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Does anyone know what the new council structure will be?


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I have a sneaking suspicion that the public sector's willingness to pay well over the odds for agency staff isn't helping here.

 

I know a couple of qualified and experienced people who won't take a permanent local government job precisely because they can do so much better by going via the agencies.

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Are agency staff necessarily more expensive, quite often they are employed to cover for peaks and then dismissed during the troughs.

 

As for consultants they are brought in for their expertise and knowldege that doesn't exist in house. My old company feature heavily in running services of Westminster CC, Birmingham CC, and various others. They have developed transfoamtional skills to help turn these organisations around(5 years). Contracts are only for a limited period of time and competition to win these contracts is very very high with price being a big factor as are effeciency, value for money, perormance etc etc but it has given employment to many Warrington people.

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Maybe the recruitment criteria for council officers should include a range of appropriate technical skills, or the ability to acquire those skills so that "consultants" are not required.

 

Of course it is not only the state sector that has a love affair with "consultants" ...the wealth creating sector has as well....and maybe that it is why it is no longer wealth creating.

 

I read a report sometime ago that the UK had the highest use of "consultants"...pro rata in the world....so is there a link between that fact and the reason we are in such a dire economic state.

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Are agency staff necessarily more expensive?

 

Not if used correctly for, as you say, short term cover.

 

But a quick look at the various internet job sites shows open ended contracts for qualified Social Workers advertised at over ?20 per hour - that's the equivalent of over ?40,000 per annum - far in excess of what is on offer for similar permanent positions. Hardly a surprise then that councils are struggling to fill permanent posts when suitable candidates can simply wait for them to be offered via the agencies and pick them up at that sort of premium

 

There's also plenty of supply teaching jobs at ?150 per day and speciallist nursing jobs at up to ?30 per hour.

 

Maybe it's time for the employers (via the LGA, perhaps?) to get their heads together and agree ceilings on what they are willing to pay for various types of agency staff.

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Maybe the recruitment criteria for council officers should include a range of appropriate technical skills, or the ability to acquire those skills so that "consultants" are not required.

 

 

Paul should that also apply to Councillors?

 

Nah, we get the opportunity to sack them for poor performance every few years - without them going running to Tribunals.

 

I can't believe that Sharon Shoesmith is still insisting that the fact that her department was a woefully inadequate shambles - resulting in the un-necessary death of a child - was not her responsibility. A decent private sector manager would never have let their department get that bad, if they were being starved of resources from above they would have resigned in protest and moved on. She obviously didn't have a clue what was going on, and it was her job to know. I think she should be in court for Corporate Manslaughter, not an Employment Tribunal.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I suppose that the leaner meaner approach strucyured approach adopted by the private sector is now taking place in the public.

 

How many of us have been called to that annual meeting at work where the directors say not to worry this will be the last in the series of redundancies?

 

I believe that Ian Marks is talking about ring fencing, but can't define it and has promised that those who remain will not have their pay reduced but protected in a frozen state.

 

Now where have I heard that before?

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Maybe the recruitment criteria for council officers should include a range of appropriate technical skills, or the ability to acquire those skills so that "consultants" are not required.

 

 

Paul should that also apply to Councillors?

 

Yes to some extent I think it should Geoff. Maybe having a basic CV as part of an election address would enable voters to learn a little more about the candidates on offer.

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[quote name="inky pete

I can't believe that Sharon Shoesmith is still insisting that the fact that her department was a woefully inadequate shambles - resulting in the un-necessary death of a child - was not her responsibility. A decent private sector manager would never have let their department get that bad' date=' if they were being starved of resources from above they would have resigned in protest and moved on. She obviously didn't have a clue what was going on, and it was her job to know. I think she should be in court for Corporate Manslaughter, not an Employment Tribunal.[/quote]

 

I agree with you and personally get fed up with such people who get found out, then try and plunder the public purse. Given that the UK has in effect run out of money, all applicants trying to pick the pockets of taxpayers should be told there will be no pay outs.

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But if it is proven that she has been unfairly dismissed by a couple of clever lawyers, she will get a nice payout.... and there is always the European court of lost causes that will probably find that her "human Rites" have been breached and she will cop for that payout too....

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I believe that Ian Marks is talking about ring fencing, but can't define it and has promised that those who remain will not have their pay reduced but protected in a frozen state.

 

 

He did explain it...as he said he woul do, in a letter to a Borough Councillor which was copied to all of the others. There is an agreement with the employees' representatives over such matters. WBC as the employer will adhere to those agreements....which I happen to think are generous and rarely found in the private sector....unless you happen to be the likes of "Fred".

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