'You Northerners don't need much'

I do exactly the same job as my colleagues in London who receive London weighting to take account of the higher living costs ( I do not have a problem with this). I work in some some of the most deprived areas of the North West and work as hard as my colleagues in other parts of the country so why should I receive less because the average wages in my area are very poor. They should receive a higher rate of pay rather than my pay reducing to their level. I have had no pay rise for 3 years and my pension contributions have increased plus I have to work years longer so I do think I am doing my bit to help the deficit. As some of you know my DP has lost his job and once his contributory benefits are exhausted he will have no income at all so I will also be expected to support him and our son and pay our mortgage/bills etc.

One major problem is of course that you need workers in the cities in the s South as much as in the North//East/West. Nurses and doctors are a prime example - one physio at the Royal Free actually lives in Milton Keynes and drives to Edgware then takes the Tube to Hampstead - it must cost her a fortune, but is still a whole lot cheaper than trying to find anything she can afford on her salary in North London. Travel times must be horrendous too. I believe we are the only country in Europe where people are prepared to undertake the sorts of commute we do (DH did for rthw sake of bringing the choldren up in the country )Our French and German friends think it's daft. On the other hand, if you do the sort of job you can do anywhere in the country and are on the same salary as someone in the South, you have a lot more expendable income available. Thatr would have been more than enough to tempt me North if it had been feasible.

Gosh, I'd better throw in the towel now, then! No culture, and surrounded by people who are apparently about to kick the bucket!

Workers would flock to where the pay was higher creating even more demand and increasing housing costs in the south. From memory most health surveys give the north the lowest marks: More smokers, more heart disease, more obesity and shorter life expectancy. And with unemployment higher in the north than the south then that will only add to the problems. So surely health workers should be encouraged to stay where most needed, not lured away by better pay.
If the private sector is struggling for staff then they must know what the answer is. I know my mother's carer was on a very low wage and was always rushing to get to her next client.

House prices are definitely not as high as in the London area but that is the same for Paris, Berlin, or Brussels. Capital cities have always been dearer to live in. They also have more job opportunities and more young people.

I think nurses or policeman should get more money to balance out the difference in housing costs. In my opinion there wouldn't be many Southerners content to live Up North, and if I remember rightly the Northerners won't be too keen to have them, especially if they keep going on about how much better everything was 'Down South'

It is that certain quality of life that people are looking for and even if you found a cheaper house you'd miss things that you had in London and the Home counties. The closeness to Europe for holidays and tripping over to France. Then the culture if that is what you like, and that belongs to your idea of good life.
I like the North because that is where I lived and went to school etc but I'm trying to imagine moving North just for a cheaper house and if that would work.

Edinburgh is as expensive as Oxford. Fuel up north is more expensive than down south because of transport costs getting it to far flung places. We also need more heating because it's a colder climate with longer winters.

We have lived in Outer London and I don't remember the cost of food and other goods being any higher than it was anywhere else (unless you do all your shopping at Borough Market!) However, the cost of property - both rental and owner occupied - is considerably cheaper up here; we know several people who have moved here from the south of England, having sold properties, and think all their birthdays have come at once in terms of where they can afford to live. The daughter of a friend of mine got a job in London and the only rental property she could afford was so far out of town, it was costing her a fortune to travel back and forth to work (this, of course, contributes in no small part to the cost of living being higher in the South). She also felt very isolated. She asked for a transfer to Manchester and has never looked back. She now owns her own house. I am all for decentralising some Government departments, and institutions such as the BBC, but while ever there is a culture of resistance from staff, it will not happen.

It most certainly will cause massive problems if regional wage structures were put in place. This is not the time to be doing so, having said that the country is in a financial mess and it is easy to forget that public sector wages are paid by the government and it is broke.

I knew in my employment, the same role which was being undertaken by council and health service staff, paid a higher wage than mine. Their jobs did not get vacated very often as the benefits were too good to give up.

Regional housing costs do vary enormously. A job paying 25K in Kent is like being paid 35K in Newcastle. The problem of employment follows on too. If you are trying to employ staff and you cannot afford the higher pay levels the public sector pays you struggle to get staff. Now the arguement remains is the view that the private sector should pay higher wages rather than the public sector fall in line? It would be nice if the private sector pay improved but that is not likely to happen for a very long time.

I have not noticed the cost of living being any cheaper in the north, perhaps the rental properties are a little cheaper.

regional pay is going to encourage people to move to the south. which is overcrowded. pay should be higher in the north, to persuade people to move away from overcrowded areas.

One could argue that the cost of living ooop north is much cheaper than in the south - which was already addressed by the London weighting for some jobs. But as they are trying to get the unemployed to move out of London and go ooop north to seek work where it is cheaper to support them - it is just daft!