Council waste at its best

[Duke]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12549785

Please be seated when you read this article, some of the job titles and waste is just eye watering!

My favourite quote is this one

"We do not have 'diversity officers'," says the spokeswoman. "We have officers working within the equality and diversity division who engage with other public agencies and community groups to ensure that everyone has the ability, knowledge and confidence to know how to access services, what help is available and what help they are entitled to."

Anyone work for a local council and know any more wacky job titles?

 

[fretted]

How is a diversity officer a "non-job"? Councils serve their constituents and in some areas, there is a need for someone to assist communities with integrating and accessing key services otherwise they are in danger of creating pockets of deprivation. This is the same role as youth officers, older peoples officers, disability officers, etc. but specialising in working with different local communities and beliefs. It is just so easy to mock essential local services without actually understanding what it is there for.

The biggest crime of councils is the level of pay at the very top, which remains the same whether the number of people underneath them change.

 

[chimaera]

I used to work for a local council and as a result ignore these articles completely.

"Many of the posts being denigrated as 'non-jobs' reflect a lack of understanding about the complex nature of the work local authorities do. To suggest that an assistant director of adult services - responsible for overseeing the care of thousands of elderly and vulnerable people - is a 'non-job' absolutely beggars belief," Mr Ransford says."

That's bang on in my experience, non-jobs is a stupid media term that ignores the real problem, that there is an abundance of incompetent middle management on ludicrous salaries who have been promoted based on length of service rather than competence.

I'll be the first person to criticise councils for wasting money and inflating head count, but i don't think they really deserve this one. One of my old colleagues job was named by a newspaper as a non-job and it was actually quite an important position, it wasn't their fault that some lazy journalist just scanned a local government job listing and made a knee jerk reaction.

 

[Rob29]

I have a "Friend" that works for the Council.
They told me that they had to make cuts in there Department of about £1,000,000 so to do this they hired 2 people at a cost of £45,000 a person to help them do this.
To me common sense would be save the £90,000 and work it out yourself.
Councils do some very stupid things and waste money on things people don't want and don't need.

 

[Jonny69]

That's bang on in my experience, non-jobs is a stupid media term that ignores the real problem, that there is an abundance of incompetent middle management on ludicrous salaries who have been promoted based on length of service rather than competence.

Same goes for the civil service. I think a lot of people forget that the country wouldn't operate without it and the "facts" about all of them being overpaid just seem to untrue. Most civil servants I know are on quite modest salaries and have had to work damn hard to get there.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

Jonny69, chimaera and fretted - you're all spot on - you have restored my faith in the UK public - there is some sense out there after all!

 

[FeFiDoh]

Don't let the facts get in the way of a good news story don't you know anything!

 

[wordy]

Jonny69, chimaera, fretted and RSRich - you're all spot on - you have restored my faith in the UK public - there is some sense out there after all!

I'd like to echo this.

Wasn't expecting 5 posts in a row suppporting local authority workers!

 

[rypt]

How is a diversity officer a "non-job"? Councils serve their constituents and in some areas, there is a need for someone to assist communities with integrating and accessing key services otherwise they are in danger of creating pockets of deprivation.

Because people should not be in this country if they do not want to integrate, spending my tax money on a diversity person is a waste

 

[eatcustard]

Nuclear Free Local Authorities policy officer

* Council: Manchester
* Salary: £37,543 (20% funded by council
* Purpose: Identifying nuclear hazards and promoting alternatives to nuclear
* Still existing: Yes

I dont know of any Nuclear sites in Mancsville

 

[eatcustard]

Same goes for the civil service. I think a lot of people forget that the country wouldn't operate without it and the "facts" about all of them being overpaid just seem to untrue. Most civil servants I know are on quite modest salaries and have had to work damn hard to get there.

There are far to many of them, thats the problem

 

[Rob29]

Same goes for the civil service. I think a lot of people forget that the country wouldn't operate without it and the "facts" about all of them being overpaid just seem to untrue. Most civil servants I know are on quite modest salaries and have had to work damn hard to get there.

It's true the people who do the important jobs and deal with the public on a day to day basis deserve more credit. They are the ones that have to deal with all the complaints first hand on the phone etc.

 

[rypt]

* Purpose: promoting alternatives to nuclear

I'm sorry ... WHAT?

What is it with leftie hate for nuclear

 

[Tysonator]

I have a "Friend" that works for the Council.
They told me that they had to make cuts in there Department of about £1,000,000 so to do this they hired 2 people at a cost of £45,000 a person to help them do this.
To me common sense would be save the £90,000 and work it out yourself.
Councils do some very stupid things and waste money on things people don't want and don't need.

Well a number of years ago I work for a county council who employed a consultancy company at a cost of 1.2mill to tell the council that they needed to save 20 mil, oh yes,..and loss 300 jobs !

I remember that we could not have free tea or coffee, as it was tax payers money we were drinking.
No Xmas dinners / dances on the Co, we paid for that too and from our own time we had to accrure.
Only to see retired colleagues get golden hand sakes. Also High level managers have leaving party and pay off only to be taken on as consultants the following and sit back at the same desk ! ! WTF

I can rant for ages about how we were screw over on our salaries and expenses !

 

[Rob29]

Well a number of years ago I work for a county council who employed a consultancy company at a cost of 1.2mill to tell the council that they needed to save 20 mil, oh yes,..and loss 300 jobs !

I remember that we could not have free tea or coffee, as it was tax payers money we were drinking.
No Xmas dinners / dances on the Co, we paid for that too and from our own time we had to accrure.
Only to see retired colleagues get golden hand sakes. Also High level managers have leaving party and pay off only to be taken on as consultants the following and sit back at the same desk ! ! WTF

I can rant for ages about how we were screw over on our salaries and expenses !

Always the way the rich getter richer and the poor get screwed.
This thread could go on and on and take into account other underpaid services (Army/Nurses etc.) but unfortunately I don't honestly see things changing in the near future.
Or how Councils/Government spend the Tax payers money on stupid services etc.
Bottom line the hard working people in this world never get any real recognition.

 

[Greebo]

There is stupid wastage though. A few years ago our council had one of the highest planning permission rejection percentages in the country and also had one of the highest percentages of them losing at appeal.

To me that meant they were been over zealous and rejecting too many applications which later got passed on appeal. Of course, the cost to the council for the appeals was thousands per year which is our money.

Equally, our council is trying to break the record for the longest set of temporary traffic lights where a road has partially fallen away on the side of a hill making the road one way for about 50 yards. The council bought the land years ago so the side and fenced it off so they could move the road further away from the edge.

The council does not have the money to move the road and they are not allowed to borrow it (rules apparently) yet they have now paid £22,000 per annum for 20 years for temporary traffic lights.

A few years ago the council bought modern new furniture all the offices and sold the old furniture at auction. We bought one of the desks. If was in perfect condition and solid wood and probably 70 years old and would last another 70 years. The new furniture probably cost them a fortune and will only last a short period before breaking and need replacing.

And don;t get me started on budgets in the civil service. It certainly used to be if you didn;t use your budget one year, it would be cut the following so no incentive for you not to spend the full amount. We had £50,000 left one year so we voted on what to spend it on. A storage room got converted into a full gym with a dartboard and table tennis table.

And on and on we go. Yet it will be low paid workers who actually do something useful at the sharp end who will lose their jobs in the cost cutting.

 

[Yamahahahahaha]

Most managers are not trained in management. Why is anyone surprised that they can't do the job?

 

[Meridian]

Same goes for the civil service. I think a lot of people forget that the country wouldn't operate without it and the "facts" about all of them being overpaid just seem to untrue. Most civil servants I know are on quite modest salaries and have had to work damn hard to get there.

For civil servants (as opposed to public servants) the average salary at FTE is about £20k a year, rather less than the mean salary and about the same as the median one.


M

 

[Meridian]

It certainly used to be if you didn;t use your budget one year, it would be cut the following so no incentive for you not to spend the full amount.

This is true of many private companies as well, particularly the bigger ones. As I have repeatedly pointed out: there is nothing special about the public service - all these problems are a function of company size and human nature. It just looks worse in public service because a) the public service is bigger than anyone else, b) it's out in the open and not a secret, c) the taxpayer is funding it.


M

 

[Greebo]

This is true of many private companies as well, particularly the bigger ones. As I have repeatedly pointed out: there is nothing special about the public service - all these problems are a function of company size and human nature. It just looks worse in public service because a) the public service is bigger than anyone else, b) it's out in the open and not a secret, c) the taxpayer is funding it.


M

This is very true but it still annoys me and does in private business as well. We give performance bonuses for departments coming in under budget. Okay we then might reduce their budget in following years but that is open to discussion with the heads of department.

I would rather give the staff £10,000 if they saved £50,000 than see them just blow it on something not needed. Especially if that means other people are losing their jobs because you have spent all your budget.