Public Sector Workers

patchwork_cat

Hammyman wrote: »

But they're not being incompetent - they are following their company procedure just the same as the Housing Benefit officers who don't pay out interim payments automatically as they're required to after 14 days when a new claim is being made. In fact, the rule in councils HB and CTB offices is to do absolutely everything to obstruct claimants claims to the point it cost my brother his post as manager because he made the silly mistake of telling the customers their rights, telling them what they needed to say to those who were refusing the payments and phoning up those in said department to tell them they HAD to make a payment under the rules.

What was your brother a manager of?

The problem with HB is workload and understaffing - not incompetence. If you thought it was bad before you wait until the current recruitment freeze really kicks in!

I am an ex HBO! and believe me my colleagues and I felt for people, but we could not clear the backlog, no matter how hard we tried, because the bigger the backlog, the more phone calls, the more time spent dealing with queries, the less work was done etc, etc.

Part of our role was to advise people on their benefit rights, this may have been unique to our LA, but I would help people complete forms and inform them their rights.

Incompetence is rife in all large organisations and unfortunately public sector is not immune, however it is not endemic, but you are very bitter, I wonder why?

ILW

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

Almost exactly what I was going to say. There are incompetent people everywhere, anyone who thinks private sector workers are all 100% hard working and perfect has obviously never tried to get a refund from Orange.

Difference is that if I do not like Orange, I can take my business elsewhere. I have to keep paying money to public sector organisations or get sent to prison. That gives any taxpayer a right to have a view on how their money is being spent.

bendix

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

Almost exactly what I was going to say. There are incompetent people everywhere, anyone who thinks private sector workers are all 100% hard working and perfect has obviously never tried to get a refund from Orange.

When private sector people are incompetent, it leads to poor performance by that private company and - in extreme cases - bankruptcy. It is an entirely private matter.

When public sector people are incompetent, it is wasting our taxpayers money. What happens with public sector inefficiency? Simple - we throw more taxpayers money at the problem.

bendix

michelle1506 wrote: »

No you are not entitled to express a view! You and people like you are taking this thread OFF topic. ?

Ummmmmm . . point of order, but yes I am.

Now, could i ask you to stop wasting taxpayers money, and go shuffle some papers around, please?

There's a love.

relic

bendix wrote: »

Ummmmmm . . point of order, but yes I am.

Now, could i ask you to stop wasting taxpayers money, and go shuffle some papers around, please?

There's a love.

Oh lord, don't set her off again!

Hammyman

patchwork_cat wrote: »

What was your brother a manager of?

Housing Benefit department in a London borough.

The problem with HB is workload and understaffing - not incompetence. If you thought it was bad before you wait until the current recruitment freeze really kicks in!

When he was having to tell those in other departments what rules and regs required that they HAD to pay out then that smacks to me of incompetence.

I am an ex HBO! and believe me my colleagues and I felt for people, but we could not clear the backlog, no matter how hard we tried, because the bigger the backlog, the more phone calls, the more time spent dealing with queries, the less work was done etc, etc.

This was another nail in his coffin. He had the silly idea of setting aside a few staff to do nothing but deal with the backlog and the rest to process new claims thus ensuring the backlog didn't get worse and each late claim was dealt with from start to finish by a single person who was not distracted by having yet another land on the desk. As you can imagine, that level of common sense didn't go down well.

Part of our role was to advise people on their benefit rights, this may have been unique to our LA, but I would help people complete forms and inform them their rights.

Thats what he does now in our LA.

Incompetence is rife in all large organisations and unfortunately public sector is not immune, however it is not endemic, but you are very bitter, I wonder why?

The attitudes of those who work in the sector more than anything. Michelle1506 is a shining example. Apparently we're not allowed to voice an opinion. I wonder what "right" that is based on?

michelle1506

Actually I got extremely bored with all the mind numbing idiots who abused me yesterday, so signed off. Frankly you are not worth my time or explanation. You are way too ignorant. I think it's a shame that you have hijacked these thread for your own dubious intentions. The original concept behind it was a good one. I'm signing off again, and won't be responding to anymore of your idiotic comments. Do you really think that you wind me up so obviously??? Well you can't! :rotfl:

relic

michelle1506 wrote: »

Actually I got extremely bored with all the mind numbing idiots who abused me yesterday, so signed off. Frankly you are not worth my time or explanation. You are way too ignorant. I think it's a shame that you have hijacked these thread for your own dubious intentions. The original concept behind it was a good one. I'm signing off again, and won't be responding to anymore of your idiotic comments. Do you really think that you wind me up so obviously??? Well you can't! :rotfl:

Going by the fact that you wrote that whole load of garbage, i'd suggest you are very wound up.

trinidadone

I currently work for a local authority, and I am facing the ax after completing a two year fixed term contract. I am looking for other local government work in London, anyone have any suggestions of good websites, local government employment agencies etc????

lr1277

bendix wrote: »

When private sector people are incompetent, it leads to poor performance by that private company and - in extreme cases - bankruptcy. It is an entirely private matter.

When public sector people are incompetent, it is wasting our taxpayers money. What happens with public sector inefficiency? Simple - we throw more taxpayers money at the problem.

When private sector employees of certain banks and other financial situations got greedy and were incompetent, the government decided that the taxpayer had to support the 'system' to the tune of hundreds of billions. You can argue the merits of supporting the banking system, but the situation is that it was done, and so we have to deal with it.

Thats your taxes paying for the private sector!

Whilst there are inefficiences in both the private and public sector, on the whole, public sector work is done for the public good.

Private sector work is done to enrich the shareholders sometimes, but also to enrich the workers of the private entity. Except for a very small number of greedy individuals in the public sector this is not the case in the public sector.