Council Jobs to Go -10% Staff Saving Needed

Davesnave

dopester wrote: »

Get some retired teachers in to do some voluntary work. Withhold their pensions if they don't. Or maybe pay a little extra for expenses.

Teachers are always bleating on about how much they love the job for the kids, so surely some of the retired would be willing to come back to do extra work to lower the class sizes when the government runs out of money to pay teachers their current rate of pay.

Or, have kids taught by the best teachers/lecturers via remote link telepresence - for classrooms all over the country, with a lower-paid teaching assistant in each class to oversee.

You might not like it, but the money will be running out soon, and at least my solutions have the best interests of the kids in mind - instead of striking teachers, or those teachers on long-term sick-leave on big pay, or those teachers requiring big pay to subsidise their BTL portfolios.

Mmmm.....yes, why not? While we're at it, let's stop the pensions of all those able bodied ex-servicemen as well, if they don't do a 'voluntary' tour in Afghanistan. After all, most of them enjoyed their work too and anyone can fire a gun.

seven-day-weekend

dopester wrote: »

Get some retired teachers in to do some voluntary work. Withhold their pensions if they don't. Or maybe pay a little extra for expenses.

I beg your pardon? Take a Pension off someone who has already 'done their time' and is now retired?:eek::mad:

How would you like it if a relative of yours was told that they had to give up their Old Age Pension and get back to work?? Oh and by the way we are not going to pay you.

How about having decent working conditions for existing teachers, so that they are actually allowed to teach and not have to be Administrators, Social Workers, Police, Priests, Doctors and parents and are allowed to appropriately discipline their pupils?? Then a few more might be attracted into the profession.

I can't believe I am reading this.

dopester

Davesnave wrote: »

Mmmm.....yes, why not? While we're at it, let's stop the pensions of all those able bodied ex-servicemen as well, if they don't do a 'voluntary' tour in Afghanistan. After all, most of them enjoyed their work too and anyone can fire a gun.

Slightly different. And your average soldier wasn't that well paid anyway. Don't traffic wardens earn more than soldiers? Whereas retired teachers aren't putting themselves at too much risk.

At a minimum the retired teachers can mark homework at home and help keep the system running for the benefit of kids as the money runs out, and forced spending cut-backs are required.

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I beg your pardon? Take a Pension off someone who has already 'done their time' and is now retired?:eek::mad:

Aren't public sector pensions entirely unfunded? Don't they rely on the all the taxes that working society pay today? In that case it doesn't look good for public sector pensions.

I'm sorry boomer, but the last 50 to 60 years have been paradise city. A long-wave boom cycle for most of the world. You've had it too good. The pensions you've awarded yourself depended upon younger generations taking on forever higher burdens until breaking point.

You're about to find out the money has run out, and that house price rising x100 times over in an inflationary environment are about to reverse with deflationary forces, and that pensions can't continue to be paid at current levels. It isn't my fault. Just the way it is.

macaque_2

RobertoMoir wrote: »

And yet you never miss a chance to widen it in your own special way.

The gap is caused by excessive salaries, gold plated pensions, poor performance and excessive use of draconian powers by small time beauracrats in the public sector. If the gap is getting wider, it is because the public sector have no intention of listening to the people. In the best traditions of the modern public sector you blame me for voicing my concerns rather than blaming the perpetrators of these problems

Many of us deeply distrust the new public sector culture which has gradually shifted from public service to public supervision.

olly300

dopester wrote: »

Get some retired teachers in to do some voluntary work. Withhold their pensions if they don't. Or maybe pay a little extra for expenses.

Teachers are always bleating on about how much they love the job for the kids, so surely some of the retired would be willing to come back to do extra work to lower the class sizes when the government runs out of money to pay teachers their current rate of pay.

Or, have kids taught by the best teachers/lecturers via remote link telepresence - for classrooms all over the country, with a lower-paid teaching assistant in each class to oversee.

You might not like it, but the money will be running out soon, and at least my solutions have the best interests of the kids in mind - instead of striking teachers, or those teachers on long-term sick-leave on big pay, or those teachers requiring big pay to subsidise their BTL portfolios.

More pub talk.

It's worth talking to a few teachers including headteachers before you come out with solutions.

The majority of primary schools find themselves over run with volunteers. And a head teacher finds ways of getting rid of staff on long term sick whether the reasons for the illness are legitimate or not.

Oh and to have a BTL portfolio as a teacher particularly in the South East you need to be married to someone else who doesn't work in the public sector. I've had teachers and know teachers married to very rich individuals.

If the pay was so good particularly at primary level you would find lots of male teachers. The male teachers I met at this level come from aboard and the schools involve wangle it so they pay them more than the female teachers of the same level by paying them for every specialist skill they can claim they have.

olly300

d

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I beg your pardon? Take a Pension off someone who has already 'done their time' and is now retired?:eek::mad:

How would you like it if a relative of yours was told that they had to give up their Old Age Pension and get back to work?? Oh and by the way we are not going to pay you.

How about having decent working conditions for existing teachers, so that they are actually allowed to teach and not have to be Administrators, Social Workers, Police, Priests, Doctors and parents and are allowed to appropriately discipline their pupils?? Then a few more might be attracted into the profession.

I can't believe I am reading this.

There is actually no problem getting people to train to be teachers except in Science subjects. The issue is getting those who have trained up to stay.

I know about 5 people including one in science and one in maths who have trained and completed some or all of their training years. The main reason they left is they could put up with the cr*p from the kids but not the cr*p they got from the parents when they tried to discipline their unruly kids.

MrsE_2

I only hope that any job losses will be through natural methods.

I work for the county council:(

Generali

dopester wrote: »

Aren't public sector pensions entirely unfunded? Don't they rely on the all the taxes that working society pay today? In that case it doesn't look good for public sector pensions.

Local Authority pensions are funded or at least aim to be. If someone 'cures cancer' in the next couple of years then they'll be under-funded. If the Black Death sweeps England they'll be over-funded. You get the point.

Civil Service (central Government) pensions are entirely unfunded and do not appear as liabilities on the balance sheet of the Central Government. As such whether they are paid or not in future is completely at the whim of the electorate.

Private sector company pensions should be fully funded but rarely are AIUI. Any shortfall should the company go bust is supposed to be met by a government controlled fund which is paid for by company pension schemes on the basis that the riskiest pay most. The fund doesn't have anything like the cash required to meet the requests that will be put their way.

Individual pensions have what they have in them. Everyone knows where they stand.

seven-day-weekend

olly300 wrote: »

d

There is actually no problem getting people to train to be teachers except in Science subjects. The issue is getting those who have trained up to stay.

I know about 5 people including one in science and one in maths who have trained and completed some or all of their training years. The main reason they left is they could put up with the cr*p from the kids but not the cr*p they got from the parents when they tried to discipline their unruly kids.

Yes, I agree to a certain extent, although other demands made of teachers coupled with the attitude of ar$y parents has not helped to retain people within the profession.

By the time my husband retired from teaching in 2004, the only disciplinary measures left were detention (which parents can over-rule) or filling in a report about the pupils' behaviour.

No great deterrent there then.

Oblivion

Generali wrote: »

Local Authority pensions are funded or at least aim to be. If someone 'cures cancer' in the next couple of years then they'll be under-funded. If the Black Death sweeps England they'll be over-funded. You get the point.

Quite so. I spent my working life in Local Government and had to contribute 6% of my monthly salary to the pension fund, with the employer contributing whatever percentage was needed to keep the pension fund sustainable, based on regular actuarial valuations.

Local Government is facing two big problems now ...

Firstly, the fact that we live longer has meant that councils' own contributions to the pension fund have been steadily rising over the years to unprecedented levels, and this reflects directly in the levy of council tax.

Secondly, the massive cuts in interest rates means that council's are not getting the returns they used to get on money left on deposit, or on the investments associated with the pension fund. This shortfall in funding revenue will place an even greater burden on the council tax payer.

In the short-term, there's yet another blow on the way. Local Government pensions are indexed linked, and the annual increase in April is based on the RPI figure for the previous September. September this year saw one of the biggest RPI increases in a long time, and so the pension bill is set to rise significantly this coming April.

I just hope you will all enter into the spirit of it all and work that bit harder to keep me in cigars and whisky. You know it makes sense :rotfl:

Dave.