National News End Child Food Poverty

Essexyellows said:
Maybe you could answer why it is always those who provide the services such as road sweeping etc that are first to be cut and not the folk on £50k+ plus then?
Same problem in the NHS.
Same problem in any public body.
Those turkeys don`t vote for Christmas.
The roots get cut and you end up with a Bonsai tree of beauty that is all show and no roots.....
Click to expand...

Funnily enough I know of plenty of higher paid jobs that have been cut across all services and skillsets. The difference is you don't hear about them in the local press.

Do you really believe that Council budgets (for example) that have been cut by the huge levels they have whilst keeping all higher paid staff in work? If so I really suggest you read something other than the Telegraph/Express/Daily Mail
 
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Marked Ox said:
Funnily enough I know of plenty of higher paid jobs that have been cut across all services and skillsets. The difference is you don't hear about them in the local press.

Do you really believe that Council budgets (for example) that have been cut by the huge levels they have whilst keeping all higher paid staff in work? If so I really suggest you read something other than the Telegraph/Express/Daily Mail
Click to expand...

Our City budget grant has been cut from £289 million (2010) to £179 million in 2020.

"Reduction of £110 million in Council budget" screams the Labour council.

Reality - £11 million reduction per year. 1% increase on Council Tax returns around £3.1 million per year. They could break the limit if they wished, the mechanism is there.

They then go on to "explain" that adult social care needs are increasing so there needs to be "cuts to services" yet at the bottom of the very same document it clearly says..

"The Secretary of State made an offer to adult social care authorities. (“Adult social care authorities” are local authorities which have functions under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, namely county councils in England, district councils for an area in England for which there is no county council, London borough councils, the Common Council of the City of London and the Council of the Isles of Scilly. The offer was the option of an adult social care authority being able to charge an additional “precept” on its council tax without holding a referendum, to assist the authority in meeting its expenditure on adult social care from the financial year 2016-17. It was originally made in respect of the financial years up to and including 2019-20"

So the Government gave them even more tools to help balance the books.

And the number of those folk on £50k plus has remained remarkably stable for the time frame they have been obliged to publish the numbers.

Sorry all information freely available from the Council website not newspapers.
 
Essexyellows said:
Our City budget grant has been cut from £289 million (2010) to £179 million in 2020.

"Reduction of £90 million in Council budget" screams the Labour council.

Reality - £9 million reduction per year. 1% increase on Council Tax returns around £3.1 million per year.

They then go on to "explain" that adult social care needs are increasing so there needs to be "cuts to services" yet at the bottom of the very same document it clearly says..

"The Secretary of State made an offer to adult social care authorities. (“Adult social care authorities” are local authorities which have functions under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, namely county councils in England, district councils for an area in England for which there is no county council, London borough councils, the Common Council of the City of London and the Council of the Isles of Scilly. The offer was the option of an adult social care authority being able to charge an additional “precept” on its council tax without holding a referendum, to assist the authority in meeting its expenditure on adult social care from the financial year 2016-17. It was originally made in respect of the financial years up to and including 2019-20"

So the Government gave them even more tools to help balance the books.

And the number of those folk on £50k plus has remained remarkably stable for the time frame they have been obliged to publish the numbers.

Sorry all information freely available from the Council website not newspapers.
Click to expand...

Of course inflation doesn't happen/costs increase over 10 years....

I read articles on a daily basis from a Public sector finance body and my work experience is in public sector finance. Councils are struggling hence why 1 went bust not so long ago/others have issued the required notice beforehand and many others on top of that struggling.

You use 1 Authority to colour all Authorities. Maybe Oxford City already had a lean management structure to begin with. One Council I worked for actually got criticised for having too lean a management structure by private and public Audit authorities pre 2010 (they stuck with it at the time). As said on the previous post, sector wide plenty have lost their jobs with roles disappearing. Some have kept their jobs but then have had the responsibilities of roles lost added to their jobs.

Your £9m reduction isn't accurate as it is far too simplistic and that is without looking at the actual figures. Have you taken the precepts out of Council Tax for example? Found out what other responsibilites have been given to them from above by National Govt in addition to what they were doing in 2010?

Anything given to Councils is a shadow of what they have had taken away from them under the umbrella of austerity, yet the same Govt have passed on new work (without funding as per all Govts from my experience).
 
Essexyellows said:
Our City budget grant has been cut from £289 million (2010) to £179 million in 2020.

"Reduction of £110 million in Council budget" screams the Labour council.

Reality - £11 million reduction per year. 1% increase on Council Tax returns around £3.1 million per year. They could break the limit if they wished, the mechanism is there.

They then go on to "explain" that adult social care needs are increasing so there needs to be "cuts to services" yet at the bottom of the very same document it clearly says..

"The Secretary of State made an offer to adult social care authorities. (“Adult social care authorities” are local authorities which have functions under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, namely county councils in England, district councils for an area in England for which there is no county council, London borough councils, the Common Council of the City of London and the Council of the Isles of Scilly. The offer was the option of an adult social care authority being able to charge an additional “precept” on its council tax without holding a referendum, to assist the authority in meeting its expenditure on adult social care from the financial year 2016-17. It was originally made in respect of the financial years up to and including 2019-20"

So the Government gave them even more tools to help balance the books.

And the number of those folk on £50k plus has remained remarkably stable for the time frame they have been obliged to publish the numbers.

Sorry all information freely available from the Council website not newspapers.
Click to expand...
Have you not got the qualifications to apply for a post that pays over £50k? Is that your problem?
 
QR said:
Have you not got the qualifications to apply for a post that pays over £50k? Is that your problem?
Click to expand...

I have reached my level of comfort thank you, relatively easily through some hard work and application.
Self funded BSc in Archaeology.
In November I passed the Institute of Leadership & Management Level 5 so can also put MInstLM after my name if I was pretentious enough.
I might go for Level 7 if work fund it, that is the equivalent of a Masters.

However, beyond my current pay band (Band 6 - £33k a year) lay`s a dark world of manoeuvring and internal politics, that isn`t for me. Personal choice.

Enough about me, back to Councils......

Life is about measures and targets these days.
Our council publish some of those metrics, including how many folk earn over £50k.
As they are spending our money and are responsible to us, the residents, I would like them to publish a breakdown of their entire structure.
How many binmen there are, how many road sweepers..... the whole lot.

Then we could judge what value we truly receive.


Maybe that is the future..... total transparency and open data....
 
Essexyellows said:
I have reached my level of comfort thank you, relatively easily through some hard work and application.
Self funded BSc in Archaeology.
In November I passed the Institute of Leadership & Management Level 5 so can also put MInstLM after my name if I was pretentious enough.
I might go for Level 7 if work fund it, that is the equivalent of a Masters.

However, beyond my current pay band (Band 6 - £33k a year) lay`s a dark world of manoeuvring and internal politics, that isn`t for me. Personal choice.

Enough about me, back to Councils......

Life is about measures and targets these days.
Our council publish some of those metrics, including how many folk earn over £50k.
As they are spending our money and are responsible to us, the residents, I would like them to publish a breakdown of their entire structure.
How many binmen there are, how many road sweepers..... the whole lot.

Then we could judge what value we truly receive.


Maybe that is the future..... total transparency and open data....
Click to expand...

Binmen etc may be part of an outsourcing contract with a private company so they wouldn't have such data.
 
Essexyellows said:
I have reached my level of comfort thank you, relatively easily through some hard work and application.
Self funded BSc in Archaeology.
In November I passed the Institute of Leadership & Management Level 5 so can also put MInstLM after my name if I was pretentious enough.
I might go for Level 7 if work fund it, that is the equivalent of a Masters.

However, beyond my current pay band (Band 6 - £33k a year) lay`s a dark world of manoeuvring and internal politics, that isn`t for me. Personal choice.

Enough about me, back to Councils......

Life is about measures and targets these days.
Our council publish some of those metrics, including how many folk earn over £50k.
As they are spending our money and are responsible to us, the residents, I would like them to publish a breakdown of their entire structure.
How many binmen there are, how many road sweepers..... the whole lot.

Then we could judge what value we truly receive.


Maybe that is the future..... total transparency and open data....
Click to expand...
So you don't want to deal with the crap but you also don't want anyone else to be paid more to do so. 🤔
 
QR said:
So you don't want to deal with the crap but you also don't want anyone else to be paid more to do so. 🤔
Click to expand...

I want a measurable proportion of "crap shovellers" to those who do the frontline graft. :)

Mrs EY (Mk2) is in the upper echelons of said shovellers (Pay Band VSM ) and I tend to see "different solutions" to the problems she has to deal with.

Anyway it`s not about me, it is the accountability of the local councils to there funders, how they spend our money and how they balance the books.
 
Marked Ox said:
Binmen etc may be part of an outsourcing contract with a private company so they wouldn't have such data.
Click to expand...

Valid point.
Waste (all of it) went to Biffa as a PFI on a 25 year contract at £16.3 million a year.

Yet the Council still employ a "Head of Waste Services"............ he`s "one of them" on £50k..... if it`s outsourced what`s he doing? *

*yes being pedantic... its Friday.
 
Essexyellows said:
I want a measurable proportion of "crap shovellers" to those who do the frontline graft. :)

Mrs EY (Mk2) is in the upper echelons of said shovellers (Pay Band VSM ) and I tend to see "different solutions" to the problems she has to deal with.

Anyway it`s not about me, it is the accountability of the local councils to there funders, how they spend our money and how they balance the books.
Click to expand...
It about paying the going rate.
 
Essexyellows said:
Valid point.
Waste (all of it) went to Biffa as a PFI on a 25 year contract at £16.3 million a year.

Yet the Council still employ a "Head of Waste Services"............ he`s "one of them" on £50k..... if it`s outsourced what`s he doing? *

*yes being pedantic... its Friday.
Click to expand...

They could be managing the Contract, compliance etc etc.
 
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LowerSouth said:
Why does nobody in this government,answer the question asked .
Click to expand...

Politicians, all of them, do it.
The ones that give straight answers to uncomfortable questions are seen as "harsh".

So the one or two images circulating of children`s lunchbox ingredients are in comparison to how many packs/parcels sent out? Tens of thousands? Are they all like that?
Then somebody has stated it was 10 days supply but somebody else has said it`s 5 days supply.

Whichever way it looked pretty mundane and meagre in comparison to what our local FB gives out but the reality is, if your kids are hungry, they`ll eat it.

We will now switch to vouchers that can be used for anything................ and god help the kids.
 
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