Council Tax

lynzpower

If you are wondering about Council tax, and wondering on its waste, why not recommend to your council that the local freesheet is a total waste of money and they could be doing something about that! As opposed to moaning about pensions that employers have a legal obligation to pay?

Boris has got rid of "the londoner " paper which I always thought was a total waste of time, and a very horrible park is getting a massive facelift with the money.

Good stuff

MPD

I'm with Mewbie, if you really think the grass is greener then get yourself a government job.

macaque_2

MPD wrote: »

I'm with Mewbie, if you really think the grass is greener then get yourself a government job.

There is the small matter of self respect.

Old_Slaphead

mewbie wrote: »

I mainly started this because of the term "gold-plated" which is a bit of a nonsense. I guess a council job has a council pension. That's the deal. Bit unfair to take pensions away, we're talking cleaners, bin men, librarians here, not Fred Goodwin. And if you think they are so well off, then go for a job in the council.

Maybe a more apt description of public sector pensions is "very low cost (to employee), highly subsidised, high return, risk free and inflation linked".

Unfair to take pensions already accrued away but further accruals should be as a 'money purchase' rather than 'final salary' scheme basis thereby capping future taxpayer liability.

Don't forgt - Brown had no qualms about adversley changing the rules for private schemes and, with his management of the economy, he's done plenty to ensure returns for PPP holders has been grim over his period of his tenure in government.

As regards cleaners, binmen (nb thought binmen were now outsourced) etc. maybe if the scheme were only available to people on say up to £25000 it would be tolerable - but lavish guarantees for hospital consultants, police officers, head teachers, senior civil servants, doctors, well paid LG professionals etc etc - sticks in the craw just a bit when it's some of the low paid from the private sector who have to subsidise them.

Getting a job in public sector - join the queue. There's an average of 50-100 applications for many of the jobs

MyLastFiver

I think you're right to say that there is wastage in local government, but you're picking the wrong target slating public-sector pensions. Damn those fat-cat secretaries :rolleyes:

lynzpower

As regards cleaners, binmen etc. maybe if the schem were only available to people on say up to £25000 they would be tolerable - but lavish guarantees for hospital consultants, police officers, head teachers, senior civil servants, well paid LG professionals et etc - sticks in the craw just a bit when it's some of the low paid from the private scetor who have to subsidise them.

I think youll find that in the main bin men, cleaners and so forth actually work for private companies.

It is only statutory work that hasnt yet been flogged off to profit making firms for exmaple child protection, teaching and other core "you have to do it" business.

drc

mewbie wrote: »

I mainly started this because of the term "gold-plated" which is a bit of a nonsense. I guess a council job has a council pension. That's the deal. Bit unfair to take pensions away, we're talking cleaners, bin men, librarians here, not Fred Goodwin. And if you think they are so well off, then go for a job in the council.

But in this case, according to the article, it is only 32 workers who are being funded out of £16.6 million so not just your average bin man, librarian etc. I imagine the real cost is because council tax payers are subsidising a rather large pension pot (dare I say "gold plated") for a lucky few whose pension does not rely on the state of the financial markets. I don't think anyone should have their pension "taken away", I just think the playing field should be levelled so that in future everyone subsidises their own pension rather than the majority being forced to subsidise the few. It also means that your average, privately hired rubbish collectors and librarians on low pay are having to subsidise their public sector counterparts just because they are part of the private sector. It's not unreasonable to want your council tax to be spent on things that actually affect you rather than lining the pockets of a few.

MyLastFiver

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

Getting a job in public sector - join the queue. There's an average of 50-100 applications for many of the jobs

There certainly aren't that many applicants for teaching posts. So anyone who has spent four years at university and is prepared to take on classfuls of teenagers all day every day, get your applications in. The holidays and pensions are excellent.

Old_Slaphead

A 'public servant', 40 years in the job, finishing on a salary of £20,000 will require a pension fund of approx £330,000 to fund their pension. Even a lowly librarian will require up to £250,000. Multiply that by 5million (??) public sector employees and you get a very, very big number.

Very few people in the private sector (other than very senior directors aka fatcats) can aspire to that.

Final salary schemes are now vitrtually obsolete in private sector...they are unaffordable. The few companies still offering them are mainly ex-nationalised utilities

LillyJ

lynzpower wrote: »

I think youll find that in the main bin men, cleaners and so forth actually work for private companies.

It is only statutory work that hasnt yet been flogged off to profit making firms for exmaple child protection, teaching and other core "you have to do it" business.

I don't know about that, in Birmingham bin men are certainly employed by the council, as I know several of them personally.