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Good evening guys. Um My name is Raza's. I am the I MG Khalid. Um And I've got packed here with me who will also be helping me present today. Can I just have a yes or a text? Someone saying that they can hear me find it's good on my side. Just just Latino. Sorry, I'm sorry, it's, it's good on my just in case to let you know if no one braids a message. Thank you. Yes. OK, wonderful. Thank you guys. Fine. Um So today's session as you know, will be about life in the UK. So questions that many of you may have from opening bank accounts to getting accommodation um talking sometimes about tax um and other things in between. So if you've got any questions, we'll finish the, rub it on and then at the end we'll answer all questions. Um And with that, I will let back start. Okay. So let's see. First of all, we will talk a bit about accommodation in the UK. I found it really challenging bit. So we have a few advice is for you just for the start. Um It's really helpful to start your journey. As soon as you arrived in the UK with hospital provided accommodation. Um some, some hospitals offer on site accommodation, you need to get in touch with them to see if they offer such. So you would get in touch with hr department or if there is one then accommodation department in your trust that you're going to work in and do it as soon as you accept a job offer because there may be a waiting list for hospital provided accommodation. Um It is convenient and affordable so it's much cheaper than privately rented accommodation, but you need to be aware that those are usually shared facilities. Um And best option, this is the best option for when you're new in the country and this can give you a month or more or less just to look around and search for a proper documentation if you want to change for one later on in time. Um Other options just for the beginning um is short term let. So were mentioning all of this because it's pretty challenging to get a flat sorted before you arrive to the UK because most of the rental uh tenancy agencies um won't give you a flood because you're not here. You don't have a phone number UK phone number, you can't view the flood personally. Um So I I found it challenging and I wasn't really prepared for it. So I had to stay in Air BN Bs for some time, which is a very costly. So we would rather advise you to, to go for either hospital provided accommodation or short term. Let's so short term, let's are also mostly shared rooms or shared accommodations. Um And the other option is hosts that can have you in their uh their flood or their your house. Um and you may find such things on spare room and on gum tree. Um So there are posts there of, of people who have a room available in their, in their house, in their flat or some shared accommodations, maybe for students that can accept nonstudent individuals. Um And this can provide a more flexibility and independence than hospital provided accommodation and you can also use it for the first month, for example. Um And just make sure you read the contract. If there is one, just make sure you read it carefully and be aware of your rights and responsibilities um for later, if you're going to get a long term rental. So if you want to privately rent accommodation or if you maybe in two weeks from the time you arrive, you find somebody you want to share the flat with, but you want to rent privately, you can search on this platform. So there is right move, there's on the market, Zoo Pleh and spare room, you can use all these links uh to find. Um So uh some of the flats are posted for on more than one platforms. But if you look um on them regularly and if you chase all the posts that they add, you can find the flats sooner or later. Um They have also a very interesting and helpful tool so that you can have a look at the map and find um an accommodation in particular place, maybe closer to the hospital or closer to the center of the city. Um When you, so um the posts that are added on these platforms are mostly added by tendency agencies. Um So they, they are, some of them may be added by private landlords as well, but I would say majority of them are by tendency agencies when you later apply to tenancy agencies will ask you for particular documents. So these documents are as follows, passport copy. Um they may ask you for Guarin Tor or reference. So this is um uh approve that you have enough funding to cover the flat rental. Basically, reference can be obtained from your work. So whoever is your um lead or your director, let's foundation director can give you a reference. Um If you ask them or somebody from hr department can give you a reference. If you cannot obtain a reference, you may provide them with a parent or so this is a person who is going to cover theoretically for your state. Um But as as you're employed, you can easily provide them with a reference and they may ask you for your pay slip. But for those who are just starting work, you obviously don't have your pay slips, so you would need to let them know that you're just going to start work soon if you've already been working for a month and you can provide them with your pay slip bank account sore as is going to talk a bit later about bank account. And um, how challenging this can be also to, to get one. However, it's, well, it's possible and there are some tricks to do that. Um But we'll mention we'll just discuss it a little bit later and a proof of address. So this bit is also a challenging one because as you just arrived to the country don't have a local address. Uh So you may be required to provide them with a proof of address uh of your previous um flat or house. So this can be from your home country or you can provide them with proof of address. For example, for me, I stayed in hospital accommodation for a month and I asked my employer to give me a proof of address from there. So it's possible also in such a way if you try after a month, remember to again, just to highlight it again, always read contracts carefully. They will send you contracts that sometimes have many, many pages, but make sure you actually read it and ask questions if any anything is unclear. Um Make sure clarify terms of uh of the tendency of the least um uh included in the rent and deposits. Uh So in here there is a safety deposit scheme. So when you pay in the deposit for your uh for your flat, this can be a monthly rental on the top of your first month rent or it can be more than that, it depends on, on the tenancy agency. Um So when you pay in deposit, they, it should be stored in a safety deposit accounts. So just make sure this is um done because this um allows you to be sure that your deposit is going to be saved and it's gonna be returned when you finish your tendency. Um Also find out what about the repair. So what happens if something uh is broken in the flat, who comes, who covers it and whom too um talk to, including whom to talk to out of hours when something happens and any notices that are connected to your tendency. Um There is a very helpful link uh on go of UK. So that's a governmental side official site. Um And there's a rent check list that you may use as with our monthly utilities. So as mentioned previously, rent um then builds such as gas, electricity and water. Um I am currently in Scotland, so for example, in Scotland, we pay council tax and this includes water bill in it already. Council tax is something that I was I wasn't familiar with when I came here. Um this is a payment that is paid monthly. Um It depends where you live. It depends where the flood is located or where the house located. What's the, what's its size? So there are many, many factors that define the amount needs to be paid for council tax. And for example, in Scotland, I'm not sure how it works in England, but in Scotland, the council tax includes water bill in it and, and you need to pay it, pay it monthly with direct debit. So that's just a way of get that, that the council tax is taken from your account monthly without doing it manually. So it's, it's just done automatically. Um And out of it there is a gas and electricity bill. Uh Sometimes this is included in rent already. Sometimes it's not so very important to ask if bills are included or not and things like internet or phone bill. So it depends what are your needs um in terms of hospital accommodation and short term let. Um in this case, is all these things like gas, electricity, water bill. Council ducks are usually included in the rent that you pay. But again, just make sure to ask and once you're renting independently, you have to find out how do you actually pay for council tax? How do you actually pay for all the bills and um and your flat house and where, where you're flat house belongs to. So you can ask your tendency agency or you can ask your landlord depends how you are actually going to rent it through. So, tendency agencies are very helpful in the serves, they may answer all your questions. Um Yes, but just make sure to see if council tax includes water already. What are the other bills that you'll need to pay? And in most of the cases, you will need to establish an or open an account with organization that provides gas and electricity and to notify um council of your inner city that you moved in. Um So in Scotland again, for example, there's a Scottishpower. Um There there is a common bill that is taken off your account for gas and electricity together. Uh So with the cost of living, there are a few again, a few very helpful links where you can see the approximate cost of living. Um but you can use things like go compare or money supermarket to compare uh to compare prices for gas, electricity, water. Um but not only so um money supermarket has options of comparing things like insurance, things like mortgage, um even things like petrol and they have uh like all the time. They are refreshing uh their prices life to just give you a good overview of what's what's the price, for example of petrol around you and which petrol station is going to have the cheapest petrol at the moment. So I think it's even um refreshed daily. So, so the updates are very quickly now. Um now a phone. So if you have your phone, well, you will need your phone number in the UK. Uh There are multiple companies that provide phone services um and they have different types um uh of payment. So it can be pay as you go or it can be monthly services. So pay as you go is simply depending on how much you actually use. Um and you can renew it monthly or you can decide not to remove it for a renewal, for example. Um but monthly is just uh like a monthly amount that is taken from your account and that gives you, um, let's say 10 gigabytes of internet and unlimited calls, unlimited text messages. Uh You have to research on it and see uh which one is the best for you. If you want to have a really good internet connection, you may go for um some other ones if you are. Um, if you want to focus on the price and you want to get it cheapest, you can go for another one's. Um, now um on online search can help you decide which is the best option. Ok. So just research, just uh put it in, maybe you can visit the shops if you have some time. Um Just to see which provider you want to choose. Um And same cards can be found in any shops even in very small shops, they have multiple same card. So you don't actually have to go to a provider specific shop, but you can just go to any small shop and you'll find multiple same cards. And, um, there's something like signal checker so you can check this and this will show you which network works best in your area. So in some remote areas, some of the providers may have really poor internet connection. So it's a very helpful thing, um, to see where you're going to work, where you're going to stay. If the internet is actually good, in terms of TV, if you own a TV, or stream any live services on any device, including mobile phones, you must have a TV licence. So if you have your own TV, you need to pay for TV license. However, if you have a TV, and you know, you, you use it, for example, only for Netflix, then don't have to pay a TV license, but provided you don't use the actual TV programs. Um And in terms of if you don't want to pay for TV license and you don't have a TV, and you don't stream uh anything on your phone, um then you have to inform the TV licence company. So for example, I got a letter and I have to inform that that I don't have a TV and I'm not using the TV services. Um Now on public transport, public transport is, is available readily very easily in the UK. Um There are many apps. Um Every provider like bus providers, um uh like trams, like um trains, they have applications that you can download on your phone where you can see schedules where you can see maps of rows of buses, trains, etcetera. Um And UK is also bike and pedestrian friendly. So um everyone will encourage you to get a bike or just to walk if you can. Um and um there are cycling paths and their food path so you can get from one place to another with easily with the bicycle or walking. Um It's very nice to rent or buy a bicycle. If only you, you're willing to um it's good for your health and it's good for environment. Um There are coach buses like, for example, national experts. Uh that is the most common and it operates all over the country and connects to many airports and it's relatively cheaper if we compare it to train, but he going the past take gardens, going by train. Um And most of the buses have any test discount actually for a weekly tickets. So if you um uh if you're planning to commute with public transport, you can get a weekly ticket and, and for rail rail cards cost about 30 lbs, it can be 20 lbs of purchased from train nine directly and this is for a whole year and it can save you one third of any train journey. Uh Those are examples of discounts for rail. Uh So there is a discount for 16 to 25. There's a discount 26 to 30. Okay. So you can get by a card and that gives you a discount later when you travel by train. Uh there's a senior rail card, there is a a rail card for two together. So if you go, if you travel with another person, but you need to travel at them at all times if you use this discount, um there is a discount for disabled person and there is a discount actually family and friends. So you can use all of them if you plan to travel by train a lot, if you choose to get a car, um you can drive using an international license for up to one year after that, you must obtain a UK driving license. Uh So it's not true for everyone. It depends where your license is from. Um And uh some of the countries have exchange agreement with the UK. Um If you have your own license from your own country, let's say people from European economic area, eu um they don't have to take any further tests. So you can use the link uh listed on the slide. Uh See what about your license? So on this link you enter on a UK, um it's going to give you a list of countries. So if you see if you click your country and see um where is your license from? It's going to give you all the information if you need to exchange it, if you need to get any additional tests after a year, or maybe you cannot use your license at all. So it's helpful to check before you decide to get a car. Um, in terms of buying a car, you can get a car directly from dealer or garage, you can also get it from an owner directly. Um It is challenging to get a car, a car installment shortly after you arrive because most of the places will ask you for credit history and they will not um accept credit history from abroad. Unfortunately. Um So if you are able to buy a car and you have money for, to buy a car and to pay for all of it at once. Yeah, it is easy. But if you want to get car installment straight after you arrive to the UK, this may be challenging and make sure you have warranty of at least a year before purchasing. Okay. Um When you get an insurance for your car, um the insurance options are, well, there are many, many insurance options you can research on it um on the links that that were mentioned before. So for example, money, supermarket will give you different gods from different companies for insurance uh for the car and insurance is actually purchased on a driver, not on a car that I found a bit different than back in my country. Um Where where you would normally get, uh, an insurance for a car here, you get an insurance for a driver and the car on the top of it. Um, so if you want somebody else to be able to drive your car, you have to add them to your insurance. Um, and, um, at the beginning, the insurance may be really pricey. It can be really expensive. It depends what car you have, it depends how many years you have your license. Um, and how many years you have driven without accidents. However, again, they don't take into account years driven without accident abroad in most of the cases. Uh So when I was applying, even though I had my driving license for years, um I was treated like a driver who had zero years of experience without accidents. Um, for cars over three years old, they will require mot. So this is basically a check of a car that needs to happen every year. So you need to remember to do an mot for your car. If you get the one that's over three years old, this needs to be done every year. Um, road tax is another thing that needs to be sorted for your car and if you get it from a dealer or garage, they will mostly do a road tax for you. So as you're buying the car, as you're paying for it, they will sort the road tax. Otherwise you need to make sure that the road tax is covered. Um You'll also need a V five. See, this is simply a logbook for a car and this is done through DVL A. So it is like a registration. This is a colorful paper that gives all the information about your car on it and about the owner. Okay. Now if you come here, if you're planning to, to um move to the UK with your family, there are few helpful things which is improving on on this slide. Uh State school is free for Children between three and 18 years. Okay. Um Cancel website will advise on application process to schools in your local area. So you can reach out to counsel or research on your website and they will give you some advice on application process. Uh Leaving within close geographical proximity to school will be considered when allocating places at school. So if you leave besides any school, your child is likely to be sent to that particular school. And uh most of these cases, schools don't require an an entry test except for grammar school academically. Second, the selected high school. So this is for uh well for, for staging. Um and this is from year seven onwards. So uh your child would require to get to take a test before getting in grammar school. And many schools with schools will offer wraparound care for working parents um like breakfast club and after school club. But this may incur a fee they paid for for this clubs. Um There are private fee paying schools available and you can contact them directly to see what is the fee and how things work. So you would normally reach out to them directly and the young Children will require a nursery on or nanny and those are registered with all offset and can be found using your local council. This unfortunately can be pricey. I've heard that nurseries are pretty pricey. Um Right, how the healthcare in the UK and you must registered with GP to access health services. So you would normally just go to a close is GP uh of your choice. Um It's helpful to have it close to your home. Um You need to registered with them. So it's just a simple form. If you visit them directly, they can give it to you. You can uh fill it in when you are there. Um And in order to get health to access health services, you need to be registered with a GP. Um this is exception of a any um you can go to any not being registered with any GP. Um This will generally require proof of ID and address. So it's helpful to do it when you already have your accommodation sort is and when you consult your GP, it's all free of charge, but there, there can be charges for prescriptions and this is not true for Scotland in England, you have to pay for prescriptions However, in Scotland prescriptions are also free of charge. Um, for example, if you're discharged from hospital or if you get your prescription for GP, you don't have to pay for your medications. Um, in terms of dentists or opticians, they're not usually free of charge. Unfortunately, um, only for Children. So you would need to pay for your dentist or a petition. Um, and you can pay for private health care if you wish, it will speed up waiting time for consultations and investigations. Again, not in all of the cases and it depends what is done for you. Um In terms of emergency, in case of emergency, the phone number is 999 and you can ask for ambulance, police or fire service. Um if you're not, if you're in need of urgent healthcare advice, but it is not a threatening. So wouldn't normally court a call for an ambulance is an NHS service. Um and you would call 111. Uh and or you can visit local NHS, walk in center or you can simply go to a any um or visit urgent care center. Minor injury center, depends what's in your area. Um There is also something called Citizens Advice Bureau. This is a National Charity and it provides free of charge um advice for people in the UK. So if you have some questions, if you're unsure about things, you can reach out to them, they can provide you with guidance on legal and financial issues like visa application, taxes benefits. Um, anything as such as a legal, uh, legal business is legal issues. A financial issues. Uh, they can also help with housing, they can help with employment and healthcare concerns. Um, you can visit their office if, if they're around or you can call a national helpline or you can chat with them and when you enter their website, it's gonna ask you which region are you in. So if it's Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or England, you can just choose your region and then see where they are located um for local culture. Um The UK is a melting pot of cultures. It's very interesting to, to work here, to be honest with you, there is a great diversity um and particularly in NHS and this makes it really unique to work and your colleagues and patient's will offer many insights and um you could reflect on your experience. Um And this will positively impact your practice and you will come across difference in language and uh colloquial slung Ang's and if you're unsure of what people mean, just ask, just make sure to ask and never feel shy if you can't understand something. And that's just a funny Scottish alphabet for you that you can have a look at a bit later um in terms of discount. So I already mentioned um rail discounts and passes discounts. Uh There are things like discounted gym memberships. Uh You can ask in your uh at work you can ask in your hospital. Um They may provide you with something like this. There are free or discounted admission to museums, two different attraction shins in your area, especially in bigger cities. Um There are reduced rate for travels, insurance and shopping and and a very helpful thing is blue light card. So you can um make your blue light card apply for it. It's going to be delivered later to your home. Um and you can use it for shopping for um many different attractions. It's gonna give you, this is for NHS workers and it's going to give you different discounts. There are also NHS staff benefits. So if you can enter health service discounts or NHS staff benefits, you can find a lot of uh different discounts and options for you and there's an ode card from health service discount. Um It acts as a debit card and you can get cash back for, for your shopping and something like salary sacrifice scheme. So you purchase goods or services before tax and in installments and don't forget to take advantage of discounts that are available for you and just research on it. And here I'll give all the sites to Rust. Thank you so much guys. Thanks Pat and I'm just going to share my screen right. Hello, good evening. I've introduced myself before, but my name is Rosa's and I'm a research clinical fellow in Southampton. Done the hospital and I will be speaking to you a bit about bank accounts and tax and pensions. Um So I'll get straight to it and then we can um save our questions till the end. So BRP your biometric residents payment. So it is, it is basically a card that proves your identity in the UK. Um It allows you to enter and stay and you normally need to apply for as part of your visa application. Um But you will get it once you come to the UK, once you get here, you need to go to the UK Visa Citizenship application service point. Sometimes that is a post office. Um but you will need to go there, provide your uh photo, sometimes fingerprints. Uh So it's very useful if you can take your passport with you, but they normally give you a limit of a time limit, usually 10 days. So they say you must be picking up in 10 days and if you don't, it also go back to um uh HHCMR or something like that, but you have to pick it up within the time unit. It also provides evidence of your immigration status in the UK. Um And so if you're leaving and coming back, you must show at the border, it will look something like this. It will basically just have your name um and when it's valid until um and what it permits you to do so it permits you to, you know, leave work in the UK. I think at the end of every year, they ask you to cut it in half and send it back to them and they provide you with a new one, the opening a bank account. Um It is normally a little bit difficult to open a bank account when you first come in because they normally require proof of address. And when you've just landed, you don't have that proof of address. Um But normally they, they will ask you for your biometric residence permit. They'll want an ID document like your passport or your driving license, um letter from your trust, confirming your employment and proof of accommodation, which is usually the hardest bit to get. Um But what you can do if, if your bank, if you have a bank account in your country, that is, that's got an international account. Uh then you may potentially can basically say to the bank in your country that you're transferring here and you need a statement for your new account here. You can, that could be one thing you can do. Uh But also there are bank accounts, there's online bank accounts. So the normal, the popular ones in the UK would be Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, Natwest and Santander. And all of these are, you know, there are uh popular high street banks and they will all require all these documents. But an online, the benefit of an online bank is that it's not going to require this from you. It will require an ID verification normally via like a video call. Um and that will be it. So you will need to video yourself and video the idea that you've got so your passport and normally that that works. Um And let me just go back. Normally that works and it depends on the bank. So for example, the most popular three online banking would be Starling Monseau or Chase When I first came in, I applied to Mons, oh, and I got rejected, I don't know the reason and then I applied to Starling and I got in on the same day. So if you find difficulty with one, just try the other. Um and because of these banks don't require much from you, you can get a statement from them quite quickly. Uh Once you have registered, you normally are verified quite quickly within a day or two. And then you can request a statement to whatever address you input and you can change the address once you've moved to a more permanent residence and that's fine. Um You can also try using wise or revolt. So these are not exactly bank accounts but they, they don't offer regular banking features, but they allow you to hold foreign currencies including British Pound in multi currency accounts. So, you know, if you've got money from back home and money here, so it allows you to hold it all together and you can also get a statement from that, that proves your address. Um And well, you talked about this so change the address at your current back account to the address in the UK where you'll be staying, even if it's at a friends or family, even a hotel, be a uh airbnb. Uh you can get your statement to there. Um and then that will help you open a proper bank account. Um Normally once you are at that stage, they will ask for uh proof of it. So things that can prove your address in this country would be your driving license, any bill, any council tax bill, any recent credit card bill, any recent building society or credit union bill, any tenancy agreement. Um So when you come in, you're not gonna have most of this, you wouldn't have any of it really, maybe, maybe the tenancy agreement if you've managed to find an accommodation, but the rest of it is going to be very hard to prove. Um But I think with online banking that makes it a little bit easier. Uh People, you know, people do say that for your main, your main uh salary should not be an online bank account. It should be a bank with a branch that you can go in and visit and talk to people in there. So, you know, you can start off by having your main bank account in Starling or Mons Oh Chase. And then once you've opened a uh an actual bank account. Then this could be your other card. Like there's no harm in having more than multiple cards basically. Um, so your national insurance number. So this, this basically this will show up in your pay slip and I'll show you a pay slip in a minute. But it basically is a system of taxes that it's paid by both employers and employees. So it's paid by us who are working and by people who are paying off. Um, and it's, uh, it goes towards your state benefits in the future, including your pensions, but also it has other benefits. Like, um, if, if one was to lose one's job for some reason, if you were to have any sort of, uh, you know, got a bit, um, long term illness. Uh What would, how would your pay be determined? How much pay they will give you? So it's, it's important to, um, to contribute towards that. Basically, it normally is automatically deducted from your account. So you'll see it in your pay slip, but you won't have, um, you won't not pay it, but it will depend on how much money you're making. Um And normally for most people, most people don't have to apply for it. It will just, it will appear once you get your first pay slip, you'll just see it there. But if for some reason you don't receive yours or it doesn't, it doesn't happen, which is very rarely, then you can call them directly. Um But you don't have to wait for it even if you don't have it, you don't have to wait for it before you start working. Um It should automatically happen. So this is, I hope you can actually see this quite well. But so this is a, a regular pay slip in the UK would look like. So this is mine. You'll see my name at the top. You have an assignment number from your hospital, what your hospital is your grade. Um What your role is. Um And then lots of things. So this is the tax code. This is currently the tax code that I'm being taxed based on uh which will depend on, you know, your lots of things, but how much money you're making your grade and all of the things that we've just talked about and the pay yay, which is what we just said uh in the previous one where it automatically deducted and it will be seen under pay A uh which is pay as you earn in your pay slip. So you can see here there's two things under pay, uh 697 lbs, there's two things under National insurance and pensions NHS mention and even I can't actually see it properly, but it's 300 something there and 300 something there. Uh And that will be your contribution to mention. Um As I understand, you can't really opt out from the National Insurance but the NHS mention, uh, which we'll speak about in a minute. You can, but your income tax. So income tax is a tax that you pay in the UK on everything. It's, you're earning, it's your income. You have to normally pay tax. Um, and this is for most junior level people, it will be around 20% for anyone earning a little bit more. It will be 20% up to 50,000, 271 and then 40% for anything above that. Uh So if someone says that it says, do you know you're paying 40% as a, if you'd locum more, it's only on the extra bit, not on all of your income. Okay. So your, all of your income up to 50,000 to 70 is 20%. So for I'm going to just give an essential example as an essential, my basic rate is 40 40,000 give or take. And then once I do, uh once I work weekends I work nights, um, this basic weight is normally enhanced by another 10 grand give or take. So it actually lands about 53 give or take. So this 53 I am 3000 lbs people take above the basic rate. So I'll be taxed at 20% up until 50 then the three extra will be taxed at 40%. And if I do extra low comes anything on top of that will be taxed at 40. Um, so most people in the UK will get a person allowance of, of tax free income and this is the amount of income you can earn before you pay tax and that's usually 12,500. Um, and this, this determines what tax code that's generated for you by the government. Um, they will put this and normally when you first come in the country, um, it will be, you'll be put under emergency tax. Uh, and then once you start work, they will normally change that, uh, you know, to your regular to what your tax code should be. Um, which is why initially when you come in, you'll be earning a bit more. And then once you reach that 12,000, you're, you'll be, you're starting to tax if that makes any sense. So once you first come into the country, you're, you're earning each month will be more and then in six months, it will start to decrease each month because you're reaching the basic rate threshold because before that you weren't, you hadn't reached the 12,571. And so you weren't being taxed, your income was tax free. Um Yeah, and this is different in Scotland, by the way, I forgot to mention the, their tax code is a lot more comprehensive. So they've got more brackets in between these. Um, I can't remember the exact numbers but it's, you know, it's, there's more brackets between 12 and 1 50 for there tax codes, your pensions. So the NHS pensions scheme is, is one of the most comprehensive and generous schemes actually within the UK. Um And when you come in, you'll automatically become a member of the 2015 NHS pensions scheme. That's the latest one. Um There's currently a lot of things going on with, with, with the NHS mention. Uh the parent, the NHS pensions age is currently the same as the state mention age, which is 68 and this has definitely gone up in the, in the last couple of years. Um used to be much less, I think it was 60 then it went to 65 and then now it's 68. So by the time we reach mention age, it would probably be much higher. Um but your, your pensions contributions will be deducted, deducted again monthly before tax and will appear on your pay slip as pensions contributions X which we just saw together with the National insurance under pay. Um Now again, you can opt out by contacting the pensions scheme, but this is really not usually recommended or advisable because for whatever money you put in the, the NHS matches it. So if you're putting it 300 a month, they're also putting in 300 a month and then there's, I think there's nowhere else out there that does that. Um And so it's, it's really not advisable to come out from it. Um And I think if you, if you opt out for a couple of years and then you come back, you don't come back as the level that you are at. So if you um opted out as a, as a junior and then you come back and now you're a red, you don't get red level money, you go back to back to sort of junior, which is again, not very great. But if you, for some reason think that you must opt out, then I would advise contacting Medics money which have um put their logo here. But Medics money are a very, very great source. If you, they've got lots of podcasts and uh blogs explaining uh tax and pensions. Um and you know, the different parts, you don't have to read everything, but they are very useful and they've got uh independent accountants which are free uh for NHS workers. And they, you know, if you think that this is what you need, then they'll discuss that with you and they'll give you the best option basically. So if you think that's where you are at, try contacting them first before you make that decision. Um Yeah, so council tax, that's another form of tax that we do have to pay. Um But council tax is a little bit different because it's not deducted automatically from your account. Um It's basically, it's your way of helping to pay for the many local services uh in the country, uh like the emergency services, rubbish collection, library, schools, street lights, all the things that are not all that free, basically, um that we don't actually physically pay for, you know, getting an ambulance or collecting the rubbish or going to the library. All of this are free. Um But then you pay council tax for that and it's, it's charged on the household. Um and it's based on the value of the property that you live in and not how much money this property make, not the property, how much money you're making. Um So how much your house cost rather than how much you're earning. Uh But they are, they do have discounts for their, if you are one single person living alone like myself, you would get, you get your bill with used by 25%. Um If you're a family, uh I think, I think there are some discounts for Children, some discounts for mental health issue, um some discounts for disabilities. So if you think any of it applies to you, you can try and, and call them up and, and discuss with them. Um It is, it's normally a bill paid over 10 months rather than 12 months. But again, you can call them and say that you want to over 12 months because it will make life easier and the numbers will, will work up nicely. Um But once you, uh I think I had mentioned this before, but just like how you, whenever you move into a new property, you need to find out who your local council is. Um to be able to pay things like water and bills. And um so council tax is the same. You need to find out where, where your council is, who they are. Give them a call, say that you're moved into this new property. Um And they will send you uh once you've discussed and said that you're, you know, a single person, uh etcetera, etcetera, they will uh send you a bill for the year. Basically that you can pay monthly 0 14 month credit cards. So credit card is a, is a important question if you are someone who is really bad with money and is already in depth, I would recommend stay away from them and just don't bother. But if you are someone who is looking to build a credit score in this country to eventually maybe buy a house or get at least for something or another, then it is important to have one. Um So I didn't do this when I first came to the country and I probably should have, I mean, you probably won't get it when you just land in the country because you don't have a history of, you know, working here or like a stable accommodation or anything. So I think it will take at least six months, maybe a year for you to be able to actually pass the credit check. Um, I think six months, but double check, I think different, different banks will have different opinions on that. Uh, but if you're thinking of, uh, building up a good credit score for the future, then it's a good idea to get one and you don't need to get one that is, you know, 10,000 lbs worth, they probably won't give you that at the beginning when you start. But normally the agreed limit would be something like 2000. You don't want to spend it all. You want to spend it on money that you're already spending. So things like groceries or petrol, something that you're already spending every month on anyway. And you don't want to, if it's 2000, you don't want to reach above 600. So reach around 30% of it every month. And this essentially what this shows them is that you are someone who's responsible with money responsible for credit, you're not desperate to take money. Um, and you are reliable and you're paying every month. That's all they want to know if you don't have a credit card, it, even if you are realistically when you think of it, you don't have a credit card, but you are paying your bills every month and you are a responsible adult, but they don't know that you are like a, a closed shell. They can't quantify if you would be a good or bad, uh you know, credit person once you are given the money. So that's why it's, um, it's good to have it. But what is very useful is that you can put a direct debit in place. So if I have my banking is with Lloyds, if I have a credit card from Lloyds, then I have a debit card as well from Lloyds. I can just set up a direct debit from my direct debit to my credit card. Hope from my, uh, debit card to my credit card. Um, every month. So that, and you can say that you want to pay it fully basically. And then every month it just, every whatever you spend on the credit card goes out from your debit card to pay for the credit card and you don't have to worry about it and, and it's building up a good credit score for you all, all through the while, while you're not worrying about it. But if for some reason you can't pay it fully, then there is a minimum amount that you must pay, uh, which is usually around 10 lbs. Uh, but if you don't pay fully, it means you will get interest on it, which is not something you want to build up. When you first come into this country, you don't want to build up interest or depth in any kind of way because everything is already expensive enough. Um, so you pay fully at the end of every month and then you've got nothing to worry about. Um The one really useful thing about paying with credit if you've got an actual purchase coming up, um It provides you with extra protection. So if you paid for something on credit between 100 lbs and 30,000 lbs, if you paid for it on credit and something is wrong with it, it is faulty, it is broken, it is not as they promised you, it was gonna be, you can actually dispute this with the bank and get your money back. And that's not something you can actually get on debit card in debit card. You will rely on the company to be like, oh yeah, it's our fault. We're sorry, we'll refund you. But if they don't do that, then you don't have a backup for this. But on credit card you do because the bank will refund it for you. Um There is a lovely website called money saving expert dot com. Um and it speaks really nicely about the different types of credit cards that you can have. You can have 0% interest credit card for a year. You can have like reward credit cards. There's like lots of benefit for from it if you are diligent with it and you don't let your um you don't get in depth basically, you pay it every month, whatever you pay you um you fixed basically and then you're okay. Um There is nice online learning resources as well that actually found in um uh the Elflflfh website from, from uh the UK learning website. So it has two nice things modules that I would recommend to have a read through once you get there, which is called Induction for International Doctors, which it has, it has social aspects, ethical and legal aspects, patient safety things that maybe are not very familiar uh in countries back home. Um And then there's another induction called Doctors in Training Induction, which has a safe prescribing blood Transfusion Mental Capacity Act and Death Certification, which again, these things were not very prominent in my country and all of it was things that I had to learn as I got here basically. Um And then there's the British Medical Journal e learning online. So the, so the Elfh is actually is completely free. Um So that's cool. The British Medical Journal has a lot of e learning resources, but I do think there is a fee and then some trust actually have an Eye MG handbook. So I know Wessex and east of England both have these because I've worked uh in both of uh these areas. But I'm pretty sure all over the UK, there will be, these will exist uh and it will have essential, essential information about the region that you're living in. Um And it will try and give you like more helpful tips um about the region. So even if you're sometimes even the hospital hr will give you accommodation that's not related to the hospital, you just need to ask the question. Um And a lot of people are willing to help. Um so uh home to turn to for assistance. So if you are struggling with anything, your colleagues and your supervisors will be the, the valuable source on the first point of uh information, I think. So, don't hesitate to really ask questions and see guidance. Um I think we're all more than happy to um to provide support as we've all had support when you've got, when we first joined the NHS. Um And then joining a professional association can provide you with networking opportunities, training and development. Um an advocacy. So here's included the BM A, the BMA. I think we've had a short discussion about them in the last webinar. But um if you've got issues with your rotor, if you're, you know, um you think you're being overworked, uh you're not being paid enough anything even during the strike days now, um where some uh some places are asking people to actually to work. Um And that they're not allowed to strike what the contract says. Like there's a lot of things that you can benefit from um from joining the DN A and it doesn't have to be uh you're joining them forever. You can join them until you're fixed, you know, whatever it is, issues that you're going through. Um I don't think they are cheap, but you've got also the Royal College of Physicians. Uh and they've got a lot of things on the website which are also useful. And then I think one last step is that if you're relocating with your family and you know, it's, it's a big relocation for all of you. Um Potentially a relocation service that specializes in assisting medical professionals. Um They can provide assistance with housing or schools or visas, language and culture. They will, but they'll have like packs of things ready to um to, to give to you, right? Any questions? Yes, there will be a recording of the session. Um It should be on, it should be a speak um under mental, I think they will be there. Have you faced racism in the street? NHS. What do you think that? I think racism exists everywhere. I've lived in different places, different countries um exists everywhere. I think UK racism can be a bit subtle. Um It's no one will come to your face and say anything directly to you for the most part. Um But you can feel sometimes that, that things are you're being discriminated against. You can't feel that sometimes. Yeah, I think um Scotland is a pretty safe place. Um So I haven't been in England much. It was just a few days, but I felt like um I felt really, I've been like really feeling really um safe in Scotland but sometimes yet, like you mentioned, as I, um I didn't feel things directly like nobody came to say something to my face. But, um, so somehow deep inside I felt like they might be well talking or just not being clear about some things. Yeah. But I think, um, that I would say that nobody ever directly, um, did anything that would be considered racist or, or impolite. I think it's just a politeness, uh, that's driving people doesn't allow them to, to really do it directly. Yeah. but I would say in general I have really good experience thankfully. Yeah, I think the nice thing about the UK is that you can escalate things. Um So if you feel like, you know, there is, you've been discriminated again. So if you feel like someone's been racist to you, you can say that if someone's been with to you, like, I'm not going to accept this, this is unacceptable. I will escalate this. Um And, and things will like, you know, you don't have to accept any bad treatment. Um because sometimes elsewhere in other countries, you know, if you're not the citizens of the place or let's say you may not have that luxury. But I think here um it's politically like they will, you, there will be people that you can escalate these two and things will get far. Um Even if patient's are being like that, for example, in and you can say you're being, you know, you're being rude and I don't feel comfortable doing this and I will not treat you and you'll go and speak to your, seeing your consultants and someone else will look after patient and you don't have to, you don't have to look after someone who's being racist to you. Um The last point is it the relocation services? I think that's what she was talking about. Um What exactly did you want to ask about that? Um I think there is, there are relocation services available that will, I don't know one by name but can look for you for one if that's, if that's something you're considering. Um, but I know people have used them uh previously to make life easier. Obviously, they will be costly because they will make life easier. You don't have to, you know, they will search for things for you, it will be safe. You don't have to, you know, feel like something because sometimes when you're looking for accommodation from overseas and you don't have anyone in the country. Um, it might feel people get scammed. You know, there's even in the like the MG Facebook groups, people ask someone asked me to pay 2000 lbs for this. Like do I pay? And it's like, no, don't pay because you don't know this person and you've never seen the property and you should never do that. Um, but they will make sure that things are safe and you are, you know, because especially if you're with kids and things are a bit complicated. Um, they'll make your life easier. Mhm. Yes, you can open bank accounts using your hospital accommodation tenancy agreement. Yes, because that, that is a proof of address, isn't it? And, and in some hospitals, so it depends on the hospital, but in some hospitals when I worked at Addenbrooke's Hospital, they had a Barclays account in the hospital. And so you just have to show your work agreement and they'll give you a bank account. So that made life so much easier, but you can show your hospital accommodation tenancy. Yes, there's one more questions. Are there good accommodations for uh MGS? Uh Well, I think there are many good accommodations that you can find and um I personally didn't find it challenging. It just took some time, but I think that's normal for here. Um The tenancy market is really busy and it just takes time if you search. Well, there are a lot of good places that you can actually rent, but I I don't think there's anything special for I MGS. It's just available on the market for everyone. What do you think? Yeah, so there are there specific student accommodations if you're coming to study? Um but there are no specific I MG accommodations, but their recommendation will always be to stay firstly in either a hospital or a short term tenancy accommodation until you can go and find out where you want to stay. Um because if you if you put yourself, so this was my mistake. I did this when I first came in, everyone told me to get in a short accommodation and I was like, no, no, no, I don't want to live in hospital foundation. Uh I'm going to live in a separate tendency with someone else. Um And I did, I lived with someone else, but I didn't tweet the contract properly. So I gave them my hospital contract which said that I was going to finish in six months and I expected that the, the contract was going to finish in six months because that's what I said. But I didn't read it through properly, but they didn't do that. They put my contract with the contract of the girl who was already living in the property, um which was for eight months. So I didn't, you know, I didn't, I just signed the contract. I didn't look at it, which is a good learning point for me and for everyone here. But if you don't do that, then you are stuck with this. You can't move out and if you move out, you have to pay, you have to pay for the rent for the extra three months that I wasn't working in the hospital no more. Sorry. Yeah, I don't know how it is in England but um here when you rent a flat, uh you have to give 28 days notice and uh contracts or um like open contracts, we don't sign them for a particular amount of time. It's just long term rental. And uh, well, you, it's just a 28 day notice that, that you need to give. So it's probably different where you, where you rent, it's so nice. I wish I was in Scotland. No, here you have to sign the contract and it is dated and it depends on the contract. Sometimes they will say you can leave within a month's notice. Sometimes they'll say three months notice. So you have to read your contract really well. And if you're moving and give the notice written via email, do not call them because that's not a record of anything. Um, when, if it goes, you know, if you decide to leave and you've told them via phone and there's no record of you doing it. They can say you've never told them. Yeah, true. And emails are used a lot here. I found it different from my home country because emails are not used much back there. Um But here emails are, I would say as important as actually printing a document and uh and giving it to an office. So they're used as a proof. So, yeah, like you said, um, just make sure that you have it on paper, which is uh same for, for email. So it's going to be your paper proof of getting a notice or, or informing somebody about something. Yeah. Uh uh Well, I mean, I think it's personal. Um, what you think is worth it or not for, for myself. I find, yes, it is because I am independent as I want it to be. Um, I, you know, I am learning, uh, back home. I would not have had the opportunities to learn that I've had here. Um, every day I'm discovering something new. The I'm being supported by people who actually care. Um, and, you know, whichever qualification that I've gotten since I've been here, whichever course have been in. I've always felt like I've just learned so much and I'm really happy to have been able to get the opportunity to do this. Um, you know, living my own, paying my own bills, I'm not relying to my family and in fact, if they need something I can help, um, once you're here for, you know, uh, maybe a bit more than six months when, once you've settled you'll be able to make some savings. Um, if you're sending money back home, like, for me, it is worth it. It is a struggle. I'm not going to say it's easy. Gosh, it's a struggle. Work is hard. Um, it's, you know, hours along. Um, even though you've got, you know, you're not supposed to work more than like 12 hours, like back home. I would easily work 24 48 hours known with that. And I look, and I at that, um, so yes, you would work at work as hard and long and training as long and to get into training it's a long time and once you're in training you're in it for, for a good time. And by the time you see, ct your old, that's what it feels like. But I think that John is worth it for me. Or do you think? Pop? Yeah, I, I agree. It's very personal. Um, well, for me it's been a dream to become a doctor in the UK. So I'll tell you all the positive stuff. Well, because I, I really love it but agree 100% work is difficult. It's demanding. Um and healthcare system I'm comparing a lot too back home. Uh but healthcare system is very dynamic here. So you need to be flexible to be able to accept changes. When I go to hospital. I would say every, every two weeks there is something, there is some update, there is something new, there's some new guideline, ear's well changes on the ward changes somewhere. So it's very dynamic. Um But learning opportunities are brilliant and training people are really supportive and uh well, I really love it. Um But you need to be aware of, well be it being demanding. I would say, yeah, you might just love. The question was really good. Any, any other questions anyone be inquisitive ask, ask all the time, ask everybody even if you know, ask because someone will give you more than you know. Um Don't be shy genuinely just ask because everyone is willing to help. Um, that's, I think what I found out and I usually, I think when I first started, I will always say I have a stupid question and then everyone, every single time will say there are no stupid questions. Um, uh, but there's so much that I learned from, you know, I'm not even going to say just from my seniors, even from the f ones who are because they're know the system, they've been here longer. Um, you know, they've studied medical here. Uh, there's lots of things that they would know that I may not know of, um, ways to do things, ways to do prescriptions, ways to do death certification. Um, um, so that would be my advice. Just don't, don't, don't be complacent. Always ask questions and thrive. Yeah, I think communication is really important here. Um, they, I feel like they, they're putting it at the top of everything just to communicate with other people. So, and they're very open and they really want to help you. So, yeah, I agree. 100% again. Um, just ask people don't be shy because, um, the beginning is your time to get to know things because later you might, might be left alone, you might be on coal alone. Just make sure, you know, whom to escalate to make sure, you know, who is your supervisor, who is your senior, whom to talk to when you are in need? And I remember the very big beginning. I was so stressed when we had induction and I've been like, how, how am I gonna cope? Like, I'm going to have an on call. I will die there in the hospital. I won't know what to do. And they were all like, it's gonna be fine, it's gonna be fine. I'm like, how is it going to be fine? I'm so stressed but it actually turned out all to be fine and people being really supportive so it's gonna be fine. You can do it and there are many people around. Um I hope you can reach for an advice there. I'm not sure if uh pre emptive your enough. Y one coming in or you're starting at, at a higher stage. But there are many programs like Fy One mentoring and are many um pairing with another I MG who's been already here for some time. So you can speak to people who are, who have been in your place a year ago, two years ago. Oh There's actually a mentoring for Fy One. Doctors if you're an incoming Fy one. so you can speak to your F I one body who is finishing in Fy one. Just if you have, if you're anxious, if you have some questions, they're always going to be happy to help. That's really nice. I didn't know there was a like a body or you're older than you. Yeah. Yeah. Look at that positive thing. Um You're coming with a baby. That's, I don't think that's a problem at all. Um, like most of we get a lot of sick leave for things like that and it's absolutely fine. People understand you have a baby. You have to take care of your baby. Like no one will ever tell you too that you can't, you know, go home or you can't take care of your child. Then that's unheard of. Um, there will be a like there's, you know, you'll see once you start working in the whatsapp group, there'll be a lot of people saying overnight, my daughter and my son, there's a fever, something happened. I need to take them to hospital and no one will ever say anything about it. It's absolutely fine. Um And you know, it's, if you're coming, just you and your baby, it's even harder if you, you know, not coming with anyone else. But even if you are like, it's, there's no reason why you should not be able to take sick leave and if someone says something about it, you can complain. Yeah. Um I just wanted to mention back to pre and I'm not sure if you are involved in fy one mentoring, but um you can find it. I'm not rich, trust you're gonna start in. But there are, where is it, where is it? Uh I won mentoring is now happening through. Is it uh let me just find it? Maybe I'm, I'm gonna be able to, that should not be honestly. Um You will always get support for that. Oh Minded leap. So we have uh mentoring actually. Yeah. So um I'm not sure if it's um I think you can still contact mindedly directly from their website and you may be paired with uh an fy one who is going to finish soon. I'm happy to leave my email as well if you are very anxious and you want to ask about things because I'm finishing my fy one at the moment. So I guess we can uh we can leave, we can leave our emails here and if you've got, if anyone's got any further questions they want to ask, they can, they can email us. We're more than happy to help. Yeah, but I think overall uh the environment is very supportive and understanding and very humane. Mhm I do lovely any more questions before we wrap up the the previous webinar that we did. Uh I think it was called first NHS job. Um And so that covered a bit more of what to expect when you first come into um into your first job and you know, the documents that's required of you and pre employment checks and things like that. Um So if you guys have missed that, you can definitely go watch that for in, in middle. And now as soon as we finish this, I'll put this on record as well for people who have no manage to, to watch. Well, I think, I think that's probably about it for questions. All right, perfect. Thank you so much for attending. Thanks Pop. Thank you guys. Thank you so much. All right, we'll see you in our next session.