Public Sector pay rise 2023

[Sheff]

I think there is quite a mischaracterisation of the public sector, I'm sure there are organisations that are more/less efficient than others just as there are businesses that are less efficient than others.

After all, productivity is a problem for the economy in general.

I like to think of myself as a lazy but efficient public sector worker I've pushed automation and streamlined processes quite far.

I do dislike how wedded a lot of public sector organisations are to Microsoft products as a lot of them are extremely expensive - but I can see the trade-off as for example a huge part of the workforce aren't particularly savy but they're quite capable of making a forms survey that can feed into a Power BI report.

 

[FoxEye]

I think there is quite a mischaracterisation of the public sector, I'm sure there are organisations that are more/less efficient than others just as there are businesses that are less efficient than others.

After all, productivity is a problem for the economy in general.

I like to think of myself as a lazy but efficient public sector worker I've pushed automation and streamlined processes quite far.

I do dislike how wedded a lot of public sector organisations are to Microsoft products as a lot of them are extremely expensive - but I can see the trade-off as for example a huge part of the workforce aren't particularly savy but they're quite capable of making a forms survey that can feed into a Power BI report.

Well, what do they always say? "Work smart, not hard!" Heh.

The one thing I do love about being a local govt worker is that we try to keep work/life balance... balanced. If we sometimes work a 10-hour day it's because we chose to, not because someone was cracking a whip.

I could not move from that culture to any private-sector org where everybody is piling on the pressure and making unreasonable demands of 100-hour weeks.

My impression of much of the private sector is that we're copying the US a bit too much - i.e., your job is your life, and everything revolves around it. Or at least that's what your boss expects

 

[Scougar]

Nope

There are management strategies that defy belief, mainly a lack of any sort of overall cohesive plan/structure

There's also the issue that many (obv not all) of the staff wouldn't know a proper days work if it hit them in the face

You wouldn't believe the amount of public body IT workers that thinks that a 9 to 5 shift is exactly that and lunch break times are set in stone

I find it comical, because when I was in the UK I worked for the government as a software dev. It is a fact that buildings location in the country was actively chosen for lower wages of staff.

 

[Sheff]

Well, what do they always say? "Work smart, not hard!" Heh.

The one thing I do love about being a local govt worker is that we try to keep work/life balance... balanced. If we sometimes work a 10-hour day it's because we chose to, not because someone was cracking a whip.

I could not move from that culture to any private-sector org where everybody is piling on the pressure and making unreasonable demands of 100-hour weeks.

My impression of much of the private sector is that we're copying the US a bit too much - i.e., your job is your life, and everything revolves around it. Or at least that's what your boss expects

I don't think it's like that everywhere in the private sector, my wife works in publishing and since covid they've moved to a smaller office as staff are encouraged to work from home a few days a week. There is still a bit of presenteeism but it's a lot better than it was.

I work in local government too, I definitely agree about the work-life balance - it's a huge perk which is hard to put a price on. We have fully flexible working with no core hours outside of business critical functions, so as long as meetings are covered etc. I can pretty much do what I want.

I probably work more than 40 hours a week most weeks, but because I can choose to work when I feel I'm at my best it doesn't matter. Working from home helps too!

 

[ivrytwr3]

The pension the RAF offers is quite impressive. I've not long left the forces but that one element is worth a significant chunk of money.

You're right about companies offering similar things though. My upcoming job and my missus job both provide private health care for cheap.

The crappiest thing they implemented in my time was the 2yr pay freeze on promotion. In order to get promoted you need to have appraisals saying you work as the next rank up, then you get promoted to the next rank and they say "well you're not quite there yet so we freeze your pay a while."

I am on a pay freeze for 3 years! I was top end of 1 rank and so was on SDRP when we moved pay spines, so i had to wait until others caught me up, then 2 year promotion 'mark time'.

I even queried this with HR, as 3 years without moving up the spine couldn't be right - yeah it was

But £1k added to salary, 5% rise, back pay from Apr - Aug and i finally get to move up pay in 6 months = kerching!

 

[ivrytwr3]

Nope

There are management strategies that defy belief, mainly a lack of any sort of overall cohesive plan/structure

There's also the issue that many (obv not all) of the staff wouldn't know a proper days work if it hit them in the face

You wouldn't believe the amount of public body IT workers that thinks that a 9 to 5 shift is exactly that and lunch break times are set in stone

Don't forget 3 x weekly phys sessions, 12 'o' clock finishes on a Friday and 10 'o' clock starts if you've had a heavy sesh the night before

Time off for FD/AT etc - some of the young people i work with still whinge, they don't know how lucky they have it.

 

[Freakbro]

Everyone getting wage rises to "keep up with inflation" is the reason for inflation though. It's literally devaluing everyone's savings and pensions, and causing the BoE to increase interest rates.

I think the situation is slightly more complicated than your simplistic one liners.

For a start, the wage rises given are below the inflation rate so are not "keeping up with inflation" and are still a real term pay cut.

A lot of the inflation started from supply side issues, then energy costs and now seems to be driven by corporate profits

the IMF reporting: “Rising corporate profits account for almost half the increase in Europe’s inflation over the past two years as companies increased prices by more than spiking costs of imported energy.” European workers suffered a real-terms wage drop of approximately 5% last year, while “Europe’s businesses have so far been shielded more than workers from the adverse cost shock.” The head of the European Central Bank has said that corporate profits were the biggest factor driving up prices in 2022 and will be again this year unless businesses are forced to absorb rising wage bills.

Also, the reason why a lot of these rises are to be paid out of current budgets is so there isn't new money being injected into the system, exactly so it doesn't have an inflationary pressure.

Oh and all the private sector employees on here frothing at pay rises for the public sector being inflationary

In the year to January 2023, average regular pay growth was 7.0% in the private sector and 4.8% in the public sector.

So higher pay rises, corporate profits booming but yea, you teachers and doctors are causing inflation!!1!!1

 

[d_brennen]

So higher pay rises, corporate profits booming but yea, you teachers and doctors are causing inflation!!1!!1

You always get bootlickers.

 

[Begbie]

Don't forget 3 x weekly phys sessions, 12 'o' clock finishes on a Friday and 10 'o' clock starts if you've had a heavy sesh the night before

Time off for FD/AT etc - some of the young people i work with still whinge, they don't know how lucky they have it.

Health care, pension, time off, etc.

But yet the last report showed 50+% of people are unhappy. Goes to show that without having a purposeful work life, people don't care about everything else.

But also happiness is a strange measurement and hard for someone to measure happiness without comparing x to y. So who knows if the same people would be happy elsewhere.

 

[Hedge]

Health care, pension, time off, etc.

But yet the last report showed 50+% of people are unhappy. Goes to show that without having a purposeful work life, people don't care about everything else.

But also happiness is a strange measurement and hard for someone to measure happiness without comparing x to y. So who knows if the same people would be happy elsewhere.

In my experience something changed in a many RAF places after covid and the implementation of service issued laptops. The allowing of more WFH and more relaxed approach has meant some places went downhill. Having no HR on camp is massively frustrating,

Overall I think it's a fantastic life in the military but it differs so much dependent on role. Some people can do 30 years of cushy jobs and some can do 30 of pure misery.

 

[413x]

Generally I think it's fair. Isn't public sector pension for example amazing?

 

[Sheff]

Generally I think it's fair. Isn't public sector pension for example amazing?

Maybe not compared to what the private sector generally offers now, but nothing like what either sector once offered. We also contribute quite a high percentage ourselves. They're also usually linked to the state retirement age, which will be 70+ by the time I get there.

 

[glenimp617]

Generally I think it's fair. Isn't public sector pension for example amazing?

Matched up to 5%

 

[dlockers]

Generally I think it's fair. Isn't public sector pension for example amazing?

That and you are basically impossible to fire no matter how crap you are.

 

[Minstadave]

Generally I think it's fair. Isn't public sector pension for example amazing?

It's been whittled away steadily and tends to land your with regular annual allowance charges once getting into 100K+ area. Forced a lot of consultants into going part time/early retirement.

 

[squerble]

Matched up to 5%

Depends on the place. I'm public sector but in edu and get a defined benefit pension so contributions themselves don't mean too much. That said, it's a CARE pension, not the true "final salary" pension that a lot of the older staff members here are on.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Matched up to 5%

Better than mine!

 

[Nitefly]

Matched up to 5%

Better than mine and my wife’s (both private sector professionals).

 

[413x]

Matched up to 5%

I'm sure a couple of friends in the public sector are on for me than this.

I will ask

 

[jpaul]

so from telegraph nhs price rise funded by V - so, for one, the NHS dentist availibility also discussed won't improve

Foreigners who temporarily move to the UK will have to pay an extra £400 a year towards health services to help fund the big rise in public sector wages announced by Rishi Sunak.
...
One is known as the “immigration health surcharge”. Most foreigners hoping to temporarily live in the UK for more than six months have to pay an annual fee to fund the NHS.
That figure has been £624 per year, but it will now rise to £1,035 a year – a 66 per cent jump. For foreign students living in the UK, the surcharge will rise from £470 to £776.

...
However, even with the funds raised from the changes, significant savings on departmental budgets will have to be found elsewhere to fund the public sector pay rise.
A further £1 billion needs to be found this year, beyond the fee changes, and a further £2 billion next year, according to internal Downing Street estimates

but foreigners on shorter visits need travel insurance anyway, I assume, like we do travelling to EU.