Growing vegetables for NHS

[puppet]

Nhs nurses cannot really afford to buy food. Most nurses here in Manchester used food banks before the coronavirus. And now those food banks are closed. A nurse gets paid £19k which after tax is around £1,100. Rent costs £600. Council tax is £120. Bills, hospital doesn’t provide parking so they paid £150 per month for parking. Literally it is hand to mouth situation. You call in sick for couple of day’s in any month and you fall behind the bills.

Your figures must relate to one person as assuming they have a car would have used up more than their £1100 a month without heat or food. I agree they are not well paid.

But....most nurses do not use food banks.
Staff nurses on around £25k, health care assistants £18k
Salary of £19k will take home £16500 so £1300/ month.
Without a car there is no parking charge and the NHS does give full pay for sickness abscence unless you are working as an agency nurse in which case their pay would be higher to compensate.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Nhs nurses cannot really afford to buy food. Most nurses here in Manchester used food banks before the coronavirus. And now those food banks are closed. A nurse gets paid £19k which after tax is around £1,100. Rent costs £600. Council tax is £120. Bills, hospital doesn’t provide parking so they paid £150 per month for parking. Literally it is hand to mouth situation. You call in sick for couple of day’s in any month and you fall behind the bills.

It very poor show that they are charged for parking, that could and should be changed right now!

 

[Exfarmer]

Nhs nurses cannot really afford to buy food. Most nurses here in Manchester used food banks before the coronavirus. And now those food banks are closed. A nurse gets paid £19k which after tax is around £1,100. Rent costs £600. Council tax is £120. Bills, hospital doesn’t provide parking so they paid £150 per month for parking. Literally it is hand to mouth situation. You call in sick for couple of day’s in any month and you fall behind the bills.

A hospital nurse starts on £24,000
It is there on the NHS website. The scale starts at £18k for other grades . They also get regular automatic upgrades

 

[delilah]

@Tjmancunian
Please, for your sake, take the positive advice such as it is that has been offered, and contact the organisations suggested.
But don't get into a debate with farmers.
England is mine, and it owes me a living.

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

Good god man your either brave or have little knowledge in the job,
There will be a lot men on here would not even think about it, and they will of been in the job for many years, getting that into some sort of condition to grow a crop will be hard and expensive to say the least, and even then will be a hard slog to get a crop, don't want to pea in your lettuce, but I would forget it,

You say you have been given the use of the 2 acres, but for what rent etc, and for how long ?

In your area, you might be better off just letting it out for horse keep, put a few stables up, and charge a weekly fee for diy horse owners, and use the money to buy veg at supermarkets for nurses if you so wish,
The test is if you cannot afford to put stables up, then you will not be able to afford to grow veg, as both will have similar costs involved, veg don't grow for free !!!
and if you do get another job, you can continue on with the horses, but the veg would be to much work and have to finish, , where as collecting money off horse people could be done at weekend,
Horse people are not the best either at paying, there will be some bitching and falling out between them,
Your heart is in the right place, but sadly your idea of growing very on that land is not

 

[renewablejohn]

Cannot see a problem so long as you have the money to throw at it. Obviously the soil is rubbish for growing lettuce so spray off and replace with weed suppressant matting. Next buy loads of grow bags and lay out on the suppresant mats. You can buy your lettuce plugs from just down the road at 4 seasons then plant direct into the grow bags, Of course they will need watering every day so you will need to buy an irrigation system and have a reliable source of water. Of course Manchester is not the warmest part of the country so enclose it all in polytunnels and you would certainly get a crop. It then just wants picking, packing and distributing.

 

[Gulli]

Crack on and have a go I say! You might get a worthwhile crop in 5 years time

 

[SilliamWhale]

Hey guys, thank you so much for your kind support and advice. I will be in touch with coVegUk on twitter and also get in touch with communitysupprtedagriculture.

someone replied NHS gets paid to do their job. Tbh no not really,I had a family member who have died due covid 19. She had a choice not to go to work but she did because she wanted to save people like me and you. NHS staff is not being paid over time and no where near like bankers earn.
NHS nurses here in wythenshaw hospital use local food banks which have now closed. I know these people personally.

I think British veg is amazingly cheap.

Broccoli/ Swede/ Carrots/ Parsnip etc all hover around 50p.
Leeks/ Salad bags/ Cauli etc hover around £1
Spuds hover around £1 kg

And there are ways of buying cheaper. I have a bit of a funny relationship with food banks as a lot of the time I see people collecting biscuits and haribo for them etc. I definitely support the principal of supporting those with food who cannot pay but I'm not totally convinced food banks are the way to do this. You can eat for £2.50 a day if you need to.

 

[roscoe erf]

The pay on the nhs isnt that bad my wife is a nurse! I struggle to see they have the need to use food banks unless they are using them to save money to spend on luxurys rather than on food ....

exactly if they are using food banks then they need to prioritise their spending and id say this to anyone earning 20k and using food bank

 

[J 1177]

If the op is really wanting to produce food on this piece of land how about fencing it and putting some pigs on to root about and erecting some veg boxes out of sleepers. Grow the veg in them.
We as farmers have been there and done it all so we have a allbeit honest somewhat grizzly outlook.
The op intentions seem to be in the right place so let's try and help them

 

[Exfarmer]

But if they are in thew situation paying rent , having to take a car to get to work this can eat an awful big chunk out of their wages. Add on a couple of children, a feckless husband who has decamped

 

[Highland Mule]

It very poor show that they are charged for parking, that could and should be changed right now!

Why? Most employees in urban areas have to pay for commuting costs. Every hospital I’ve ever visited had very good transport links, unlike engineering companies and the likes, which do equally good work for society.

 

[DrWazzock]

I was always charged for parking when I worked in town. £4 before you had even started work and that was 15 years ago. One reason why I packed it in. Or you could use the train which cost more than the petrol and the parking and get a warning for being late every morning. I don’t know how folks put up with it. We are so lucky working where are. I think about that everyday.

 

[ollie989898]

Nurses are poorly paid? Compared to what? If you put the hours in you can earn plenty. Work in private sector in botox clinics, £25/hr. Care homes the same. It's the reason so many leave the NHS. Might be where I head if I can't ever get in.

As for veg on the land pictured, fudge that.

 

[topground]

The land you have featured looks perfect for the local militant vegan activists to show the rest of the world how they can feed themselves in a world without farm animals .
Invite Extinction rebellion along to help you cultivate the land without using fossil fuels.
Charge them by the hour, they will feel better about themselves and you can invest the proceeds in a deal to supply the NHS with a wholesale greengrocer.

 

[MRT]

Hi, I have lost my job and now just helping local pharmacy delivering prescriptions. However I have access to a piece of land about 2 acres that I have been told to use it and grow vegetables. I would like to start a charity project where the fresh vegetables will go to NHS staff in and around Bolton area in Greater Manchester.

the land has issue with water and it becomes hard to walk when it rains. Also there is a lot of grass that needs sorting out. I was wondering ifanyone here can give me advise on where I can start. I was hoping to grow some lettuce and salads which I can pick and pack to distributed to local NHS. I know it is a long shot but I have free time and I want to make use of it doing something good for those who protect us during challenging times.

I have attached couple Of pictures for you of the land.

Don't make any commitments to anyone in year one NHS or otherwise as you will likely struggle to honour them. But why not have a go? Spray off what is there, test the soil, add what needs adding turn it over and have a go. Sow stuff that likes to survive and enjoy the experience. (Get fancy next year if it works, it will likely be vastly cheaper to just buy the veg and donate it)

 

[HolzKopf]

Honestly, a day or two on and with 30+ posts under its belt, I still can't see it's a runner. That land looks pony paddock to me and I could make a list of the negatives and on the other side I couldn't honestly say there'd be any positives - and I'm entrepreneurial and positive in my business outlook.
It's just too much like hard work to get a reward - and then to get others to benefit would also be hard work in terms of seasons, distribution, risk of damage, risk of weather and so on 'until the cows come home'. Running a charity too is not without it's issues - in terms of governance, transparency of costs and donations received. If you genuinely want to help those you hold in such high esteem, I think we do understand but you have to face facts and listen to those on here who do it for a living, there must be a better way. The burden of it would grind you down. It's not an allotment, it would be a millstone.

 

[Swarfmonkey]

But if they are in thew situation paying rent , having to take a car to get to work this can eat an awful big chunk out of their wages. Add on a couple of children, a feckless husband who has decamped

It looks a bit different once you take tax credits into account.

A single parent working 37hrs a week for 19k pa with two kids would be eligible for both child tax credits and working tax credit. According to the tax credit calculator on .gov.uk they'd be able to get an extra £477.87 in child tax credit and £61.85 in working tax credit every four weeks. That works out as an extra £585 a month.

 

[ollie989898]

It looks a bit different once you take tax credits into account.

A single parent working 37hrs a week for 19k pa with two kids would be eligible for both child tax credits and working tax credit. According to the tax credit calculator on .gov.uk they'd be able to get an extra £477.87 in child tax credits and £61.85 in working tax credit every four weeks. That works out as an extra £585 a month.

The reality is that everyone should be earning a living wage or we are failing as a society. I keep seeing jobs advertising minimum wage and genuinely wonder what future there is for companies that are constantly advertising for it. No one is going to stay in such a position, and I often wonder if, as a CEO or owner of a big company I would be comfortable knowing the shirt on my back was being financed by poor Doreen in supplies working for £8.21 an hour or whatever it is.

 

[Swarfmonkey]

Doreen is most likely largely unskilled and easily replaced. That's why she gets £8.21 an hour. If they can automate the process for less than that she'll be out the door anyway.