis. A study of 3,800 workers by the Work Foundation think tank found that 17 per cent reported struggling to pay their bills at the end of every month. And 40 per cent said they had little income left over for savings or holidays. The foundation said that numbers show that despite rising real wage growth this year, the cost of living crisis has not alleviated for many workers this year. Under half of surveyed workers said the pace of their earnings can keep with the cost of living. • UK household incomes 'will stagnate or shrink' by 2030 Separate figures from the Office for National Statistics said just over a quarter of adults said they could not afford an 'unexpected but necessary expense of £850', the highest proportion since September 2024. Ben Harrison, director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, said: 'Raising living standards is not just about figures on a spreadsheet, it's about workers feeling more financially secure. Four years on from the start of the worst cost of living crisis in a generation, our analysis shows workers continue to feel the impact of nearly 20 years of stagnating pay packets.' The number of workers with second jobs has hit a record of 1.23 million, an increase of 121,000 or 10 per cent on the year. This is the highest proportion of the workforce since equivalent records began in 1992. 'Second jobs are sometimes glamorised as side hustles or optional extras but economic necessity is often a key motivation. Despite a period of sustained pay increases, the growth in second jobs points to continued cost of living pressures that mean some workers are struggling to make enough money in their main roles and are taking on additional jobs to make ends meet,' Harrison said. Younger workers also suffer from higher job uncertainty, with half of 16-24 year olds fearing they will lose their job in the next 12 months. The UK's overall unemployment rate has risen to 4.6 per cent this year — a four-year high — and vacancies and payroll growth have also slowed under pressure from higher payroll taxes and still high interest rates. The slowing job market has put pressure on the Bank of England to deliver a faster pace of rate cuts, with traders betting on another quarter of a percentage point cut at the central bank's next meeting in August. The Bank has said it wants to see more evidence that wage pressures are falling before it delivers bigger interest rate cuts. The Work Foundation's survey said that only a quarter of older workers — aged 55-64 — believed they would get an above-inflation pay rise this year.
Daily Mail
31-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE DJs, beekeepers and reiki healers: The bizarre second jobs of the UK police force as it is revealed 1 in 7 cops have additional employment
One in every seven police officers and staff have a second job outside policing, a Mail investigation can reveal. More than 33,000 have additional employment, including driving for Deliveroo, DJing, beekeeping and running a teashop. In some forces, the number of officers with a second job has quadrupled since 2019. Retired officers and the Police Federation said the numbers reflected poor pay levels that have forced cash-strapped police to register extra work as scaffolders, painters and checkout assistants. But other policing figures stressed that at least 422 senior officers of chief inspector rank or higher have second jobs or business interests, indicating many are just supplementing their pay. Former Bedfordshire police and crime commissioner, Festus Akinbusoye, said it was a worry that for many officers, a second job may become more important than serving the public. 'The worry is that if it's easier to make money through other employment then it might be tempting to turn their back on policing altogether,' he added. Freedom of Information responses from 37 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales show 33,669 officers and staff have registered business interests. The total number employed in the UK, according to Home Office statistics from last September, is 236,655, meaning more than 14 per cent have registered outside employment. For example, the probe shows Surrey Police has 562 officers and staff with registered business interests, including one who runs a tea shop, some bar staff at a tennis club and a kickboxing instructor who also moonlights as a reiki healer. Outside London, the starting salary for a constable is around £30,000, while a sergeant earns more than £50,000. A third of officers who responded to a Police Federation national pay and morale survey said they struggled to pay their bills, which acting deputy chairman Brian Booth described as 'criminal'. He added: 'Officers want to rest on their days off, not feel forced to pick up extra work to pay the rent.' A spokesman from the National Police Chiefs' Council said it assessed second jobs to ensure they were appropriate.
