Anyone have a council customer?

rach_k

It's standard and you may be asked for a lot more.

I don't agree that they should only be concerned that you provide the service as agreed. They work for the tax payer and they have a responsibility to ensure that companies working for them are working in line with their own agreed practices e.g. if the council has an aim of reducing carbon emissions, it wouldn't be right for them to use companies who are terrible in that regard. The same applies to how you treat your employees, H&S, data protection etc. It may seem like a real hassle and I know many companies fill in the bits of paper and forget it but most of the things they ask for are useful if you actually do them.

CKhalvashi

leveller2911 wrote: »

I did a few Council Grants contracts years ago and they were ,by far the worse at paying their invoices I've ever had.......

Good luck ...........

One county council is brilliant, the other is often late for us.

We have to pay out at the end of each week, yet they can wait 3 months before deciding to pay us, so if you're taking staff on for this, be careful.

The questions are largely for statistical purposes IMO, but I'm not sure of this.

colino

There is some point about private sector companies having to meet the ambitions and aims of public sector tendering bodies, but the reality is these flabby, chaotic, wasteful public sector bodies and agencies need the professionalism and ability of the private sector to actually deliver their targets. It would be interesting if their "external" audits were ever focused on the hosting body. I doubt if any would pass on any meaningful measure.
Good points of working, "in partnership" with them is that they rarely entirely default (always more tax payers money to be had from somewhere to pay genuine invoices) and in time, they become reliant on external professional expertise that they do not possess.

DKLS

rach_k wrote: »

It's standard and you may be asked for a lot more.

I don't agree that they should only be concerned that you provide the service as agreed. They work for the tax payer and they have a responsibility to ensure that companies working for them are working in line with their own agreed practices e.g. if the council has an aim of reducing carbon emissions, it wouldn't be right for them to use companies who are terrible in that regard. The same applies to how you treat your employees, H&S, data protection etc. It may seem like a real hassle and I know many companies fill in the bits of paper and forget it but most of the things they ask for are useful if you actually do them.

Your so right and Friday afternoon I had another BS request for information but I don't see it the way you do, the additional documentation I have had to create has no bearing on my business, how it delivers the service, its just a tick box exercise and a waste of a morning for me.

I was even congratulated about my 'innovative bullying policy' by my council contact, yet its BS and was cobbled together from a bunch of info from University websites. I didn't bully my staff before i had a policy and will continue to not bully them mainly as thats not my style and its a pizz poor management technique.

paddyrg

DKLS wrote: »

Your so right and Friday afternoon I had another BS request for information but I don't see it the way you do, the additional documentation I have had to create has no bearing on my business, how it delivers the service, its just a tick box exercise and a waste of a morning for me.

I was even congratulated about my 'innovative bullying policy' by my council contact, yet its BS and was cobbled together from a bunch of info from University websites. I didn't bully my staff before i had a policy and will continue to not bully them mainly as thats not my style and its a pizz poor management technique.

Ridiculous, isn't it - just bite your tongue and know they have boxes that must be ticked... and that creates a hurdle other people just won't have the patience for, which means you've got the business...

Deep breath!

Seanymph

Once you have these policies though, you have them - you only have to regurgitate them again, and it puts off other companies from tendering.

*Should I admit I work in local government*

colino

I did forget the classic episode. I was earnestly asked by an enterprise agency for further details on my approach to a particular issue of funding. I was able to respond that they should consult more fully their own guidelines, and the comprehensive written guide for its application. I knew it was there, because they had paid me to write it for their staff the previous year.