Will the govenment spending review be much less painful than we are led to believe?

Thrugelmir

mbga9pgf wrote: »

Gilt strike would have happened if labour were re-elected.

Selling large quantities of Gilts will last for some considerable number of years yet. The jury's still out on what the cost of servicing the UK's debt burden will ultimately be.

Thrugelmir

chucky wrote: »

right on cue... so what. you weren't going to come back with any public sector departments that did not have any any job cuts... i wonder why...

Any organisation that's funded with taxpayers money is classified as being in the public sector.

dori2o

Those who have tried to get through to HMRC recently know how hard it is. Just imagine how much worse it will be with 25-40% less staff answering the phones.

I fully expect there to be a massive cut and major redundancies, why else would the Gov't have forced the change in the redundancy package for civil servants. The changes won't affect me as I have not been there 12 years so willstill get what I would have got under the old scheme. But some of my very good friends have been there 20-30 years, and stand to lose a lot.

As for those who have said we are overpaid....nonsense. Maybe at the higher levels, but those on the bottom 2-3 grades are paid below the national average, and it is these who make up the majority of civil servants.

Old_Slaphead

dori2o wrote: »

As for those who have said we are overpaid....nonsense. Maybe at the higher levels, but those on the bottom 2-3 grades are paid below the national average, and it is these who make up the majority of civil servants.

Do you actually think the BOTTOM grades in the CS should be paid above the national average wage? (nb if you were referring to my earlier posting I said 'public sector' and 'relatively overpaid')

Procrastinator333

I know how much anecdotals get slapped down on this forum, so believe what you like about the following.

I'm also being deliberately vague as I was told in confidence and while the chances of Graham and Chucky becoming best buds is more likely than this being traced, it is simply not a risk I'm willing to take.

A person I consider to be more than a credible source told me how the current cuts are being handled by the council they work for. 50 of the 500 in the department are currently in the process of being made redundant. They are currently waiting to find out what the central government settlement will be, but the current expectation is another 10% to go and if it is really tough then maybe another 10% after that.

This probably doesn't feel like news to most, but I was actually quite surprised by this, I had thought that a lot of the government cuts would come about through natural attrition, not redundancy.

I asked why they didn't just wait for people to leave (new job, retirement etc) and in this department at least, there were so few moving on that this would never have worked. I have no idea if this is unique to this department or if it will be common amongst councils and other government agencies, but the brutality and speed with which the axe is falling was quite a surprise to me.


Having said all that, there is simply no way that much of what we see in the press is not a piece of expectation management. They would simply be nuts to not be doing it.

dori2o

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

Do you actually think the BOTTOM grades in the CS should be paid above the national average wage? (nb if you were referring to my earlier posting I said 'public sector' and 'relatively overpaid')

I'm on the 2nd grade and in my position in the private sector I would be earning above my current pay and also have commission and company benefits. However I happen to like my job, easy location to get to, nice people to work with, but it's unlikely that I'll ever get the chance to progress further than the next band up which is a Technical/Team Leader position due to the cuts, for which again I would still be paid below the national/regional average.

ILW

michaels wrote: »

So if the police take longer to respond or don't come at all to a burglary only the small proportion who are burgled will notice.

If those who lose their jobs have to queue for longer in the unemployment office and no longer get support or advice on getting a new job only the small proportion who lose their job will notice.

If soldiers do not have the latest body armour only the relatives of the few extra casualties will notice.

If the flood defences are not maintained only the small proportion unlucky enough to be flooded will notice.

If the probation service are unable to rehabilitate offenders only the small proportion who are assaulted by repeat offenders will notice.

If planning decisions take longer and are less thoroughly assessed only the small number delayed or affected by poor plans will be affected.

If school buildings are more decrepit and class sizes are bigger only in 10 years will the full impact on students abilities be seen.

So no - most people won't notice....

Or

If there are no diversity officers, on £30k salaries.

If there are no civil servants getting 3 years redundancy pay.

If there are no workshy families getting £100k per year housing benefits.

If it is decided not to pay extra benefits to alkies and druggies.

If we stop paying benefits to people earning £60k pa.

I would be perfectly happy with that

PS Please feel free to add to the list of unfair and wasteful spending that has been built up over the last decade.

amcluesent

Yes, no doubt they're talking up the extent of the cuts and they won't be anywhere near as bad

>but the brutality and speed with which the axe is falling was quite a surprise to me.<

Numpties and dead-wood will be got rid of ASAP. CSR results in Nov, another round of redundancies. Come Apr 2011, projects will be starting off, but no staff! Agency peeps and contractors will be wheeled!

chucky

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

I know how much anecdotals get slapped down on this forum, so believe what you like about the following.

correction - you're a reasonable guy that gives a reasonable opinion and obviously reasonable anecdotal info. there's a difference when compared to the kind of stuff that gets 'slapped down'.

mbga9pgf

No, reserve your seat in the bunker and bring all the beans you can carry

dori2o wrote: »

Those who have tried to get through to HMRC recently know how hard it is. Just imagine how much worse it will be with 25-40% less staff answering the phones.

I fully expect there to be a massive cut and major redundancies, why else would the Gov't have forced the change in the redundancy package for civil servants. The changes won't affect me as I have not been there 12 years so willstill get what I would have got under the old scheme. But some of my very good friends have been there 20-30 years, and stand to lose a lot.

As for those who have said we are overpaid....nonsense. Maybe at the higher levels, but those on the bottom 2-3 grades are paid below the national average, and it is these who make up the majority of civil servants.

What, you mean 25-40% less people to not pester me about building control? 25-40% less at the DVLA to screw me over with parking fines?

We will be fine with 25-40% cuts as there are vast swathes of the public sector that contribute exactly didly squat to this country, other than justify their own pitiful existence by creating regulation that requires manpower to staff.

Time that ended methinks.