Nursing from Portugal to UK

Silverdragon102, BSN · Nov 29, 2009

Moved to the UK forum

London is one of the most expensive places to live in the UK. Rent can be very expensive but a lot will depend on which area of London you look at. taxes and health insurance is removed at source so when you get your wage slip it should indicate what you have paid.

Sílvia_M · Nov 29, 2009

I see...but in percentage...how many of the salary it represents for taxes and insurence...? 25%?

And just to have an idea...rent a house is about 500£ for month? more?

Silverdragon102, BSN · Nov 29, 2009

Rent will vary so really hard to predict as London is big and the area will vary the price on rent, remember the UK doesn't use Euros so may have to convert from Euros to pounds. If you do a google search for UK rentals in London you should get many pages with info and ideas on cost.

This may help you with National Insurance and how to get a NI number http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/BeginnersGuideToTax/DG_4015904 and taxes http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/index.htm

Sílvia_M · Nov 29, 2009

And as a nurse how many you give for taxes and that all? is about 25%?

allnurses Guide · Nov 29, 2009

You get taxed with a pay as you earn which will depend on how much you earn,

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/it.htm

SO assume you are a band 5 nurse starting at the lowest pay rate £20,700

£6,475 of that is your personal allowance so you will be taxed on £14,225

Basic tax is 22%

this does not include national insurance which you will also pay directly from your employer so it is taken before you get it

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/nic.htm

this is about 11% of your wages

Rent in London, as Silverdragon has said very much depends on where you live, although your going to be very lucky to get anything for £500 as it is the most expensive place to live in the UK

You will need to take into consideration council tax, depending on where you live this can be between £100 - £400 per month.

You may find that some hospitals will have live in accommodation, this would be a good option as the rates will be reasonable so it's worth asking when you are applying for jobs.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Nov 29, 2009

Tax is worked out on what you earn and my understanding and what I remember (been outside the UK for 18 months) is approx 23% you will pay between tax and NI. If you check out this link and know how much you will be earning a year you can work out how much tax and NI you will pay. Also there are a couple of other things to take into account and cost is council tax (a lot will depend on how you rent ie room, flat, house to whether you pay council tax) and transport costs. If you want to look at cost of food suggest looking up a couple of main retailers/supermarkets with online websites and you can cost food etc

Sílvia_M · Nov 30, 2009

I see....so lets hope that in London the public transports are not very expensive cause rent a house in London looks very hard at the beggining! Maybe I will rent out side London and get a bus...!

So lets see...a person that earn about 3.000 £ per month, will get just about 1.000 £!!!!!!! Cause 2.000 £ will go to taxes, rent a house and staff like that right? The 2.000 £ we don't even see!!!!!!!!!!

allnurses Guide · Nov 30, 2009

about 33% goes directly into taxes and national insurance. Then depending on where you live you will have to pay some council tax but it is the house that is taxed rather than the person so if you've got 8 people living in a house it'll be less

Silverdragon102, BSN · Nov 30, 2009

You may find it cheaper getting a bus/tube pass but may still work out expensive depending on how far you travel.

Varda · Dec 2, 2009

Tax is higher, but look at the bright side - your retirement will be a bit better as well.

Personally I wouldn't choose London as a city to go work in, since I find it extremely expensive in rent, transport and even food. Going out for a meal isn't as expensive as it used to be, from my point of view, but the city is at heart a business centre/tourist town, so it's always going to be more expensive than other places.

Sharing a house with other people seems to be the best (the only, unless you're a milionair?) way to do things in London. Like SilverDragon said, council tax is divided by the people living in the same house (although this isn't an automatic thing, I think, you have to decide how to split it) as are the utility expenses (water, gas, electricity) and even the tv licensing fee.

Yes, you have to pay a licence to have a television in the UK. Though most people I know don't have a tv in the places they live in (students sharing houses with other students).

(I'm a portuguese nursing student, by the way, so if I said something terribly wrong, please correct me.)

RetroPinoy · Dec 2, 2009

Your journey to work will also be more expensive if your hospital is in Zone 1 or you would have to go thru Zone 1 to get there. Fares are going up again next year...