public sector spend £22 on 65p light bulbs. Sums these fools up really

twirlypinky

RJP33 wrote: »

Having worked in the private sector mostly but also in the civil service, the key problem I notice is a lack of accountability. If you overspend or don’t get value in the private sector it has a direct influence on the bottom line, whereas there’s a culture of it doesn’t really matter in the public sector which leads to incredible waste.

A persons value is usually scrutinised in the commercial world, but there are plenty of ‘passengers’ in the civil service.

Certainly I think the top civil servants should have considerable commercial experience, otherwise how are they ever going to deliver proper value for the taxpayer?

Not true, or certainly, not true anymore. I work in the public sector, in finance, and I can assure you that wastage is seriously frowned upon. I obviously can't go into the full ins and outs, but every budget manager is held fully accountable for their spends, and expected to achieve savings year on year - something that is very difficult to do in the area i work.

Trust me, until you've had to work in it for a long period of time, you really can't judge. I've also worked in the private sector, thought i should mention that.

Also, obviously, i can't speak for every school/hospital/local council, only those with which i have experience.

ILW

twirlypinky wrote: »

Not true, or certainly, not true anymore. I work in the public sector, in finance, and I can assure you that wastage is seriously frowned upon. I obviously can't go into the full ins and outs, but every budget manager is held fully accountable for their spends, and expected to achieve savings year on year - something that is very difficult to do in the area i work.

Trust me, until you've had to work in it for a long period of time, you really can't judge. I've also worked in the private sector, thought i should mention that.

Also, obviously, i can't speak for every school/hospital/local council, only those with which i have experience.

In what way aare they accountable?

twirlypinky

they're made to explain any overspend and also made to show how what they're going to do to a) save money elsewhere to come back in budget and b) stop this happening again in the future. If a budget holder repeatedly overspends and cannot/will not make savings elsewhere then they will be perfomance managed and down graded to a post that has fewer responsibilities. Further up the scale, if a school/hospital/council ends the year in severe deficit, with no plans for correction, then "turnaround" teams are sent in to remove from post the exec board that clearly aren't capable of their jobs.

I agree that 10-15-20 years ago the public sector was a bit slap dash and similar to the descriptions other people have given above, but that simply isn't the case anymore. We are repeatedly under funded, and told to achieve greater and greater savings, with no room for manouvre, we're restricted to far tighter conditions than the private sector. We're tied in the wages we pay, we're tied in our terms and conditions (it's VERY hard to sack someone if you can't get them for gross misconduct) and we're tied by the goverment targets.

For example, the local hospital to me are being underfunded by 66% for emergency care on patient numbers above 2008/9 levels. So since the local population has grown, every patient that comes through the door at A&E the hospital, between probably now and the end of March, are only given a third of the cost of treatment by the PCT. A third. The cost of treating that patient hasn't reduced at all, but the funding has. In addition, they have to be treated/admitted/sent home within 4 hours of arriving or the hospital get fined. That hospital is now having to make major cuts in services in order to achieve the required break even position.

This is in just one area that i happen to be aware of - there are many more examples. Local schools are having to merge together to make the savings required, it will be councils and hospitals soon will only mean a poorer standard of education or care.

We pay taxes too, i still expect there to be no pot holes in the road, i still expect there to be someone at the end of the phone when i dial 999 and i still expect my children (despite them being ficticious) to get a good standard of education, just the same as the rest of the tax paying public. If these services aren't funded properly then they can't function.

I really wish that people would check their facts before they leap into a tyrade of public sector abuse, because trust me, you wouldn't want to work here. If it was such a cushy job you'd all be doing it. I'm not a nurse, i wouldn't wipe someones !!!! for this money, i'm amazed they're willing to, and we should all be flipping grateful that they do it.

alexlyne

Often, the true cost of ordering stuff doesn't take into account the time taken to select what needs to be ordered, fill out a purchase req, have a PO created and sent to supplier, chase the supplier, check the incoming order, to process the invoice and then pay the supplier. I have no doubt that if I ordered £5 worth of goods, the processing cost would far exceed the order value.

Plus ease of ordering... have you checked out the cost of tea-bags in office supplies magazines?! But it can be far easier and potentially cheaper overall to order everything from the same place/supplier.

Gorgeous_George

alexlyne wrote: »

Often, the true cost of ordering stuff doesn't take into account the time taken to select what needs to be ordered, fill out a purchase req, have a PO created and sent to supplier, chase the supplier, check the incoming order, to process the invoice and then pay the supplier. I have no doubt that if I ordered £5 worth of goods, the processing cost would far exceed the order value.

Absolutely right.

Sadly, those costs are as well as the £22 for a lightbulb and do not form part of the £22 (except the £22 will include the suppliers costs).

Sensible business would have petty cash tins for things for lightbulbs.

GG

ILW

twirlypinky wrote: »

they're made to explain any overspend and also made to show how what they're going to do to a) save money elsewhere to come back in budget and b) stop this happening again in the future. If a budget holder repeatedly overspends and cannot/will not make savings elsewhere then they will be perfomance managed and down graded to a post that has fewer responsibilities. Further up the scale, if a school/hospital/council ends the year in severe deficit, with no plans for correction, then "turnaround" teams are sent in to remove from post the exec board that clearly aren't capable of their jobs.

I agree that 10-15-20 years ago the public sector was a bit slap dash and similar to the descriptions other people have given above, but that simply isn't the case anymore. We are repeatedly under funded, and told to achieve greater and greater savings, with no room for manouvre, we're restricted to far tighter conditions than the private sector. We're tied in the wages we pay, we're tied in our terms and conditions (it's VERY hard to sack someone if you can't get them for gross misconduct) and we're tied by the goverment targets.

For example, the local hospital to me are being underfunded by 66% for emergency care on patient numbers above 2008/9 levels. So since the local population has grown, every patient that comes through the door at A&E the hospital, between probably now and the end of March, are only given a third of the cost of treatment by the PCT. A third. The cost of treating that patient hasn't reduced at all, but the funding has. In addition, they have to be treated/admitted/sent home within 4 hours of arriving or the hospital get fined. That hospital is now having to make major cuts in services in order to achieve the required break even position.

This is in just one area that i happen to be aware of - there are many more examples. Local schools are having to merge together to make the savings required, it will be councils and hospitals soon will only mean a poorer standard of education or care.

We pay taxes too, i still expect there to be no pot holes in the road, i still expect there to be someone at the end of the phone when i dial 999 and i still expect my children (despite them being ficticious) to get a good standard of education, just the same as the rest of the tax paying public. If these services aren't funded properly then they can't function.

I really wish that people would check their facts before they leap into a tyrade of public sector abuse, because trust me, you wouldn't want to work here. If it was such a cushy job you'd all be doing it. I'm not a nurse, i wouldn't wipe someones !!!! for this money, i'm amazed they're willing to, and we should all be flipping grateful that they do it.

I believe that is a major cause of the problem.