Odsal Redevelopment, Council Finances, Council Services & The Private Sector

Good stuff Dennis…..Lots who read beyond the Mail, Express and Sun for example know all this already.

It’s rife through Governmental philosophy . …..I give you Baroness Mone .

 

D

Donald Jackson

 

I definitely remember the name, Don Jackson. I think he may have managed the central Child Protection team when I started. I almost certainly will have met him but can’t picture what he looked like.

As an aside, shouldn’t you really be General Stonewall Jackson?
(Ducks and runs for cover)

 

That's the one. As for Stonewall ....................... no chance, wrong team and he died in action.

 

The council is infiltrated by useless staff too, and once they are in, it’s hard to get them out. It amazes me how much sick time council employees wangle - far more than anyone could blag in the private sector.

Even the dossers are lakers get rewarded with promotions and some even make it into management.

Then the good staff they do have end up overworked and stressed out because they’re picking up the work for those off on the sick.

I dread to think how much money the Council waste and what state the system is in.

 

Absolutely. The thing that angers me is that care work should be a vocation and paid accordingly. It is not the sort of job you can expect anybody compelled by the Jobcentre to do on the minimum wage to be any good at. You end up with unsuitable people caring for the most vulnerable because homes are desperate for staff at the wages they pay.
My late mother who had dementia and was unable to speak had her wedding, engagement and eternity rings stolen from her fingers by someone supposed to be caring for her. In a home (down south) that charged £1400 a week.

 

That’s awful…… Giving dignity to the elderly cost nothing….So sorry.

 

It still angers me to think about it but I have calmed down somewhat in the 2 years since.

 

And this never happens in the private sector, of course

 

So very sorry to hear this happened to your Mum. I agree with your view. Dedication and vocation appear to be forgotten qualities.

 

That is really shocking, Ann.

 

It happens, but not to the same extent, no.

a lot working for the council are just full time dossers just picking up their wage, adopting a minimalist approach, and they get away with it because they’ve been there years.

Of course, many others there work their balls off and compensate but some of the tales i hear about sickness are laughable.

one person I know was doing up their house in works time, for months. Nobody batted an eyelid. They got a promotion a few years later……only happens in a council.

 

Read this afternoon it’s going to get far worse. The government plans to give all councils a 3% financial contribution rise, when inflation has been running @ 10 % and inflation next year of 5%.

More savage cuts are coming along with big increases in council tax.

 

How soon will Labour be able to get funds flowing to councils from the time they win with a landslide? Are we talking a few years or much longer?

 

That is absolutely disgraceful. This country is absolutely done for. Sorry that happened to your mother.

 

It will be years , as a country , we manufacture mostly crap that nobody wants , and if they did we can’t export it with ease to our nearest market place.
It’s a shambles and frankly the country is stoney broke if you look at the numbers.

 

It most certainly does, after working nearly 30 years for a corporate banking group, I can concur.

If anything I've seen less 'absence' and inappropriate promotions in the 3 and a half years working for a local council!!

 

But continue to trot out the mantra that 'Councils manage their own budgets'....too many are on the brink for it to be a 'mis-management' coincidence!!

 

You're right Kev.

Despite years and years of 'austerity' where living standards have significantly dropped, poverty increased, disposable income at a premium, the national debt has gone from over £1 trillion in 2011 to over £2.55 trillion in 2023!!! Councils are strapped for cash and searching for every available £ but Rishi unilaterally decides to extend his £40 million private helicopter taxi service!!


UK National Debt - Current, Recent, Historical 2019_2029Charts Tables (ukpublicspending.co.uk)

Rishi Sunak personally intervenes to keep his VIP RAF helicopter rides by getting new defence secretary Grant Shapps to reverse decision to axe £40million contract | Daily Mail Online