How much will I be paid for this consultancy work?

[creese]

Just received a letter from my colleagues, Nick and Dave.

 

 

Dear Colleague

First of all we want to thank you. Whether your job is nursing in a hospital, working in a government department, teaching our children or one of the other key roles in the public sector, you keep our country running. People who work in the public sector don’t get enough credit for what they do, so thank you.

As well as our thanks, we want to give you more trust and more responsibility. For years you’ve been undermined by targets and rules set from on high. Bit by bit we’re going to end that culture. We’ll set you free to use your professionalism, commitment and good ideas to make life better for everyone.

But let us be clear. The biggest challenge our country faces is dealing with our huge debts – and that means we have to reduce public spending. You will have heard in this week’s Budget that we have had to take difficult decisions on public sector salaries for the next two years, while taking steps to protect those on lower salaries. Like many private sector organisations, we have chosen to control salaries rather than see higher job losses. The more we can find savings, the more flexibility we will have to avoid job losses and wage cuts.

We want you to help us find those savings, so we can cut public spending in a way that is fair and responsible. You work on the frontline of public services. You know where things are working well, where the waste is, and where we can re-think things so that we get better services for less money. - 2 -

So this is why we’re writing to you today. We’re asking you to go to this website – Spending Challenge - and tell us your ideas about getting more for less. Don’t hold back. Be innovative, be radical, challenge the way things are done. Every serious idea will be considered: by government departments, by the Treasury, by our teams in Number 10 and the Cabinet Office – and passed to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to make sure we don’t miss anything.

So please, play your part. Let us know your ideas. We’re all in this together – and we’ll get through this together to better days ahead.

 

 

First suggestion, get someone to edit your corespondence.

Edited June 25, 2010 by creese

[Rydra]

It's not bad enough that we're paying more taxes, and doing more work due to increased redundancies....

 

Now the politicians want us to do their job too!

[Hightower]

Personally I'm sick of hearing people complaining. You have people twisting that the country is in wreck and ruins, and everything is being done wrong, and then in the same breath you have people complaining when the government open up the floor to suggestions.

 

Get on with it. If you don't like it then make a suggestion, otherwise stop moaning.

[creese]

Personally I'm sick of hearing people complaining. You have people twisting that the country is in wreck and ruins, and everything is being done wrong, and then in the same breath you have people complaining when the government open up the floor to suggestions.

 

Get on with it. If you don't like it then make a suggestion, otherwise stop moaning.

 

I thought we had this process called an election. They give us their ideas, we vote for the ones we like they put them into effect. Seems I was wrong.

 

Parties list ideas. People vote. People list ideas. Goverment vote. Any guesses what next.

 

It's a ploy to say, well you said........ we did it, you were wrong. Look what you have got yourself into.

[dwhyte85]

I think it's particularly smart and a step forward:

 

1) Government then can say 'this is what the people wanted'.

 

2) It actually gives us involvement, we have a say in what is done in our country. I believe in referundum & this is definitely a step forward... providing what people say is taken under consideration and justifications are given for why things aren't done as well as why they are done.

 

That's my opinion.

[broc]

I am going to suggest he gets rid of 'free' schools......

[Sarconia]

I have to agree with Creese here.

 

Politicians get paid loads of money to think, we are here to vote.

[Hightower]

I thought we had this process called an election. They give us their ideas, we vote for the ones we like they put them into effect.

 

 

Politicians get paid loads of money to think, we are here to vote.

 

Look at this an another vote then. I can't believe people can complain at this. They are actually giving you an option, a chance to express your thoughts. How would your teachers like it if you implemented every bit of IT without consulting them? No, it's far easier and more beneficial to have an open door policy where teachers can come in and say "we could really use 'x'".

[PeteM]

Thanks for the link :-0

[creese]

Look at this an another vote then. I can't believe people can complain at this. They are actually giving you an option, a chance to express your thoughts. How would your teachers like it if you implemented every bit of IT without consulting them? No, it's far easier and more beneficial to have an open door policy where teachers can come in and say "we could really use 'x'".

 

Why shouldn't we complain. A process is in place, that should be it for another 4 or 5 years. Having lived through many governments I find it hard to believe they will listen to my suggestions to stop printing glossy leaflets, to stop having meetings and start implementing. Stop driving around in big cars and walk or cycle etc. etc.

 

Wer have a right to complain and complain I will.

[featured_spectre]

This is what I wrote...

 

My ideas are as follows.

 

Cap Headteacher salaries to £50'000.

Cap Deputy Headteacher salaries to £45'000

Cap Assistant Headteacher salaries to £45'000

Cap head of department/year salaries to £35'000

Cap teacher salaries to £32'000

 

In many establishments where I have worked, schools upper echelons of management are on ridiculous wages, for not much in terms of man management, 1 school for example, has 70 pupils, 12 teachers, 2 teaching assistants, and a headteacher, the head teacher is on £80'000, the school in question is not a particularly bad school, to my knowledge has never recieved less than a good mark at ofstead, so why does he get paid so much for it. My previous school, the headteacher was on £48'000, the school was in special measures, had over 600 pupils, 80 teachers, various levels of support staff, and he worked like a mad man, often staying until 7pm every day, and was even in on school holidays to get things right.

 

I know schools have a hard task of teaching children, however, teachers get 13 weeks holiday a year - which they state is used for marking, yet most teachers I know are jetting off around the world on 2-5 week tours/cruises etc.

 

If capping wages is deemed as a bad idea, make the teachers salaries Pro Rata, which is the same for the rest of the school staff (ancillary staff such as ICT Technicians, Science Technicians, and Support staff like class room assistants etc).

 

Regards...

[Hightower]

Why shouldn't we complain. A process is in place, that should be it for another 4 or 5 years. Having lived through many governments I find it hard to believe they will listen to my suggestions to stop printing glossy leaflets, to stop having meetings and start implementing. Stop driving around in big cars and walk or cycle etc. etc.

 

Wer have a right to complain and complain I will.

 

So they never listen to your suggestions, and you don't want them to listen to your suggestions. Seems like a winner to me.

[LosOjos]

Look at this an another vote then. I can't believe people can complain at this. They are actually giving you an option, a chance to express your thoughts. How would your teachers like it if you implemented every bit of IT without consulting them? No, it's far easier and more beneficial to have an open door policy where teachers can come in and say "we could really use 'x'".

 

Like they're really going to sift through all the feedback and take it all on board? No, what they'll do is skim read it to find the responses that say what they want to do anyway, and use that as 'evidence' of what 'the people' want.

[ButterflyMoon]

Well I don't know if they will read it or not but I sent my 2p worth anyway. If there is the slightest chance they do read it then I will have had my say!

[dwhyte85]

Close to what I put :-)

 

This is what I wrote...

 

My ideas are as follows.

 

Cap Headteacher salaries to £50'000.

Cap Deputy Headteacher salaries to £45'000

Cap Assistant Headteacher salaries to £45'000

Cap head of department/year salaries to £35'000

Cap teacher salaries to £32'000

 

In many establishments where I have worked, schools upper echelons of management are on ridiculous wages, for not much in terms of man management, 1 school for example, has 70 pupils, 12 teachers, 2 teaching assistants, and a headteacher, the head teacher is on £80'000, the school in question is not a particularly bad school, to my knowledge has never recieved less than a good mark at ofstead, so why does he get paid so much for it. My previous school, the headteacher was on £48'000, the school was in special measures, had over 600 pupils, 80 teachers, various levels of support staff, and he worked like a mad man, often staying until 7pm every day, and was even in on school holidays to get things right.

 

I know schools have a hard task of teaching children, however, teachers get 13 weeks holiday a year - which they state is used for marking, yet most teachers I know are jetting off around the world on 2-5 week tours/cruises etc.

 

If capping wages is deemed as a bad idea, make the teachers salaries Pro Rata, which is the same for the rest of the school staff (ancillary staff such as ICT Technicians, Science Technicians, and Support staff like class room assistants etc).

 

Regards...

[creese]

So they never listen to your suggestions, and you don't want them to listen to your suggestions. Seems like a winner to me.

 

Where did I say that? I want then to have listened the other week when I put my X in the box.

 

Give us a proper 'referendum' not a 'give us a list and we will think about it'.

[Rydra]

Personally I'm sick of hearing people complaining. You have people twisting that the country is in wreck and ruins, and everything is being done wrong, and then in the same breath you have people complaining when the government open up the floor to suggestions.

 

Get on with it. If you don't like it then make a suggestion, otherwise stop moaning.

 

How much did it cost them to send a letter to 20% of the country? 1p per letter, plus Postage, plus paying someone to write it...

 

But if we're going to discuss suggestions (I haven't had my bin-filler yet to send it officially)

 

1) Better controls on the stupidly overpaid; Noone is worth being paid millions a year, while those who work on the 'frontlines' of the business get paid national averages or less (currently about 24k if I recall?), especially those who work in the financial sector, which is largely responsible for this mess in the first place. A manager should not be able to give themselves a half a million bonus, while those who earn't him that money get, if they are lucky a couple thousand.

Having a minority of rich people and a majority of poor people is bad for the economy. If instead of 1 man earning 1 million a year, and 100 people earning 20,000 a year making him that profit, He could be paid 100k, which is still a very good salary, and everyone else is then paid 9-10k more per year.

Can you imagine what you could do with another 10,000 per year, for the same work/time? How much happier would you be with your work, and how much more willing would you be to hang around?

Investment in employers instead of Exploitation.

 

2) Scrap pointless testing, assessments and league tables on rubbish. We don't need to know and shouldn't have to know which school has the best score in science, or which hospital "Is the most uberest of them all." They should all be of the same standard.

Spend the money on training those who are lacking instead; even within the field of IT techies, the disparity in level of service is huge, let alone within teaching, hospital care, or otherwise.

 

3) Directly tied to government manifesto etc, scrap the ridiculous Trident project. The only ones who will benefit from that will be the company managers who designed/planned it. More rich people getting richer, for a government funded project that noone benefits from.

 

The ability to drop a nuke on someone causes more trouble than it's worth, and I shall not go into a discussion on nuclear arms deterrent.

 

4) When facing major unemployment on a national scale, cutting budgets on the countries primary employer (the government itself) affects those at the bottom already, not those at the top. When you tell a government dept (or any company for that matter) they have to cut their expenditure by 10-15%, that cut will come by cutting services on the frontline, not from the management.

Combine this with increase in costs (VAT), freezes on existing salaries for those who were lucky, and a reduction in support for those who are unemployed, and we're in for more than a rough time.

 

But after all this, what's the point anyway. The government comes up with what they want to do, and we agree with them. It ought to work the other way round, but that hasn't happened for a long time. This whole scheme is nothing but a gimic in my mind, and my suspicion is they'll do what all those who have power will do.

 

Ask people for their thoughts, opinions, and ideas, listen to them all, and then do whatever the hell they were going to anyway.

[LosOjos]

Where did I say that? I want then to have listened the other week when I put my X in the box.

 

Give us a proper 'referendum' not a 'give us a list and we will think about it'.

 

I don't know how this government dares to call itself a democracy, how can it be when parties can decide to merge and create a new party to take power, who voted the ConDems? Nobody, because they weren't up for election.

 

I'd like to think that they will listen to our suggestions on this matter, but my instinct tells me what I said in my previous post: they'll use it to source 'evidence' for their own ideas anyway.

[Rydra]

Oh, and I'd like to see tighter controls on more workers from other countries coming here for work.

 

In a time where we have high unemployment of those who are already here, shipping people in still from other countries to fill the few jobs we have is downright idiotic.

[SteveBentley]

I really hope that when this new law that allows communities to "recall" their MP if they have acted in an inappropriate way comes in somebody finds a loophole that lets you sack an MP who says one thing in a manifesto and then does another thing. Hopefully if that is the case, the residents of Sheffield Hallam will remember Cleggy saying he wouldn't raise VAT.

[Rydra]

I really hope that when this new law that allows communities to "recall" their MP if they have acted in an inappropriate way comes in somebody finds a loophole that lets you sack an MP who says one thing in a manifesto and then does another thing. Hopefully if that is the case, the residents of Sheffield Hallam will remember Cleggy saying he wouldn't raise VAT.

 

AH, but he didn't.... his alter ego did... He hasn't broken his promise, cos someone else did it...

[creese]

So this is what will happen. NOTE. They are only asking for ONE idea (singular).

 

All ideas considered by cross-government team

1. Serious ideas go to 'champions' team in Cabinet Office/Treasury
2. Most promising ideas sent to departments and Treasury spending teams to be worked up
   
3. Selected ideas reviewed by Ministers
   
4. Spending Review announced October 20th
   

Hands up those who think each idea will be read.

NB. I will be putting a suggestion forward, apart from getting someone to send emails and letters from No.10 in proper English instead of the 'hipspeak' this was written in.

[TechMonkey]

I don't know how this government dares to call itself a democracy, how can it be when parties can decide to merge and create a new party to take power, who voted the ConDems? Nobody, because they weren't up for election.

 

I'd like to think that they will listen to our suggestions on this matter, but my instinct tells me what I said in my previous post: they'll use it to source 'evidence' for their own ideas anyway.

 

But you don't vote for a party, you vote for your area representative. Once they see who they have in parliament then normally the party with the most votes says "we are biggest we will rule the country". It is just that in this country we wildly sway from one party to another to allow just one to get in. This time the parties have had to talk to each other and try and make a group that can claim to be the biggest.

 

I think this is one of those cases where they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. The number of times you hear on here "What they should do is.." and now people get their chance they say "Ohh they shouldn't do that." If you are happy to blindly vote an MP in and sit back then don't feel you have any right to complain when things go wrong. Democracy is an interactive process but we seem to have forgotten this and think everything should be laid on a plate for us to pick and choose and not have to do anything.

 

I will be going there and asking they cut back on consultants and following the current big trend in business normally once business has dropped it as a bad thing. Maybe they will all go to the big spam filter in the sky and it will be a pointless exercise. But just imagine they take your idea, run with it and save the country x million?

 

Sorry, I'll go back to my cell now.

[MbroTech]

You do realise they'll be employing consultants to go through all this

[creese]

You do realise they'll be employing consultants to go through all this

 

My point axactly. And publisher to print the findings and the PC's to trawl through the suggestions and software and...and... and....

 

My suggestions, Dave & Nick, get on with your jobs. I'll get on with mine, colleagues.