Where will the cuts fall

antrobus

Generali wrote: »

Ultimately cuts have to come from where the money is spent: welfare, health and education. Everything else is tinkering around the edges......

And if you have committed yourself to at least maintain spending on health and education, that doesn't leave you with a lot of options.

Generali

Jack_Johnson_the_acorn wrote: »

Can you give a few examples of over paid public sector workers so we can examine your post to see if we agree?

I would argue that people working in the payroll departments of many local councils are massively overpaid given their level of (in)competence:

http://thelatest.co.uk/brighton/2014/05/05/brighton-and-hove-council-workers-overpaid-1m/
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/11192929.Councils_make_overpayments_of___2_6_million/?ref=mry
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/kent-county-council-overpays-18-a62645/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2537946/Blundering-councils-overpay-staff-50m-time-cutting-spending-public-services.html
http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/overpaid-northumberland-county-council-care-4395375
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/youth-offender-worker-overpaid-17k-150940

Of course in some cases, payroll staff simply overpay themselves:

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/11372590.Former_East_Lancs_council_worker_overpaid_herself_by___12k/?ref=rss

Thrugelmir

kabayiri wrote: »

It certainly isn't Sir Philip Green. He would rather send his dividends of half a billion out to Monaco to keep his wife in shoes.

Recently ended up selling BHS for a £1. Been making losses for years. So not as rich as he used to be.

fordcapri2000

Housing Benefit, by at least 50%, saving over £12 Billion per year.

MARTYM8`

fordcapri2000 wrote: »

Housing Benefit, by at least 50%, saving over £12 Billion per year.

Agreed - or do what we did in the 1930s and 1950s and have a mass house building programme.

It would save money in the long term - at the moment we are just p*****g £25bn a year up the wall on HB for no long term gain.

Of course the bankers, developers and all those MPs with buy to let properties would never allow it.

But HB will become ever more crippling a cost - particularly if more people enter retirement as renters in the future due to high house prices.

Jack_Johnson_the_acorn

Generali wrote: »

I would argue that people working in the payroll departments of many local councils are massively overpaid given their level of (in)competence:

http://thelatest.co.uk/brighton/2014/05/05/brighton-and-hove-council-workers-overpaid-1m/
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/11192929.Councils_make_overpayments_of___2_6_million/?ref=mry
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/kent-county-council-overpays-18-a62645/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2537946/Blundering-councils-overpay-staff-50m-time-cutting-spending-public-services.html
http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/overpaid-northumberland-county-council-care-4395375
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/youth-offender-worker-overpaid-17k-150940

Of course in some cases, payroll staff simply overpay themselves:

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/11372590.Former_East_Lancs_council_worker_overpaid_herself_by___12k/?ref=rss

I'm asking for a specific example of a public service role and salary, and an explanation with what you believe is a fairer wage.

Loughton_Monkey

BobQ wrote: »

How many suicides, attempted suicides does this generally create?

Is the next stage to beat them with a stick?

Absolutely none.

Staff become 100% more motivated. Headcount reduction is usually by voluntary redundancy (people delighted to move on) or early retirement and/or transfers to other departments.

In all my years at work, one thing stands out more than any other. I worked for (a) some of the most 'paternal' companies you can imagine, (b) the so-called cut-throat 'hire and fire' merchants, and (c) companies in between.

In the hire 'n fire brigade, I never encountered an ounce of negativity or moaning. But in the companies that were declared 'family' companies who had never fired anyone at all, I came across extremes of cyncism, unrest, insecurity, paranaoia, and rumours that you'd find hard to believe!

That's the honest truth.

BobQ

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

In the hire 'n fire brigade, I never encountered an ounce of negativity or moaning. But in the companies that were declared 'family' companies who had never fired anyone at all, I came across extremes of cyncism, unrest, insecurity, paranaoia, and rumours that you'd find hard to believe!

That's the honest truth.

I find this quite plausible. I guess that in the former type there might be a reluctance to criticise. But I find what you say about the latter type very believable. Often people do not appreciate how lucky they are (also true of the public sector) but feel free to complain because it is safe to do so.

Thrugelmir

Jack_Johnson_the_acorn wrote: »

Can you give a few examples of over paid public sector workers so we can examine your post to see if we agree?

You have to look at the overall packages that are on offer.

Would you like 31 days a year holiday plus 26 flexidays plus 8 statutory holiday days while only working 37.5 hours a week basic ?

Thrugelmir

Kittycat1981 wrote: »

and some of the conditions people are made to live in are frankly of Victorian standards.

My late Grandmother spoke of early childhood. As she was born 1897 . There were 15 children in total. They lived in a 2 room tenement in Limehouse. Her father was a docker. So queued every day at the gates in hope of getting some work. No work equalled no pay. When he did a days work he normally spent time in the pub. Came home drunk and inflicted domestic abuse on her mother. When she was 13 her mother told her to pack their bags and they moved to the other side of the river to Woolwich. She never saw her father again. As the family had no income as there was no welfare in those days. Rather than the family be split up and end up in the poor house. She as one of the elders gave up school and went to work in a laundry six days a week.

We live in a different era. There simply is no comparison. Our lives are so cushy.