Birmingham bankrupt

[hilts]

As with gas, water, care homes, public transport etc. They can be privatised, but you’ll end up paying more for a shitter service.

Outside of BT and maybe the post office i think privatisation has been a disaster.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Outside of BT and maybe the post office i think privatisation as been a disaster.

There does need to be a reset of sorts. Councils need to stop taking the cheapest contracts each April that cost them a fortune in additional costs throughout the year.

We also need to fund things properly though. If they’re neglected, the cost of repairing any infrastructure or system only increases the less that is invested in it.

 

[hilts]

There does need to be a reset of sorts. Councils need to stop taking the cheapest contracts each April that cost them a fortune in additional costs throughout the year.

We also need to fund things properly though. If they’re neglected, the cost of repairing any infrastructure or system only increases the less that is invested in it.

I agree but what you are asking is that everyone along the chain does their part. You are asking for honest hard working skilled workers that don't take the piss or a little bit for themselves. This is from top to bottom.

Good luck with that because reality is you either greatly overpay for average to good public services or you skimp and get shite. For the reasons you mentioned I would go for the first but I'm not gonna pretend it's ideal.

 

[Ghandi's Flip Flops]

Whereas the reality is that most council officers (planning, accounts, execs etc) could earn more in the private sector.

Nah, not sure I agree. Pay may be slightly better but associated benefits like pensions, holidays, sickness etc are better in the public domain for the average worker.
Even if they move over contracting, they'll still be likely to be working on public contracts where they can't go limited co route, so will still be practically paying full PAYE and national insurance.

 

[Corky]

Oh dear. They are off. Planning officers.

View attachment 92640

"This shift is likely to be a direct result of public spending cuts and many of the associated problems for local planning authorities discussed above. Local authorities will both lose the ability to fund the same amount of positions, and struggle to recruit to fill the ones they do have."

Resourcing Public Planning

RTPI research on Resourcing Public Planning shows impacts of cuts and offers solutions to get value from planning.

www.rtpi.org.uk

Same with other professions like accountants.

Funding for planners largely comes via fees which had big increases following the white paper in 2017, 20% or 40%.

There are just less people going into planning since 2008 when a lot of councils stopped recruiting and with a 15 year gap there are skill shortages in all technical areas.

 

[BerkshireBlue]

They were the test case. The number of people benefitting run into thousands.

Don’t you think women should get equal pay then?

depends.

If it's a women doing the same job, the same years of experience, the same loyalty years and the same amount of hours then yes. If it's less than the above then no.

Each case is different which makes the whole legal thing a nightmare to deal with

 

[mexico1970]

depends.

If it's a women doing the same job, the same years of experience, the same loyalty years and the same amount of hours then yes. If it's less than the above then no.

Each case is different which makes the whole legal thing a nightmare to deal with

Equal pay for the same job and for the same time worked, any other formulae and it's ridiculous.

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

It's had issues for years, I Must admit the tipping point of equal pay all seems a tad confusing. It seems like it's in addition to the original settlement & post that settlement bonuses have been given to mainly refuse collectors that haven't to people who were entitled to the same.

It's probably linked to the bin strike a few years ago which went on for ages and made some suburbs seem like the absolute pits.

It's a shame as the city centre in town has honestly improved so so much. A lot of perceptions of Brum as a city are that it is ugly and grey but the part from Chamberlain Square to Centenary Square could rival most Uk cities now in my bias opinion.

The suburbs need improving though (I know all inner cities aren't great) but the sheer amount of fly tipping that exists within a 3-4 mile radius is absolutely disgusting. As more services get stripped back it's only going to get worse.

I agree the city centre bits you mention are very nice indeed.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Equal pay for the same job and for the same time worked, any other formulae and it's ridiculous.

That’d never work. Whoever replaces Pep won’t be getting the same contract that he’s on now, for the same role.

If someone is paid less simply because of their gender, then that is obviously wrong. If it’s on experience, less so.

 

[mexico1970]

That’d never work. Whoever replaces Pep won’t be getting the same contract that he’s on now, for the same role.

If someone is paid less simply because of their gender, then that is obviously wrong. If it’s on experience, less so.

The problems happened because people doing different jobs wanted the same money as people doing other jobs if I remember correctly.

Normal council jobs with defined job descriptions are paid the same, depending on hours worked etc..etc