Public sector monster needs to be tamed

macaque_2

vivatifosi wrote: »

I think that this is the case with some but not all councils. My local council is much more pragmatic about the bins issue and fines. My sense is that this has helped them get buy in from the local community, particularly over the bins issue, and we have a really good recycling rate as a result. A little bit of common sense goes a long way.



I've extracted the bid about board and lodging because I was gobsmacked when I read it. Can I have a link please? That is outrageous if true.

You are right, people are increasingly angry about the public sector - particularly over issues such as the Baby P case (especially as it followed Victoria Climbie), and there are certainly elements of the public sector that needs to be investigated and people's jobs should not be immune. However there are vast swathes of the public sector that do work well, or work as well as they can given the constraints that they work with.

As a trustee of a (private sector) final salary pension scheme that has been clobbered by government intervention, I do think that the public sector pension scheme issue has to be addressed, probably through closure of final salary schemes to new members, possibly through the accrual of less generous benefits moving forward. I hope that the government doesn't see this as an opportunity to play with anyone's (public or private sector) accrued benefits as that is fundamentally unfair.

Innocent people do get charged board and lodging for their time in prison. I find it disgusting beyond belief.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article463140.ece

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23398323-details/Man+wrongly+jailed+for+three+years+charged+%C2%A37,000+by+Home+Office+for+'board+and+lodging'/article.do

vivatifosi

Thanks macaque. I found it so unbelievable I had to ask for a link. It's shameful.

Generali

macaque wrote: »

Innocent people do get charged board and lodging for their time in prison. I find it disgusting beyond belief.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article463140.ece

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23398323-details/Man+wrongly+jailed+for+three+years+charged+%C2%A37,000+by+Home+Office+for+'board+and+lodging'/article.do

Amazing.

Was it judged by whether they'd spent some time in a 2 star prison and then some in a four star or was it just done at an average basis do you think?

Perhaps the judge making the order could spend a few nights inside (as an innocent man) so he could make the comparison in an informed manner.

RobertoMoir

vivatifosi wrote: »

Thanks macaque. I found it so unbelievable I had to ask for a link. It's shameful.

Yes it is. Sadly it seems we got the government we deserve in so very many ways.

Turnbull2000

Thursday's Newcastle Evening Chronicle contained possibly the most threadbare jobs section I've ever seen. I did a count of the contents and this is the result;

Public sector - 77 jobs

Charities - 15 jobs

Private sector 40 jobs

The private sector jobs are largely low paid paid administration (e.g. receptionists) or services (e.g. beauty therapist). The public sector (local authorities in particular) dominate most pages and contains such delights as a Financial Inclusion Champion on £40,000 or an Exercise Referral Co-ordinator on £21,000 - both with lucrative final salary pensions of course! As for the 'charities', many of these will receive government funding.

Meanwhile, I'm seeing many of my private sector professional chums lose their jobs left, right and centre.

donaldtramp

And Sharon Shoesmith
"former children's services chief who lost her job over the Baby P tragedy, has lost an appeal against her sacking from Haringey Council."


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/baby-p/4223525/Baby-P-Sharon-Shoesmith-loses-appeal-over-sacking-from-Haringey-Council.html

Can you believe she appealed? An absolute disgrace.

Doesn't stop there though, she is now taking them to an employment tribunal.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/baby-p/4963945/Sharon-Shoesmith-takes-Haringey-Council-to-employment-tribunal.html

Absolutely sickening. I sincerely hope she loses and gets all the bad press she deserves.

RobertoMoir

Turnbull2000 wrote: »

The private sector jobs are largely low paid paid administration (e.g. receptionists) or services (e.g. beauty therapist). The public sector (local authorities in particular) dominate most pages and contains such delights as a Financial Inclusion Champion on £40,000 or an Exercise Referral Co-ordinator on £21,000 - both with lucrative final salary pensions of course! As for the 'charities', many of these will receive government funding.

I don't know if those are representative of the jobs on offer or if you're just cherry-picking ones that you feel make your point, but in general terms, the public sector world keeps on turning even during a recession for a reason. Your bins still need emptying, kids still need teaching, and so on.

I think someone made the point earlier that one of these "crazy" sounding jobs might actually be less crazy than they sound. Let's take the Financial Inclusion Champion for a moment. Now a quick google takes me to the DWP website, which tells us what the job involves:

"(...) work with local authorities, social landlords and other key partners to make sure people have access to basic financial services, such as safe saving, bank accounts, money advice, home contents insurance and affordable credit."

Blimey. Now to me that sounds like teaching granny to suck eggs, but it sounds like the sort of things that are generally applauded on the MSE website. Now I don't know this is the case, but just suppose someone has actually costed things out and figured out that creating these jobs to hold the hand of the helpless and hopeless actually costs the government less than picking up the pieces afterwards if it isn't done.

Now while my mind is still boggled at the idea that a large number of people really do need help with this stuff and if that really is true then I've lost a bit of my faith in humanity if that is the case, the fact is that if they have costed it out that way then actually these jobs aren't a waste of public money after all.

Now while it's easy to scoff at that idea - as I say it depresses me that it might be true - do you actually know if it's right or not?

Turnbull2000 wrote: »

Meanwhile, I'm seeing many of my private sector professional chums lose their jobs left, right and centre.

Well as you're sure that Financial Inclusion Champions and Exercise Referral Co-ordinators are "delights" then I'm sure your chums will be happy to apply for them?

Georgie4

I agree totally as someone who works in the public sector and could earn FAR more in the private sector , most of us earn below average national wage and have anything but gold plated pensions

treliac

Georgie4 wrote: »

I agree totally as someone who works in the public sector and could earn FAR more in the private sector , most of us earn below average national wage and have anything but gold plated pensions

Why do you stay in the public sector, may I ask? (Just to assist the sceptics, please understand!)

Georgie4

I actually enjoy my job and where I work , I have spent 15 years working my way up and feel that I make a differencde to the people I deal with and the staff I manage