When she worked from home during the pandemic, she put the money she usually spent on transport, takeaway lunches, office wear and after-work drinks into a savings pot. “I think I saved something crazy like £6,000 in six months,” she says. But when her employers reinstituted office days, the sudden change in her outgoings came as a shock.
To make matters worse, her return train ticket to work has risen from £35 pre-pandemic to almost £50. “Having a mortgage, the rise in utility bills, council tax, income tax and the rising train fares, it’s just becoming impossible,” she says. Claire’s employer has upped salaries to meet market rates but, says Claire, “it’s really not enough”.
Umus, a lecturer at a London university, experienced a similar post-pandemic price shock. Their commute – a comparatively short distance on the underground – costs £6.40 during rush hour. “When I first went back to the office, I was shocked. It’s just crazy expensive,” says Umus. “People are always saying ‘you can just cycle’, but it’s very ableist, everybody is not capable of cycling seven miles every day.”
At work, Umus finds that expenses accumulate. “I usually grab both breakfast and lunch around work,” says Umus. “The cheapest option is Pret, and very easily, one coffee, one little breakfast thing and lunch, ends up being £13, then I get snacks from Tesco, which isn’t cheap either.” They’ve been working on a strict budget, but still end up spending between £22 and £27 on food and transport every office day. “That’s more than a quarter of what I make per day just to be able to go into the office,” says Umus.
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