Council Jobs to Go -10% Staff Saving Needed

nickmason

macaque wrote: »

Most of the problems that old people face would be resolved with bigger pensions. If the government cut back on armies of public servants trying to run our lives for us there would be more money for pensioners.

Possibly. There's probably a sweet spot; fewer public servants generating a net loss for individuals, more public servants reducing real returns for individuals.
Then of course the 64-million dollar question is how much the distribution of this matters. Notihng you've argued has suggested that the pensioners would benefit from cuts.

Old_Slaphead

Generali wrote: »

LA employees get a pension as part of their compensation.

(Respectfully) for what?

Generali

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

(Respectfully) for what?

Turning up for work or picking up the phone and calling in sick.

I used to know a chap who worked for one of the libraries in the City of London. Apparently a young lady he worked with managed to take in excess of 100 days off sick in a year: 2 days here, a day there etc.. At the end of the year she was warned to stop taking the wee.

She tried really hard to come in to work the following year and was surprised to get the boot when she took a mere 60 odd days off sick the next year. So surprised that she tried to sue her prior employees for being racists! It didn't make court.

Poppy9

Charges for Social Services homecare are now limited by Central Govt. as part of the Fairer Charging policy. The policy does vary from England to Wales and LA have been given a ring fenced grant to introduce the policy and to reduce the charges. The aim of the Fairer charging policy is so that local authorities do not overcharge for services and leave the service user with at least the equivalent of their income support assessment plus 25%.

Charging for residential care involves the LA using a clients pension and other benefits. If there is still a balance due it's either picked up by the LA as a cost to them or if a client has assets over a certain level then they will try to charge the client. I say try as they have to handle the matter sensitively and not force a client to sell their home if they do not wish to. They will wait to reclaim the money from the estate. Clients in residential homes are given pocket money by Social Services, not sure what it is now but many years ago it was something like £13 per week which I didn't think was very much then.

If a residential client is also receiving nursing care this portion of the charge from the home (typically an extra £110-120 per week) is picked up by the Health authority, not the client or the LA.

Schools performance. Here in Wales we have 3 main types of schools. State, Welsh medium and Voluntary aided (church schools). In my LA (and I think all others in Wales) all schools have delegated powers to manage their own budgets, their own bank accounts etc. Basically they are given £x each year and they decide how they will use this. The allocation to each school is based on a formula set out by the Welsh Assembly Govt. and schools in disadvantaged areas will receive a greater share of the education pot.

The better performing schools in my LA are those with a catchment in the better areas of the city or welsh medium or VA schools. The main reason for this is that parents in more affluent areas have higher expectations of the schools and their children, the children from outside the catchment area have parents who have made a committment to getting their child a better education and again will have higher expectations.

Welsh schools and VA also do well regardless of the catchment area because again the parents have made a committment to select a school for their child and often because they don't like the way the English medium catchment school is performing. It is a big committment for any non Welsh speaking parent to choose a Welsh medium education as homework help is tricky.

Any school should do well regardless of location etc. if it has the full support of parents. It's not all about money. All state schools be they English, Welsh or VA have the same restrictions placed on them from the LEA yet some schools perform better. A better performing school will have more choice in the appointment of heads/teachers etc. because the school itself will be more attractive to applicants but any school will go downhill if it loses parental support.

Old_Slaphead

Generali wrote: »

Turning up for work or picking up the phone and calling in sick.

My partner works with someone in LA who, upon returning to work after taking maternity leave, then proceeded to take her 5 weeks accrued holiday. Dunno whether this is standard practice in the real world but I've never heard of it before.

Poppy9

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

My partner works with someone in LA who, upon returning to work after taking maternity leave, then proceeded to take her 5 weeks accrued holiday. Dunno whether this is standard practice in the real world but I've never heard of it before.

It would be sex discrimination if annual leave didn't accrue during maternity leave so it's standard practice.

You do not accrue leave if you are on long term sick though.

greenwheels007

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

My partner works with someone in LA who, upon returning to work after taking maternity leave, then proceeded to take her 5 weeks accrued holiday. Dunno whether this is standard practice in the real world but I've never heard of it before.

????
Strange post
It's called conditions of employment. Maternity leave is a right, leave is a right.
You make it sound as though it is some sort of insider scam!!

In stead of knocking the LA grafters why not join the increasingly lengthy queue and give it a try!

Geoffo_M

Big piece in today's Sunday Express about the inequalities of the public sector pension scheme.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/75781/Taxpayers-face-900bn-bill-over-pensions-shortfall

Old_Slaphead

greenwheels007 wrote: »

Maternity leave is a right, leave is a right.

Please accept my apologies - it's just that I'd never heard of accruing leave whilst you were actually on leave.

greenwheels007 wrote: »

In stead of knocking the LA grafters why not join the increasingly lengthy queue and give it a try!

:rotfl: LA grafters - you're having a laff. The fact that it's almost impossible to get a job in LA (around 50 applicants for each job) shows what a cushy number it is.

MrsE_2

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

:rotfl: LA grafters - you're having a laff. The fact that it's almost impossible to get a job in LA (around 50 applicants for each job) shows what a cushy number it is.

My job is NOT a cushy number.

I'm fast (I work fast), BUT I go flat out & I play catch-up all the time.

I almost dread hols, because of the mountain I will return too.