UK Strike Action – How does this impact the property market?

The UK Strike action planned for today is underway, and around 2.6 million public sector employees are making a stand.

The problem?

People are now being asked to pay more into their pensions, they are being asked to work for longer, they have to accept a pension which will be based on a ‘career average’ salary rather than the current arrangement where there is a final salary arrangement.

Who?

This strike is expected to take up to 2 million people out of work and is expected to be the biggest day of industrial unrest for years.

The most affected will be schools, universities, hospitals, government offices and airports. There are more than 1,000 demonstrations taking place across the country.

Thousands of non-emergency operations are going to be postponed and border checks are expected to take up to three hours.

However, patients in need of chemotherapy and kidney dialysis will still be treated and maternity units will remain open. The public is also being warned to not abuse 999.

Why?

The government is saying that it cannot sustain the public sector pension scheme as it is now because people are living longer. Trade Unions say that these new changes will make people pay more while they work for longer to, in the end, gain less.

What next?

The government is making bold statements to show that they do not back the UK strike action at all. They want the Unions to go back to the negotiation table and understand the need for the spending cuts. The Chancellor has said that without making difficult decisions to deal with the UK’s debts, the country “would be bankrupt”.

Ed Balls, the Shadow chancellor, said that the pensions problem should have been solved a long time ago by the government and the Labour Party have said that they do not support the industrial action as it is a sign of failure.

Housing Market

Those expected to be worst hit by these changes are low paid women. This proves the difficulty of the situation the UK is facing. With women already struggling the most to enter the housing market, now with the reforms and the prospect of paying more into pension funds and working for longer, it has to be questioned….what will happen to people in need of a place to live within the next few years?

There is an idea that more and more people will lean towards renting properties as they will be unable to afford mortgages. Banks are reluctant to give loans and unemployment is on the rise. This UK strike action does not appear to bode well for the housing market.

For more information see BBC News

image by flickr.com/kheelcentre