The Labour Government

Blue Maverick said:
I mean don’t expect the same as the the private sector as you get the other benefits, it’s the trade off. Oh and fuck diversity people off in every sector.
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are you aware that just about all private sector companies have diversity teams? It stops them dropping a bollock and getting sued for loads.
 
Blue Maverick said:
Then do it at lower wages then, the draw in the public sector is usually what you get as well as the pay, sick pay, holidays, pension etc. it’s the pay off for lesser wages, it worked for me, some maybe it doesn’t, but that’s the choice you make.
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There will always be some capable people willing to take lower wages to do something like contribute to the NHS, but for many others I’m afraid this is a bit of a pay peanuts get monkeys sort of situation. I’ve worked in public and private roles and the difference in capability in some areas is quite stark.

I think the problem with the NHS is that it’s really very old and it is built on old processes, old systems, and these things layer up over time. There’s so much that needs to happen to change the fundamental shape of it that speculating how many admin staff it needs is a bit like asking how many lifeboats the Titanic needs while it’s in the process of sinking.

It would certainly help if there were greater tech, systems and infrastructure centralisation. From both an info security and cost stand point. I’m personally of the opinion that nurses/front line staff are massively underpaid and not that admin staff are overpaid. I’ve seen business units of 100 super capable well paid individuals with the right tools win out against enormous international conglomerates with many times more resources. The difference tends to be that the bigger firms like the NHS scale up bad processes and then look to make efficiencies by cutting staff, the best firms make hyper-efficient processes and scale those instead.

If it were up to me, rather than persist with hacking at this tangled mess, I would set up a new public health service (same deal, free at the point of use), build it from the ground up to be scalable and efficient and gradually migrate people out of the legacy service. It sounds a bit daft on the face of it but sometimes you’re better off starting something new than trying to fix something old.
 
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bluethrunthru said:
what system do you think they are playing? The long term sick one where they get £99.35 pw or the JSA one where they get £90.50 pw - in both cases that works out about the equivalent of £2.80 ph over a 35 hour week.

Or they could go to work on the National Living Wage which for 35hrs gets the £400 pw. In reality THEY are the lead swingers you vilify - the poor bastards exploited by employers on low wages so they have to claim benefits to pay their way and still use a food bank - in absolute reality its the EMPLOYERS who swing the lead because they pay low wages and expect you, me and every other tax payer to pick up the shortfall.

Ken Murphy CEO of TESCO gets almost £10m a year but its ok his wages are paid in Eire so none of the tax he pays supports his employees. Are you seeing how this works yet?
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What about my brother who owns a restaurant and is just about making a living. What can he do about only being able to pay £10/£11 an hour?
 
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The fundamental issue is that the NHS is poorly organised from a structural point of view and over regulated. In a similar way that the police and education has gone, theres too much reporting back to central government against arbitrary targets which dont result in a better quality care for the public and mask regional issues. This results in increased workloads including having staff purely to fulfil this role and detracts from the main purpose of the organisation.

Furthermore, lack of investment in a targeted manner to leverage technology has exacerbated the reliance on sheer numbers to do the work. As an analogy its a bit like wanting to dig a hole quicker and putting an extra 6 people on it when a person in an excavator can do it quicker and safer.

Ancient IT systems and lack of equipment like CT and MRI also means diagnosis is often later resulting in more expensive surgery and longer recovery times. For reference the UK has 16.5 CT/MRI scanners for every 1m people, the average across Europe is 44.8 per 1m people.

Using technology to allow them to work smarter not harder should be the approach.
 
Worsleyweb said:
What about my brother who owns a restaurant and is just about making a living. What can he die about only being able to pay £10/£11 an hour?
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I presume you meant do not die? If he cannot afford to pay people then he doesn't have a business - the model doesn't work - sorry but thats how it works - operating costs and the inability to meet them causes many businesses to close their doors - unless you are a nationalised industry like water and rail then you just ask the Govt to bail you out
 
bluethrunthru said:
I presume you meant do not die? If he cannot afford to pay people then he doesn't have a business - the model doesn't work - sorry but thats how it works - operating costs and the inability to meet them causes many businesses to close their doors - unless you are a nationalised industry like water and rail then you just ask the Govt to bail you out
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He can afford to pay people but only at the living wage you get upset about. How does he increase their wage without his business going bust? Explain it to me?

So you are now a capitalist?
 
Worsleyweb said:
He can afford to pay people but only at the living wage you get upset about. How does he increase their wage without his business going bust? Explain it to me?

So you are now a capitalist?
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I assume you mean minimum wage not living wage.

Just because the Tories changed the name doesn't mean it actually became a living wage.
 
Worsleyweb said:
Either or what’s his answer?
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Consult a fellow restauranteur for advice?

The might suggest some of the below.

Change his business plan or model? Open fewer nights a week if he isn't already?

Seek extra revenue streams? Get his cooks doing takeaway food or just add it on just eat?

Restaurants frequently go out of business it's a volatile and unforgiving sector. If he can't afford to pay living wage his business is treading water and will go bust soon without evasive action.
 
Worsleyweb said:
He can afford to pay people but only at the living wage you get upset about. How does he increase their wage without his business going bust? Explain it to me?

So you are now a capitalist?
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Its a very volatile sector mostly due to all the costs that impact it. Personally for me I'd say the Govt should not be topping up wages with our taxes ( are you happy with that btw? ) - stop topping up the wages and businesses who's model works will thrive those where it isn't will sadly fail.
 
Mr Kobayashi said:
Consult a fellow restauranteur for advice?

The might suggest some of the below.

Change his business plan or model? Open fewer nights a week if he isn't already?

Seek extra revenue streams? Get his cooks doing takeaway food or just add it on just eat?

Restaurants frequently go out of business it's a volatile and unforgiving sector. If he can't afford to pay living wage his business is treading water and will go bust soon without evasive action.
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There's also the larger economic issue here, which isn't particularly useful to Worsley's brother on an individual level, that the very fact that too many people don't get the living wage is the exact reason why so many people can't afford to eat out in a restaurant. Obviously that's not something a single business owner can deal with, it has to be the whole country. But yeah, 14 years of the Tories has destroyed the disposable income of the ordinary person, while massively increasing costs of doing business through skyrocketing inflation, particularly on utilities. That's why he's finding it hard to make a profit despite paying shit wages to his staff.
 
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Mr Kobayashi said:
Consult a fellow restauranteur for advice?

The might suggest some of the below.

Change his business plan or model? Open fewer nights a week if he isn't already?

Seek extra revenue streams? Get his cooks doing takeaway food or just add it on just eat?

Restaurants frequently go out of business it's a volatile and unforgiving sector. If he can't afford to pay living wage his business is treading water and will go bust soon without evasive action.
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He can afford to pay living wage - he can’t afford to pay more. That’s my point.
 
I'm With Stupid said:
There's also the larger economic issue here, which isn't particularly useful to Worsley's brother on an individual level, that the very fact that too many people don't get the living wage is the exact reason why so many people can't afford to eat out in a restaurant. Obviously that's not something a single business owner can deal with, it has to be the whole country. But yeah, 14 years of the Tories has destroyed the disposable income of the ordinary person, while massively increasing costs of doing business through skyrocketing inflation, particularly on utilities. That's why he's finding it hard to make a profit despite paying shit wages to his staff.
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This is an underrated factor in a circular economy and something the blunt tools of Conservative rule fail to address.

In real terms, median household disposable income has dropped by about a third since 2010. Adjusted for inflation that is a £10k decrease per household. That is huge. With that extra disposable income a couple could go out for dinner every couple of days for an entire year. Add to the fact that subscription services and phone contracts are taking a much bigger chunk of what is left and it’s no wonder smaller restaurants struggle to stay open. Eating out has become a luxury that many can’t afford.
 
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