Do you agree that 40k nowadays isn’t that much considering inflation, increased workloads etc. Especially for tramping and max or close to max hours per week, working 6 days every other week…The problem is 50k is now a 40% tax rate and is going to remain so for the next few years courtesy of the ‘‘free’’ furlough money mostly so companies are going to have to get creative about paying their drivers the newly increased wages without shafting them into the higher tax bracket. I mean I see 38k and more offered for class 2 work no tramping; class 1 it’s not hard to get 42-44 000 doing 5 days only and no more than 50-52 hours at some of the broadly advertised rates and no sleeping out. Of course 40k today is not that great - it’s only 30k after tax/NI so what used to be the holy grail of salary is now just ‘meh’ or am I imagining things? I’ve yet to see 50+ advertised but again - probably due to tax reasons, I wouldn’t be surprised if tehre are drivers out there doing the hours and making 48-49 on paper but also a bunch of allowances to push them over the 50 threshold 
If you move into the higher tax bracket, you don’t pay a higher tax rate on the whole salary, only on anything earned over £50,000.
Don’t forget you can reduce your tax liability by using the amount over the higher rate threshold to pay into a pension.
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On agency in the Midlands (Rdc’s) 50k is the going rate if you willing to work weekends in your shift patterns. Where I work if you have your rest days in the week they will pay the min 12hr a day and no you don’t anywhere near max your hours out.
Carnt see this lasting very long , the money is going through the roof now. It’s going to ■■■■■■■ the small haulier, No way can they compete with that.
Harry Monk:
If you move into the higher tax bracket, you don’t pay a higher tax rate on the whole salary, only on anything earned over £50,000.
Please don’t educate the trolls
Harry Monk:
If you move into the higher tax bracket, you don’t pay a higher tax rate on the whole salary, only on anything earned over £50,000.
So many people don’t understand this. Who has heard this before? “I’m on 49k, if my boss gives me a pay rise I will be on less, would need to give me 70k to make it worthwhile”.
Do the tax office know what there doing , I got letter after letter saying my
Tax code was changing , I owed them money , after many a phone call all I got was you don’t need to do anything
Then last week I get a letter telling me they owe me money , only £43 , but how it can change that quick from you owe us money to we owe you money I don’t know , only thing is I don’t work at moment , obviously don’t do agency
That magic ceiling was passed a number of years ago in some sectors, not as it makes any difference, those who topped the 50k were usually earning ever penny they earned unless they were well in or family etc when they would get fed the right jobs.
Its all relative, a top line figure alone means the square root of bugger all, it’s what you have to do and for how many hours or days to earn the top line you want or need that counts.
If you do a normal week’s work, circa mid 40’s hours and earn 40/43k are you worse paid than the drivers who’s working hard for 60+ hours and topping the 50k line, and yes i know some seem to think sitting on your arse at an RDC whilst others do the work or cat napping between loading exercises at a pallet hub is great but it’s all time you arn’t with your loved ones.
Sadly we still have too many in the industry who count their subsistence pay as part of their gross wages, hmm thinking about it shouldn’t it be renamed existence pay, if you self cater and lock yourself in the cab in some hole of a layby inches from a major road that’s just about existing in my book.
Juddian:
That magic ceiling was passed a number of years ago in some sectors, not as it makes any difference, those who topped the 50k were usually earning ever penny they earned unless they were well in or family etc when they would get fed the right jobs.Its all relative, a top line figure alone means the square root of bugger all, it’s what you have to do and for how many hours or days to earn the top line you want or need that counts.
If you do a normal week’s work, circa mid 40’s hours and earn 40/43k are you worse paid than the drivers who’s working hard for 60+ hours and topping the 50k line, and yes i know some seem to think sitting on your arse at an RDC whilst others do the work or cat napping between loading exercises at a pallet hub is great but it’s all time you arn’t with your loved ones.
Sadly we still have too many in the industry who count their subsistence pay as part of their gross wages, hmm thinking about it shouldn’t it be renamed existence pay, if you self cater and lock yourself in the cab in some hole of a layby inches from a major road that’s just about existing in my book.
Just about existing for any normal person, but for them it’s LIVING THE DREAM.
As for small hauliers going bust as some other guy said - tough crap. The majority of them are only bottom feeders and have only survived because of a steady supply of cheap foreign labour and/or enticing the ‘living the dream’ lot with Kelsa spots, Alcoa wheels and a non-functioning speed limiter.
idrive:
Harry Monk:
If you move into the higher tax bracket, you don’t pay a higher tax rate on the whole salary, only on anything earned over £50,000.Please don’t educate the trolls
Yes mate, my point is anything paid to you over 50k would be ‘‘diminishing returns’’ so your employer and you may be incentivised to work out a different way to top up your wages. 50 000 / 52 = 1000 p.w. / 65 hrs (average, assuming 5/6 rota) is less than £15 p.h. and that assumes no OT rates or night/weekedn bonus etc.
ETS:
Do you agree that 40k nowadays isn’t that much considering inflation, increased workloads etc.
It’s ~£10k more than the national average.
The problem is 50k is now a 40% tax rate
No it isn’t, £50,271 is. And you only pay 40% on any income above £50,270. You pay no tax up to £12570, you pay 20% from £12571 to £50,270 whether you earn £40k or £400k.
Of course 40k today is not that great - it’s only 30k after tax/NI so what used to be the holy grail of salary is now just ‘meh’ or am I imagining things?
You’re imagining things. £40k is over 30% more than the national average wage. In my town the only people getting paid £40k who don’t own the business or are partners in it are managers of the bigger businesses/public sector and car salesmen and lorry drivers. And whilst yes we may do a lot more hours remember this is a job where the entry level is almost at zero, effectively if you’ve a pulse and can manage to pass a driving test you can go earn £40k even if you can’t add 2+2.
Go do a job search on Indeed for your local area. Look at the hourly rates on offer, the jobs they’re being offered for and the entry requirements for those jobs then tell me we’re badly paid. I was looking around my local area for what there was this week and even going back to IT and electronics engineering, roles with entry level requirements of professional certifications and BEng I’d be taking a significant pay cut not just on total salary but on hourly rate too. When I went to work for a software company as a systems engineer in 2017 I took a 25% pay cut. Going to work there now given how much pay has gone up driving lorries I’d be looking at a 30% pay cut for the same hours.
One of my boys has a B.A. and an M.A. (Hons) (he gets his brains from his Mum 
) and has just started work on the technical support team for a well-known manufacturer and he’s on £18,000 a year.
For me it’s not always about the money. A decent work life balance is more
Important to me. Unfortunately working for Tesco means I have no life. I’m
activity looking for alternative employment and have a few irons in the fire.
4 on 4 off for £30000 would do me nicely.
Dimlaith:
For me it’s not always about the money. A decent work life balance is more
Important to me. Unfortunately working for Tesco means I have no life. I’m
activity looking for alternative employment and have a few irons in the fire.
4 on 4 off for £30000 would do me nicely.
There’s always agency and if you’re happy to do Tesco via agency you can basically get work as and when you want it on a day by day basis so you can have your four on, four off or whatever.
Construction workers have earned all the top money over the last 5 years, and continue to.
Bricklayers average 200 upto 250 per day.
Even ground workers and hod carriers average 150.
Normally 8am till 4.30pm 2x half hour breaks.
Don’t need no qualifications to do any of those jobs. Just the ability to do the job.
Conor:
Dimlaith:
For me it’s not always about the money. A decent work life balance is more
Important to me. Unfortunately working for Tesco means I have no life. I’m
activity looking for alternative employment and have a few irons in the fire.
4 on 4 off for £30000 would do me nicely.There’s always agency and if you’re happy to do Tesco via agency you can basically get work as and when you want it on a day by day basis so you can have your four on, four off or whatever.
I might go agency but not for Tesco, sick of the place
English driver 1970:
Construction workers have earned all the top money over the last 5 years, and continue to.
Bricklayers average 200 upto 250 per day.
Unless it’s changed, bricklayers don’t get paid if the job gets rained off. My next-door-neighbour often used to go from Ramsgate up to London in the works van (2 hours), sit there for a couple of hours hoping in vain that the weather would break and then return home having earned diddly-squat.
English driver 1970:
Construction workers have earned all the top money over the last 5 years, and continue to.
Bricklayers average 200 upto 250 per day.
Even ground workers and hod carriers average 150.
Normally 8am till 4.30pm 2x half hour breaks.Don’t need no qualifications to do any of those jobs. Just the ability to do the job.
Do hod carriers still exist?
No
English driver 1970:
Construction workers have earned all the top money over the last 5 years, and continue to.
Bricklayers average 200 upto 250 per day.
Even ground workers and hod carriers average 150.
Normally 8am till 4.30pm 2x half hour breaks.Don’t need no qualifications to do any of those jobs. Just the ability to do the job.
Yeah none of them are on the books it’s all self employed.
Take your 6 weeks holiday off and any courses and benefit you get been employed.
If I was on 13 or 14 a hour driving a truck. I would rather drive a truck for 10 hours then be out shovelling for 150 a day for 8 hours.
I’m on about 15 a hour. time 1/4 during week and time half sat and double Sunday. a brickie or a chippy will average the same over the year maybe work few hours less. I would rather put few extra hours in myself and be warm and dry and spectate from my cab.