London weighting allowance in 2022: what is it and who is entitled to it?
It’s a story as old as time. The young and ambitious leaving their provincial comfort and flocking to the metropolis, to seek their riches. It’s been going on for centuries and it doesn't look like it has any intention of cooling off.
There is a sense of urgency for the young to follow the gravy train down to London, so much so that now over a quarter of graduates now move to London after university. This is totally understandable, given the imbalance of jobs and opportunities London is teeming with, but of course this pattern quickly cartwheels into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
However moving to the capital comes as a price, quite literally. A recent study conducted by the Trust for London estimates that the cost of living and working is 20% more expensive than the rest of the UK. You might assume that living in a major global city is always going to be significantly more expensive and to an extent, you’d be right.
However, London surpasses global trends and its exclusivity reverberates around the world. The UK's capital has been named the world’s most expensive city to live and work in for a 4th year in a row by the estate agent Savills. In a worldwide study, the estate agent revealed that, taking into account accommodation and office space, the average Londoner incurs £80,700 in rent per year.
What’s alarming about this is that it isn’t a well-publicised fact. If asked, many people would have opted for the more obvious metropolises like Hong Kong, Beijing, New York and Tokyo.