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How Key Workers keep the UK workforce moving?
For many, the term ‘key worker’ remains largely synonymous with the covid and lockdown period and while this is an unfortunate relationship, what it did highlight was the importance of a number of occupations which may have been somewhat underappreciated in the past.
Time may have passed but our reliance on key workers has certainly not diminished. Although, we have to appreciate that the description of some key workers may have changed slightly from the early-Covid days. And when we say key workers in today’s context, we include those not only working in education or the health sector but roles within the Army, Navy or RAF, plus those in the UK Fire Service, the Police and in the Prison Service, amongst others.
There were an estimated 5.95 million employees in the public sector in March 2024, which was 24,000 (0.4%) more than in December 2023 and 125,000 (2.1%) more than in March 2023. The figures also outlined that the NHS employed an estimated 2.02 million people in March 2024, an increase of 12,000 (0.6%) compared with December 2023 and an increase of 79,000 (4.1%) compared with March 2023.
Sadly, the fact remains that many key workers within the public sector typically have lower salaries but they also tend to hold more stable jobs which are less impacted by redundancies and other forms of disruptions to their employment type.
It’s this stability which makes them a unique and important group and, from a lending perspective, there’s an argument that key workers should be considered as a distinct borrower demographic who are deserving of access to solutions that address their unique circumstances.
Find out how much your Key Worker clients could borrow
Having said that, affordability constraints remain evident in a high interest rate environment where income-based borrowing can be challenging, especially if there are complexities which mean borrowers fall beyond tighter mainstream lending criteria.
That's why, here at Foundation Home Loans, we introduced a specialist key worker offering back in August 2023 which includes enhanced Loan-to-Income (LTI) limits for borrowers in any of our eligible key worker professions across England, Wales and Scotland.
After all, key workers will always be the life blood of the UK labour force and it’s crucial that they have access to mortgages tailored to their needs which enable them to live near their workplaces, support their local communities, and continue delivering top-quality services to the public.
This article was originally published on https://www.financialreporter.co.uk/
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