The TaxPayers' Alliance - Burning our Money

Non-job of the week

Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime.  It sounded good at the time, no?  Read our non-job of the week at Southwark Council and see if the sentiment exists in local government:

“Family Intervention Project Keyworker

£22,638- £27,723

Fixed term contract until March 2011

Our Family Intervention Project has the vital role of intensively supporting families at risk of losing their housing tenancies through antisocial behaviour. We've had some major successes over the past year, and you will help us take things to the next level as you undertake individual and family work, and act to support families thorough profound change. Experienced in working with children and young people within statutory or voluntary settings, you will be capable of assessing complex needs, creating detailed written reports and implementing plans to bring about lasting change. Reference: 418-CS-08.

To find out more visit http://www.jobsatsouthwark.co.uk

Closing date: 28 May 2008.

http://www.jobsatsouthwark.co.uk

Southwark Council”

“Intensively supporting families at risk of losing their housing tenancies through antisocial behaviour”?  Aren’t councils meant to deter antisocial behaviour and use the stick of tenancy withdrawal to try and get some law and order back in our communities?  If a feral family is making their neighbours' lives a misery day and night, you want them out and not pandered to by some sandal-wearing council do-gooder making a cushy living off your money.  It defies belief that Southwark Council - providing social housing - is actually intent on bending over backwards to keep antisocial families in housing that should be there for those who genuinely need the safety net and, I'm sure, would show some gratitude and social responsibility in return.

When are the authorities going to take law and order seriously?  To the media and the public, the politicians roll off hard-hitting rhetoric.  Yet the reality is that councils are advertising for jobs like this when they should be using our money to provide law abiding taxpayers with quality services at the cheapest price.  Until the British people dig around and see where their money is going, councils like Southwark are going to get away with this sort of bleeding-heart PC nonsense with taxpayers money.    

Non-job of the week

One of the criteria for a job to qualify as the non-job of the week is whether we could live without it.  This week, see for yourself from the Guardian Society pages:

“Community Capacity Building Officer

£25,320 - £31,606 pa (pay award pending)

Ref: CS85

Fixed term post for 3 years

Take on this key role in the Community and Voluntary Relations Unit, and you will ensure the continued growth and development of the voluntary and community sector in Solihull. Your capacity building remit will involve working in partnership with local voluntary and community organisations, other service areas within the Council, as well as a range of partners from Solihull's Local Strategic Partnership.

Expert at translating strategy into practice, building and developing strong relationships, and carrying out meaningful community engagement, you will be involved in the design, development and delivery of Local Area Agreement initiatives and targets around volunteering, community cohesion and a thriving third sector.

A graduate-calibre professional, you will have a proven track record of working with the voluntary and community sector to support the growth, development and sustainability of local community groups and organisations. Working knowledge of local strategic partnerships, thematic subgroups, community strategies and local area agreements will also be essential. For an informal discussion, please contact Faisal Hussain, Head of Community & Voluntary Relations on 0121 704 8541.

Apply on-line at http://www.solihull.gov.uk

Alternatively for a recruitment pack and application form: Tel: 0121 704 6800 (24 hour answerphone)

Email: connectcc@solihull.gov.uk

We are unable to accept CVs. Please quote reference number CS85 in any communication.

Closing date: 23rd May 2008.

Interview date: 3rd June 2008.

All applications will be considered on their merits and people with disabilities meeting the essential criteria will be guaranteed an interview.”

Whilst the aims of the post are honourable, the voluntary sector has survived long enough without government interference.  People turn to and get involved in the voluntary sector partly because it isn’t government related, and usually does a better job too.  Similarly with community groups, people take their time out for a good cause they care passionately about.  The strength of a voluntary group is the cause, not government employing an officer to get people to volunteer – that defeats the point of voluntary activity.

During these tough economic times, families have to tighten their belts.  Councils should be expected to do the same instead of squandering taxpayers’ money on positions the community can easily live without.

Non-job of the week

For all of those who criticised our Council Spending Uncovered paper on publicity spending, take a look at our non-job of the week:

“Publications Editor
£26,067 - £27,584 (pay award pending)

This is your chance to get involved in producing our Council publications.

In our county, effectively communicating and engaging with our residents is crucial. The quarterly Your County publication plays a huge part in this - providing important news updates, advice and features. As the Editor, you can expect real freedom to develop your ideas and take the magazine forward. This will involve liaising with the full range of council departments, sourcing, writing and editing stories and overseeing the full production process. We’ll also look to you to produce other council publications and your expertise will enable you to offer advise [Tim edit: oh dear, oh dear, oh dear] to colleagues. Inspirational and highly motivated, you’ll bring a proven editorial background, exceptional relationship building skills and an ambitious approach. Ref: QO1094.”

Clearly they didn’t edit this ad.  Someone better advise East Sussex Council to check over their work in future. 

Councils are under an obligation to inform taxpayers of its essential services, letting us know when the pharmacies are open for example.  They're not obliged, however, to produce expensive, glossy magazines propagandizing at our expense - they can save that for their party-funded leaflets. 

On Monday we challenged councils to reduce their publicity, middle management and pensions by 10% to produce real tax cuts next year.  East Sussex Council could start by axing this job and work that bit harder to give us some of our money back.

Feel free to recommend this saving to the leader of East Sussex County Council, Peter Jones, by sending an email cllr.peter.jones@eastsussex.gov.uk or drop him a line at the council 01797 226243. 

Non-job of the week

As councils up and down the country do their best to expand their middle management, bloat their own salaries and scale back frontline services, they never fail to come up with yet another non-job for us to expose.

This week Liverpool City Council burns taxpayers’ money by offering this job, yet again, from the Guardian Society pages:

“Public Art Officer

£30,598 - £33,291

Liverpool is looking for people with the passion, commitment and skills to make their mark and deliver an exciting and challenging agenda. If you have ambition for yourself and for Liverpool; if you can improve yourself and support the development of your colleagues; if you share our values and strive to make others feel valued then we want to hear from you.

The post holder will be based in the Urban Design Team and will be dealing with all matters related to public art, including guidance and strategy.

Successful applicants will have a degree/diploma in a visual arts related subject and/or substantial experience of public art matters.

Candidates should preferably have experience of working within Local Government and should be self-motivated, well organised and be able to communicate effectively and work well as part of a team.

You must be able to work well under pressure and have the ability to meet deadlines.”

What?  No taxpayer-funded chalk?  No subsidised paint sets?  Liverpool City Council lets us down.  But give them credit, at least the ad wasn’t blank like last week’s non-job.

Seriously, though, Liverpool Council claim to be cash strapped, yet they have a sixty million black hole in their finances.  Why are they employing artists when there is something very wrong with their finances?  They spend £9.4million of taxpayers’ money (a 700% increase on 10 years ago) on its own publicity, with well over £1million of that on its staff advertising (a 1,000% increase on 1997 figures).  Add more on top of that after Liverpool City Council’s 4.9% Council Tax grab this year and you find even greater scope for this council to waste more of your money.

This is where you come in.  Kindly ask the leader of Liverpool City Council, Warren Bradley (warren.bradley@liverpool.gov.uk) whether this public art officer is value for money.  How much longer are you going to let these council get away with wasting your money?

Non-job of the week

Braintree borough council has disgraced itself today.  Their advert in this morning’s Guardian Society jobs page for a ‘Climate Change Manager’ is blank save for two sentences and the council logo.  It measures 13cms x 19cms and has barely anything in it.  The ad boasts that it’s ‘saved ink’ but it’s wasted taxpayers’ money on a blank advert.

My guess is that some over-promoted advertising halfwit thought it would be a good idea to advertise this job using empty space.  How very post-modern... 

This is what Braintree’s taxpayers’ money is going to.  Your Council Tax went up and all you got was an empty page.  They may as well have thrown the money down the drain for what this entire ad is worth, let alone that it’s an advert for another climate change non-job.

“Climate Change Manager

£34,542 - £38,556

A very exciting opportunity has arisen for a Climate Change Manager at Braintree Council.

Delivering the kind of changes we're aiming for will take a special kind of person. The odd trip to the bottle bank won't be enough. We're looking for someone who has real passion for all things environmental and the ability to get other people involved in taking positive action.

Your first challenge will be enthusing those around you about the benefits of thinking green. Because whilst we're already doing a great deal to improve our environmental responsibility, as an organisation, we could be doing more. So it'll be your job to educate and motivate your colleagues, giving them all the understanding they need to start making changes to the way they live and work.

You'll also lead a range of climate change initiatives that'll see you engage local communities in a variety of ways and encourage them to take responsibility for reducing the impact they have on the environment. And by working closely with everyone from community representatives to senior level Council members, you'll help ensure both local and national climate change performance indicators are met, if not exceeded. With your help, we'll set the kind of example that other boroughs will want to follow.

This role clearly requires a great deal of knowledge and understanding when it comes to environmental science, legislation, guidance and practice. It also requires experience in environmental management, promotion and climate change issues. But most crucially, this role needs someone who can turn innovative ideas into effective action, and plan, develop, manage and deliver projects that'll benefit the environment both close to home and further afield.”

Aside from the blank advert, costing thousands of pounds, the job itself is more of the same from local government.  Where they could cut taxes and attract business (saving on commuting) whilst creating incentives for green behaviour, they find it better to employ another drain on borough finances – which this job is.

For those interested, also check out our green jobs report we published back in 2007.  Furthermore, it's also worth contacting Braintree Borough Council's leader - Graham Butland, the Cabinet member for the Environment - Roger Walters and the cabinet member for resources - Michael Lager.  Please ask them what value a blank advert and a redundant non-job brings to the over-taxed residents of Braintree.

Nice work if you can get it in West Sussex

A TPA supporter has sent us this non-job he found, as well as his response below:

"Considering the state of the finances and services in West Sussex and the ever increasing demand on council tax payers, I was slightly bemused to see the above advertisement in the Sunday Times yesterday.

The advertisement is for a "Director Operations Customer Services", a dynamic new position with a salary of up to £121,000 p.a. plus benefits (Presumably a final salary pension amongst other benefits).

I was also extremely irritated to be referred to as one of 750,000 "Resident customers". I have no choice where to source the few services that we actually use locally and I wish my own company's customer base was as easily sourced!

Whilst I do not want to seem to be whinger, I fail to see how my lot and that of many other local council tax payers, will improve by further unnecessary expenditure by the County Council to "Drive council-wide customer services aimed at raising customer satisfaction with local residents and enhancing the Council's reputation".

I would be pleased to hear the Council's response to the above.

Yours sincerely
John Williams"

John raises some excellent points.  Why are we referred to as ‘customers’?  Customers, I’ve always believed, have their custom, which they can take elsewhere if they dislike a service provided.  We can’t with local government.  It forcibly takes our money and squanders it on non-jobbers using government-gobbledegook to scratch out a reason for their job’s existence.

If you spot any non-job in your local paper – just like John did – email it to us so we can publicise the waste.  We’ve had local papers, which routinely look at our website, pick up the stories we find and print them in their papers before.  So let's drum it home to Britain's taxpayers just how much of our money is being wasted.  In the meantime, give John some support and write to the Chichester Observer telling residents about this shocking waste of taxpayers' money.

Non-job of the week

Croydon’s residents have just been handed a 4% Council Tax increase.  Where’s it going…on the bonfire of non-jobs, of course:

“Senior Internal Communications Officers x2, LONDON BOROUGH OF CROYDON

£28,524 to £30,603

If so, the London Borough of Croydon could be the place for you. With seven Beacon Council awards demonstrating excellence in local Government, a three-star CPA rating with realistic ambitions of achieving a four-star rating, and a new and challenging top team, it’s a great place to work. As a Senior Internal Communications Officer, you’ll be working in the thick of the action.

Based in Human Resources and Organisational Development, you’ll work within a small but dynamic team, responsible for communicating to 12,000 staff in nearly 300 locations. The groundwork is in place: we have an ambitious people strategy and we now need innovative, forward-thinking professionals to deliver creative communications via a range of channels.

To succeed in this role, you’ll need to demonstrate that you can work with everybody from the Chief Executive to refuse collectors and parking attendants who are out delivering services to the community day in, day out. You’ll be excited at the prospect of leading on a range of projects from running events, to editing publications, to communicating large-scale corporate change programmes.

If you’re a proactive communicator who can deliver fast, effective solutions under pressure, we’d love to hear from you.

For an informal chat about the role, please call Hayley Blake, HR & OD Communications Manager, on 020 8604 7679 or email hayley.blake2@croydon.gov.uk

Closing Date: Friday 18 April 2008

For a job pack please visit http://jobs.croydon.gov.uk where you can register and apply online.”

The horrifying statistic in the above job description is the announcement that Croydon Council employs 12,000 people across 300 offices.  Rumours abound that graduate jobs in the private sector will be fewer owing to the uncertain economic climate.  Nevertheless, week after week there is never a shortage of local government non-jobs filling up the middle management roster in local government.  Clearly if this trend of taking more from the profit making sector and handing it to the bloated, unproductive sector continues, it will lead to higher taxes for us all. 

Non-job of the week

Although we regularly highlight non-jobs in local government, and we will this week, this week’s non-job of the week is going to be a little bit different.  We maintain through our campaigns that we want taxpayers’ money to go to the frontline.  Our reports have exposed the growth in middle management and other non-essential areas of government where our money is being wasted, through being directed away from the frontline and by the government simply taking far too much from the taxpayer.

After year on year of NHS reorganisations, we give to you our non-job of the week:

“Senior leaders, radical change programme, NHS, Healthcare for London
£96,000

Now is your chance to spearhead Healthcare for London, a new organisation set up specifically to transform healthcare across the capital. Borne out of Lord Darzi's vision, HfL aims to radically reconfigure services by 2017, strictly in line with clinical excellence and through widespread public consultation and active partnerships with all 31 London PCTs and with NHS London. Don't miss this important opportunity to re-shape health outcomes for Londoners as a Head of Programme Office, Programme Development Lead, Finance Project Manager, Programme Manager, Project Manager or Project Officer. Find out more and apply at http://www.tribalresourcing.com/HfL”

Six re-organisational staff at £96,000 a pop over 9 years.  Over the next 9 years your money, that you want to go to medicine, nurses and care, will bypass the frontline, all in the name of reorganisation.  Yet we’ve seen so many ‘reorganisations’ in the last ten years and there has been scant improvement.  Yes we want a frontline service.  No we do not want more managers, more bureaucrats, more public sector ‘visionaries’ planning everything from the top down soaking up money as they do it. 

Also for your interest this week, some highlights from the Guardian Jobs pages:

Merely days after we published a report into Town Hall fat cats, two councils this week advertise for jobs paying over £100,000.  The first is a Director of Adult Services at Hampshire County Council, costing taxpayers £140,000 a year (without running costs and benefits included).  Croydon Council seeks a. Executive Director of Children, Young People and Learners at £150,000 a year.  Finally, Kensington and Chelsea Council advertise for a Development Manager for the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Community at £39,400 a year…go figure that one out.

Non-job of the week

Today the Department of Communities and Local Government will announce Council Tax increases set to land on doormats all over the UK.  It’s doubled in ten years and will soar beyond the official inflation figure of 2.5% this year.  People are being sent to prison for being unable or refusing to pay.  It’s clearly unsustainable.  What makes this system of financing unsustainable is that your money is going to useless non-jobs burning our money.

How apt it is this week that we find this job from the Guardian jobs page:

“Sustainability Manager

£40,964 - £42,686 pa - Full-time, 37 hours per week- flexi-scheme

We are seeking a knowledgeable, experienced and enthusiastic sustainability manager to maintain the profile of work in this area. Joining an authority with a history of innovative approaches to sustainability and successful cross-service working, this post offers an excellent opportunity for you to lead our dedicated sustainability team to deliver significant carbon reductions and other environmental improvements across the organisation and beyond, responding to high profile issues such as climate change and linking to corporate priorities as stated in our Local Area Agreement.

Using your practical knowledge of sustainability and proven ability to manage people, projects and budgets, you will be expected to champion the strategic "green city" vision for the council in its local and regional contexts, as well as embedding a corporate approach to sustainability across the council.

You will need to be articulate and persuasive, involving councillors and colleagues to develop and deliver the policies and outcomes we need.

You and your team will work with services in all council directorates, helping them reduce their environmental impact, especially through energy and water management.

You and your team will also have important inputs to key services such as planning and building control, transport and highways and environmental services to ensure that sustainability approaches are reflected in policy development and application across the borough.

For more information about this post, please telephone Zoe Hanim on 0118 939 0173.

To apply... application forms can be downloaded or completed on-line at http://www.reading.gov.uk

Alternatively email: recruitment@reading.gov.uk or call 0118 939 0039 (24 hour answerphone) quoting ref: CEX0166 and stating which position you are interested in.

Please do not send a CV. For the purposes of equal opportunities, we can only accept Reading Borough Council application forms.

This post is politically restricted under Part 1 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

Closing date: Wednesday 9 April 2008

Interview date: Friday 25 April 2008

What's on offer?

generous relocation allowance

flexible working

24 days holiday rising to 32 days

final salary pension scheme

excellent training & career opportunities

Equal opportunities for all Positive about disability

Reading BOROUGH COUNCIL

POSITIVE ABOUT DISABLED PEOPLE”

Remarkable.  These jobs never cease to amaze.  Another green job, with astonishing benefits and a ‘relocation allowance’ – surely they don’t expect the successful applicant to relocate by car?  Add in the 5-weeks off they get as holiday (a caravan at the bottom of the garden as opposed to a long haul flight to Bermuda, they can't be hypocrites now, can they) and the gold plated pension and you can see that funding non-jobs like Reading's Sustainability Manager isn't sustainable.

But there is a way out.  How about government cut its emissions by sacking these non-jobbers, saving on running costs their offices, computers, lights etc all use up and handing you back some of the cash you’ve lost in Council Tax over the past ten years…it’s just a thought.

More non-job madness...

Hiding away in today’s Metro is an advert for an, all to frequent, non-job - one that’ll leave you with little reason to doubt why the 2012 Olympics is going to be over-budget.

Instead of just getting the job done, building the Olympic park and ensuring there’s track to run on and such, the Olympic Delivery Authority sidestep all that in the name of ‘gender equality’.

On your buck, they’re attempting to ‘promote gender equality’ in the construction industry.  It’s as if they can take time out from building the Olympic park and competition venues to even out the male to female ratio in the building industry.

It shouldn’t matter what sex makes up the majority of the workforce in any industry, as long as the job is done.  London’s taxpayers (and soon to be taxpayers in Hertfordshire and Essex if Ken gets his way) want the Olympics ready to go on time and, preferably, under budget.  If the ODA continues on this politically correct path of wasting your money, then they clearly won’t.

From the ODA website:

“The ODA and its Delivery Partner wish to recruit two Employment & Skills Managers – Women’s Project to:

• Proactively promote construction related employment opportunities for women
• Assist in removing the barriers facing women wishing to enter the construction industry
• Broker on-site construction related work placements and direct employment for women
• Offer additional support to women on-site to ensure retention and career development

Understanding gender specific schemes will be new to many contractors and to the construction industry as a whole. The successful candidate will have a proven track record of supporting women/under-represented groups in gaining employment within the industry and also facilitating relevant training and development opportunities. In addition, they will have experience in educating and assisting companies to place women/under-represented groups into construction jobs.”

It gets worse north of the Border when you see what Glasgow University use government funds for…

Anyone fancy becoming a research project assistant in Scottish Pantomime?

Non-job of the week

When criticising big government, we often use the term “nanny state” to mean the government ordering us around like a nineteenth century nanny.  Like all other aspects of government modernisation, even the term “nanny state” has to take new meaning as Islington Council demonstrates this week with our non-job of the week, straight from the Guardian:

“Senior Play Ranger
£28,778 - £31,068 PRO RATA

Children's Services

Young People's Services

Islington is coming out to play!

It's exciting times for play in Islington, following our successful bid to the Big Lottery Fund.

We are now embarking on setting up our Play Ranger Teams. Play Rangers will work across the borough in parks, open spaces, estates and schools in developing play opportunities for children.

Play Rangers will respond to children's play needs and will primarily focus on delivering services during weekends and holiday periods and will carry out estate based work after school.

With initial two-year funding received from the Big Lottery Fund Islington, Children's Services and partners are seeking to recruit motivated play workers with a strong play ethos, who are able, willing and enthusiastic to work with children.

£28,778 - £31,068 PRO RATA REF: CS/0571/SG

2 YEARS FIXED TERM CONTRACT, 21 HOURS PER WEEK TERM TIME, 30 HOURS PER WEEK SCHOOL HOLIDAY PERIODS (SATURDAY / SUNDAY WORK ESSENTIAL)

As an experienced play worker who is level 3 qualified in play work, you will manage and lead a team of play rangers to deliver services across a range of play settings predominately at weekends.”

Seriously, is our society in such a state that local authorities have to pay people to play with children?  Do councils really need to pay someone to organise a kick around on the green?

I particularly like the part where the job specifies someone who is ‘level 3 qualified’ in play work.  Does that mean they can put together the more complicated lego sets or is it a qualification in meccano construction?

Either way, if you ever need to explain to someone how big our government has become, enlighten them to the sad fact that councils are now trying invade the family space, interfere and regulate children’s play time.

Non-job of the week

I thought the North East said “No” to the North East Regional Assembly?

Aye, they said ‘no’ to an elected regional assembly, but it still exists, illegitimate, unwanted and unaccountable.  If there’s any doubt that it exists, just take a look in the Guardian Society jobs pages today and you’ll find an ad for the North East Assembly which conveniently doubles up as our non-job of the week.

The more I research and experience local government, the more I find the governmental structure to be all over the place.  District and County councils have strategies.  The government’s regional assemblies and development corporations have ‘strategies’.  Lines of authority overlap to the extent where you have to have an incredibly sharp eye to keep track with who has competence over what and which authority is responsible for any one policy area.

This, perhaps, is just one of the reasons why taxpayers in the North East said no to an elected regional assembly.  Unsurprisingly, the government still carried on with a regional assembly nonetheless.

So, for your displeasure, our non-jobs of the week come from a non-body still burning your money:

“Policy Officers

(2 temporary posts, open to secondments), SCP 26 - 36: £21,411 - £28,920

The North East Assembly shapes the future development of the region by setting the strategic framework for planning, housing, transport and sustainable development, and for ensuring the regional development agency, is accountable to the region.

The North East Assembly has vacancies for two policy officers that we would like to fill as soon as possible. As part of the team responsible for taking forward the regional spatial strategy, or for the team responsible for scrutiny and policy development around the regional economic strategy, the two temporary posts offer the opportunity to work across a number of policy areas and with a range of stakeholders. The posts are open to secondments and provide an opportunity to gain invaluable experience of governance at a regional level during a time of change.

With experience of policy work, and with planning skills and/or social research skills, you will be able to demonstrate achievement in analysis and interpretation coupled with an excellent understanding of regional and national policies and strategies.

You can download an application package from our web site at http://www.northeastassembly.gov.uk/vacancies. For an informal discussion, please contact Phil Jones, planning manager, or Nicola Boyne, scrutiny manager, on 0845 673 3343.

Closing date: 26 March 2008.

We are an equal opportunities employer, and all applications will be considered solely on merit.”

Non-job of the week

Lancashire’s taxpayers, after footing Council Tax bills that have doubled in the last ten years, better brace themselves to hear where their money’s going.  We found this job at Lancashire County Council from the Guardian Society jobs page, which is our non-job of the week:

“Woodlands from waste development officer

£28,172 to £30,598 a year.

Are you wasted...

...where you are? We're transforming Lancashire's waste management scene. Do you want to be a key player in one of the most innovative integrated projects in the UK? As our...

Ref: X00169MT

You will be involved in establishing woodland planting on derelict and neglected land using organic growth medium produced by the county's innovative, new waste treatment facilities.

We are conducting a job evaluation exercise and as a result the salary of these posts may increase or decrease, or stay the same.

Interested in any of these new and exciting positions?

Apply online at: http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/vacancies or tel: 0845 053 0008.

Closing date: 28 March 2008.

We are an equal opportunities employer welcoming applications from all sections of the community. Applications from ethnic minorities are welcome. You must be committed to equality and diversity in the workplace.

Apply online at: http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/vacancies

- POSITIVE ABOUT DISABLED PEOPLE”

INVESTOR IN PEOPLE”

Essentially this job is £30k of hard-earned taxpayers’ money to spread muck and plant trees.  Add into this the operating costs and such, double the salary and you have the rough cost to the taxpayer.  Yet in spectacular bureautalk, this role seeks an ‘officer’.  So, this could be £30k+ on a job nowhere near the frontline.  Perhaps it’s another case of the expansion in bureaucratic middle management?

You can find out and ask Lancashire County Council’s cabinet why they’re spending your money on a muck-spreading supervisor.  This is your money, you can get involved by holding wasteful politicians to account.

Non-job of the week

Devon County Council thinks it right to spend £27k of your money on reducing its own carbon footprint.  Perhaps they could have thought of a car share scheme or even ask their employees to take the bus instead of shelling out well over £30k on a bureaucrat, office space and other expenses to devise schemes, on the taxpayers buck, to cut carbon emissions.  As you'll see above, I just devised a whole carbon reduction strategy for them and it didn’t cost them a penny.  Yet that won’t stop them trying to burn more taxpayers’ money on programmes and non-jobs that really shouldn’t exist. 

With this non-job, Devon County Council are burning your money to stop themselves burning more in carbon emissions.  Perhaps if it scrapped these conscience-driven non-jobs and offered Council Tax cuts for ‘green’ behaviour, it could make environmentalism more attractive and actually reduce overall carbon emissions.  Sadly the culture of big government mandates that government is always the answer to whatever problem, even the ones it creates.

So yet again from the Guardian Society pages we give you our non-job of the week:

“Climate Change Programme Support Officer

£23,749-£27,594

Do you know what your personal carbon footprint is? Do you know what actions you need to take to reduce it in line with national targets? Are you taking those actions and are you on track to reduce your CO2 emissions? We do and we are. As part of our 'making Devon greener' programme Devon County Council is looking for an enthusiastic person to assist our Climate Change Programme Manager in delivering significant carbon reductions from our corporate operation. Ideally, you will have a deep understanding of the climate change mitigation agenda, and possess both project management and communications skills and experience.

Based in the vibrant city of Exeter (now headquarters for the Met Office and the prestigious Hadley Centre), you will work as a member of a multi-disciplinary strategy team in the Directorate of Environment, Economy and Culture. Your task will be to progress a growing portfolio of carbon reduction projects being delivered across the organisation, and to identify and implement new opportunities. A quarterly update of our carbon footprint will provide the measure of your success. Your work will also include raising awareness of our corporate responsibility for managing carbon with staff through our Carbon@Work programme.

For an informal discussion only, please contact Ian Bateman on 01392 383390.

For an application pack, please contact the 'First Stop Desk' on 01392 383034 or 01392 383037 (answerphone), email firstop@devon.gov.uk or apply online at http://www.devonjobs.gov.uk

Closing date: 21/03/08.

Interview date: 10/04/08. Ref: ENV308 G.

Salary is subject to job evaluation.

We are committed to equal opportunities in employment and service delivery, and are only interested in your ability to do the job.

http://www.devonjobs.gov.uk

Devon County Council

POSITIVE ABOUT DISABLED PEOPLE”

P.S. The award for the most unfortunate job title goes to the Teenage Pregnancy Implementation Manager at Manchester City Council.

Non-job of the week

If you read between the lines of every non-job description you can see even more of your money going up in smoke.  After getting over the initial shock that we – me, you, the taxpayers down the street – are paying for this non-job, you read on to find that considerable resources have not only gone into this job, but also the ‘strategy’ behind the job.  Yes, that’s right, for every non-job, someone’s sat at a desk devising a strategy for it.  I don’t know what’s worse, wasting money or devising strategies to waste even more taxpayers money.  But yet it still continues in local government and, even more depressingly, local NHS Trusts.

We’ve been fed the line as long as the welfare state has been in existence that taxes need to go up to pay for health, education etc…

However, are our taxes going to health and education?  Look at this non-job and tell me if you think your money’s being spent on those frontline services the politicians tell you you’re money’s going to:

There you have it taxpayers’ money, £37,000+, going to pay for someone to stop you falling over (a glorified banana peel collector?) but there’s someone in the Herefordshire PCT who has devised a ‘Falls Prevention Strategy’.  There are times like these where nothing else needs to be said except that if you’re riled, angry and frustrated that the government are routinely wasting your money – do something about it.  Join our campaign for free here, register as an activist and tell people about the TaxPayers’ Alliance.  Alternatively, donate to our campaign here.  This is your campaign to stop the taxman getting his hands on your money, so we’re counting on you to do your bit!

Non-job of the week

Today’s non-job of the week is a tale of two job adverts.  The first is our non-job of the week, yet another example of misused and misplaced scarce resources.  The next is a job within a charity which you will read about later.

But first, reading these non-jobs every week I’m left thinking whether we should undergo research into how much the equality and diversity industry costs the taxpayer.  Essex County Council – aside from spending £36 million on middle management and £4 million on its own self promotion – now thinks Essex taxpayers should fork out £86,000 minimum for a ‘Customer Impact Manager’.  What, I hear you ask, is a Customer Impact Manager?  Well, read on and find out as we present to you our non-job of the week:

“Customer Impact Manager

£66,000-£86,000 with more available for an exceptional candidate

Essex Works.

IT WILL BE NICE IF YOU WIN FRIENDS.

BUT IT'S ESSENTIAL THAT YOU INFLUENCE PEOPLE.

Change Everything

From £66,000 - £86,000 with more available for an exceptional candidate

With backing at the very highest level, your objective will be nothing less than to capture the hearts and minds of thousands of people right across this massive organisation, inspiring them to change the way they work to deliver the best quality of life in Britain. As our new Customer Impact Manager you'll champion the Local Government Equality Standard and ensure its values are embedded within service planning throughout an authority serving 1.4 million people.

Confident and highly credible, you should have a good understanding of local government and real empathy with the equality and diversity agenda. Proven ability to deliver change within a large, complex organisation is a must, together with highly developed influencing and motivational skills.

For further information, please refer to the Saxton Bampfylde website (http://www.saxbam.com/jobs) using reference LESF, or request an information pack by telephone on +44 (0)1483 409713.

For a confidential discussion about this opportunity, please contact Steve Lemmon or Jo Austin on +44 (0)20 7227 4069.

The closing date for receipt of CV's is 29 February 2008.

Preliminary interviews will be held between 3-14 March 2008 and final interviews on 10 April 2008.

http://www.jobsatessex.co.uk

Achieving quality through equality

SAXTON BAMPFYLDE HEVER

THE AMROP HEVER GROUP

Essex County Council

POSITIVE ABOUT DISABLED PEOPLE

INVESTOR IN PEOPLE”

The bold and italics are my doing, the capital letters are theirs and emphasise the sheer excitement Essex CC must have in advertising for this example of wasteful middle management.  Clearly a job that tries to “ensure its values are embedded within a service” is not actually delivering a frontline service to taxpayers.  It’s servicing the service.  Why?…nobody knows.  We have perfectly good equality and diversity laws that seem to be working well.  Got a problem, take it to a tribunal.  Job done! Or rather, non-job done!

Now for the comparison.  Essex County Council’s non-job measures 30 centimetres by 15 centimetres on the fourth page of the Guardian society jobs page.  It’s a taxpayer funded advert for taxpayer funded position that barely provides a frontline services and goes to swell up middle management even more. 

Now compare this with a 6 x 6cm job advert from the Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation, a charity funded by the Royal British Legion that provides homes and support to vulnerable and disabled ex-servicemen.  The Essex County Council middle management post is advertised on page 4 of the Guardian jobs section, right at the top of the page.  The advertisement for The Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation is tucked away on page 9 at the bottom of the page, completely secluded.

One could say the OSF has such a small advert because they want to channel all their funds to serving those in greatest need.  If so, this is a lesson for local government to heed before it spends millions of pounds on self congratulatory publicity and middle management jobs far removed from frontline services.

Non-job of the week

Last week’s non-job of the week was a delightful course in hypocrisy – a green job with a car thrown in.  This week Chorley Council provides us with another gem.  Having just released our report in the growth of Town Hall middle management, we find yet more of your money going to middle managers, draining money from frontline services.

In maintaining community parks, taxpayers expect their money going to gardeners and cleaners to ensure a safer environment.  Yet Chorley Council offers the most attractive subsidised benefits on a manager who, ironically, has to be “passionate about delivering value for money”.  This is all well and good, but wouldn’t the money better go to frontline staff?  Have the council even thought of tendering out the service to a more efficient, cheaper organisation?  Perhaps the successful applicant will continue their passion for delivering value for money by declining these taxpayer-funded perks.  We can hope at least, can’t we?

Therefore your non-job of the week, as advertised in the Guardian Society pages, comes from Chorley Council:

“Active People Manager (Parks and Culture)

Package up to £38,490 (includes lease car)

Chorley Council is really going places. We are a modern, ambitious Council with a reputation for delivery. These include:

- Shortlisted for Beacon Status 2008 - Transforming Services
- Ongoing, £5m+ investment in our parks
- MJ finalists for encouraging children and young people to be active
- Multi-million pound investment in performance spaces
- In the top three councils nationally for value for money

As you can see, local lad Dave Spikey is our Face of Culture! What we are looking for is a manager to drive our parks and culture work forward. The mix of services is varied and future plans are exciting, yet challenging. If you are passionate about delivering value for money services based on a clear understanding of customer needs, we want to hear from you.

Benefits:

- Subsidised lease car (10% of maximum of salary)
- Free town centre car parking - Progressive flexitime scheme
- Relocation scheme
- Child care vouchers
- Final pay pension scheme”

Again we have got to get on their case about this.  Can it be right that government spends more on its middle management, offering taxpayer-funded perks normal taxpayers barely receive?  As always, it’s one rule for them and one rule for the rest of us.

Please send your letters through the Chorley Citizen website by clicking here and sending a letter holding Chorley Council to account.  Also contact the Chorley and Leyland Guardian by sending an email to the editor.

Let us know how you get on taking Chorley Council to task over their misuse of taxpayers money.

Non-job of the week

How many times have you been told by government to ‘go green’?  You must walk to work, take public transport (especially on subsidised Venezuelan oil) and recycle.  Such is the self-imposed need to lecture us taxpayers to go green that government has spawned yet another taxpayer-funded industry, this time in the field of climate change.

Part of the reason your council tax bills are going up is down to the government’s nannying addiction over climate change.  Each week in the Guardian jobs pages (where else?) there’s a drip-drip of green jobs coming out of our councils at an enormous cost to the taxpayer.  Our non-job this week is one of these jobs, not because it’s ‘green’ but because it has the added bonus of being extraordinarily hypocritical.  See if you can spot it:

Green Infrastructure Officer

Heritage and Environment Service, £29,728 - £32,436 pa + Relocation Expenses + Essential Car User Allowance

Creating Sustainable Communities

Bedfordshire is a wonderfully rich and varied county, with the Chiltern Hills and Woburn Abbey, attractive river valleys, market towns and villages, and an industrial heritage that includes hat factories and brickworks. It is at the centre of government growth areas and is planning to provide 59,000 new houses and 50,000 new jobs by 2021. Your challenge is to combine the two and help make the county an even better place to live.

‘Green Infrastructure’ is being built into plans for the future and will provide a network of landscapes, wildlife and heritage sites, public open spaces and routes. It will enhance people’s quality of life and sense of place.

The Bedfordshire and Luton Green Infrastructure Consortium - public and voluntary bodies including national agencies, local authorities and countryside projects - takes the lead. You will work with the Consortium and other partners to promote the Strategic Green Infrastructure Strategy, secure funding and deliver significant amounts of high quality green infrastructure.

A degree (or equivalent) and a proven track record in related work are essential. You must be able to build consensus across a range of partners, have the presentation and communication skills to represent the Consortium, and be a strong and successful advocate for green infrastructure.”

Did you spot it?  Of course you did, alert readers.  Your council tax is going to pay for yet more local government perks.  With honourable and – here’s the important point - voluntary organisations out there with advice for those who want to go green, why does government feel it needs to divert taxpayers’ money from frontline services to fund car-driving climate change officers? 

Feel free to make this point, and others you might have, to the Bedfordshire on Sunday newspaper by emailing the editor at: editor@lsnmedia.co.uk

As always, this is your campaign because it is your money at stake.  Keep up the fight in holding government to account!

Non-job of the week

Here we are again.  Another week passes us by and we find another local government non-job wasting your money, a job that needn’t exist because it is either done in the voluntary sector or could be done by another government department or body.  The latter is the focus of this week’s non job and here it is from Coventry City Council:

“Crime Reduction Co-ordinator
£37,543 - £42,332

A specialist on crime and disorder issues, you will support the development of policies and strategies to reduce crime, the fear of crime and anti-social behaviour.

An excellent understanding of statutory requirement and good practice in relation to community safety and experience of managing people and finances will be vital.”

I said this here, and I will say it again:  Bureaucrats sat behind a desk do not cut crime.  You want a crime reduction strategy, then here’s one – put more police on the beat.  A police presence cuts crime, fear of crime and anti-social behaviour.  Simple.

To add insult to injury this bureaucrat will get paid more than a starting police constable and even an experienced police sergeant.  Is it no wonder the police are furious at being denied a pay increase when the government mandate councils to employ these types of officers who can’t have anything near the effect to reduce crime as an on-the-beat policeman can.

So, hopefully you’re riled enough to get campaigning on this.  There’s a selection of ways you can hold Coventry City Council to account on this one.  First you can contact Cllr Tony O’Neill, the Deputy Leader of the Council who also happens to be cabinet member for Value for Money, and ask him whether taxpayers’ are getting value for money from a high paid bureaucrat rather than an on-the-beat policeman.  You can ask Cllr Andy Matchett, Cabinet member for Community Safety, whether a bureaucrat can reduce crime and fear of crime better than a visible police presence.  Finally you can write to the local Coventry newspapers and raise the issue with Coventry’s taxpayers:

The Coventry Telegraph
Corporation Street,
Coventry,
West Midlands,
CV1 1FP,
United Kingdom
Email: martin_1_smith@mrn.co.uk

The Coventry Observer
4 The Quadrant,
Coventry,
CV1 2EL,
United Kingdom
Email: editor@coventryobserver.co.uk

If you're successful and get any responses, do email them to me so I can keep track of our campaign activity.  Your action can always spur potential TPA activists to take up the campaign themselves and get involved.  We need your help on this one, folks!

Non-job of the week

Some people never learn.  Our report into local government publicity spending revealed a half billion pound industry promoting local councils.  This taxpayer-funded pat-on-the-back for local politicians and their council officers brought outrage from taxpayers, and rightly so.  Help the Aged found that 10% of pensioners have to forego buying food and heating just to pay their council tax.  The Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimated that two million taxpayers struggle to pay their council tax bills.  Yet Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council hasn’t listened and they haven’t learned either.  They are still content to ratchet up the public sector wage roster, spending more of your money on their own self-aggrandizing propaganda and not essential services or tax cuts.  So we present to you this week’s non-job of the week:

“STOCKPORT METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL
Assistant Chief Executive (Communications)

We've lost our voice.

Package up to £90k

We are officially a top performing Council and improving well, something we are very proud of, because it confirms we are serving the public of Stockport well. We are also recognised as a leading Council for communications, and are determined to keep it that way: we want the Borough's achievements to be the talk of the town. That's where you come in. Reporting directly to the Chief Executive, and as a key member of the community of senior officers, you will head a 20-strong team to lead all aspects of corporate communications: campaigns, reputation management, press relations, on-line content, public consultation and emergencies, working closely with senior councillors and officers. You will need political nous, excellent written and oral presentation skills, a strategic mindset, great judgement, good management skills, and the ability to work under pressure.”

It couldn’t be clearer.  Stockport’s taxpayers are paying ever increasing council tax to employ spin doctors to hype up the council’s reputation and to constantly make up excuses for their own existence.  All this job does is add to the £1.1 million publicity budget at Stockport Council.  They already have 20 spin doctors, why do they need one more?  So when your councillors attempt to justify another council tax rise, you know where the money’s going – to spivs and not services.

So spread the word.  The Manchester Evening News reported the story when we released our report into publicity funding.  Write to them at:

1 Scott Place,
Manchester,
M3 3RN ,
United Kingdom

Or send an email to postbag@men-news.co.uk

Additionally you can contact the Stockport Express and Stockport Times by sending an email to stockportexpress@menwn.co.uk.

Do keep up the pressure.  We are getting a larger media presence and a more intensive grassroots operation.  It’s time to hold these politicians to account and demand lower taxes!

Non-job of the week

The GLA is the epitome of what we’ve always predicted regional government would become.  It’s growing, taking more of your money in taxes and constantly creating more pitiful excuses for its own existence.  So we’re not surprised that one of the jobs to come out of the GLA is our non-job of the week.

It was laudable that The Mayor’s office has been promoting the ‘one’ London theme, that Londoners of whatever background are united regardless.  Yet in today’s Guardian, they are advertising for an Asian Affairs Policy Adviser.  The job description is as follows:

“Policy Adviser (Asian Affairs)
£47,815

This is your chance to join the most pioneering regional government in the UK. You will provide high level support and expertise in the devising and developing of policies and strategies, as well as playing an integral part in promoting the Mayor's agenda for London and advising on the management of change.

You will offer advice on relations with the Asian community and the issues affecting Asian Londoners. This varied role will see you undertake research and analysis across the range of the Mayor's policies, ensuring that equal opportunities are promoted and the benefits of London's diversity are realised.

A successful track record in developing policy, aimed at improving services for Asian people, is essential for the role and you will be comfortable working in a complex political environment, with proven ability to present concise reports and presentations on sensitive issues to a diverse range of people. Ref: MO12.”

This job is another argument for the abolition of the GLA.  Londoners, of all backgrounds, want their taxes cut and services delivered, not meddling, patronising bureaucrats taking money from frontline services.  You can email the GLA holding them to account on jobs like this here, because it’s important we taxpayers keep up the pressure on the politicians wasting our money.

Non-job of the week

An article in today’s Guardian is suitably entitled “the business of governing is much harder that we would like to believe”.  Although on a completely different topic to what you will read here, it strikes a note especially when you cast your eyes over our non-job of the week.  We’ve chosen a set of “welfare rights” jobs from Lambeth council:

“Welfare Benefits Project Officer
£30,018 – £32,094

Lambeth is building a team to ensure that vulnerable people in the borough get access to welfare benefits advice. If you are passionate about maximising income for vulnerable people and you have excellent skills and experience in welfare benefits work, then this could be the job for you.

This is one of three posts that will work on our new campaign, funded by Lambeth Council and Lambeth PCT, to improve benefit take up. The campaign is called Every Pound Counts and is part of Lambeth’s Local Area Agreement. It is delivered in partnership with local advice agencies and targets older people, people living with ill health and disability, and their carers, including families caring for disabled children.

This is a key role supporting Lambeth in achieving its Local Area Agreement stretch target for benefits uptake. Working with voluntary and statutory partner organisations to ensure excellent co-ordination of benefits support to clients, you’ll project manage the take up campaign. Activities will include monitoring the contracts with local advice agencies, working on the campaign and developing and delivering a programme of outreach and publicity activities.

We are looking for someone with experience in welfare rights advice, managing contracts with voluntary agencies, and presenting and producing information for a variety of audiences at all levels.

Successful candidates will be asked to apply for an Enhanced Disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau. Further information about the Disclosure can be found at www.disclosure.gov.uk and in the application pack.”

The objection to this job isn’t that it’s providing benefits; it should form as a critique of the complexities within our government.  Referring back to the title of the Guardian article I mentioned at the start, government doesn't have to be as difficult as it is.  Vulnerable people shouldn’t be dumped in a state of confusion within a complex benefits system.  Our taxes shouldn’t be employing bureaucrats to solve a problem created by government in the first place.  Not only are we employing (yes, us, it’s our money) bureaucrats to help those befuddled by the system, but we’re also financing overpayments officers because sometimes the benefits officers get beat by the system too.  Talk about two wrongs making a right…

The solution, clearly, is a simple tax and benefits system.  It’s not as if alternative ideas aren’t out there.  Look at the flat tax phenomenon gripping and propelling the former Eastern bloc into the developed world.  Charles Murray’s plan to replace the Welfare State creates a national minimum whilst doing away with whole swathes of public sector bureaucracy.  It’s becoming a regular feature in debate on this to raise the personal threshold where one starts to pay income tax.  The ideas are out there and we clearly have to change the way our benefits system works.  The complexity burns more of our money whilst leaving vulnerable people in a dire situation.  The cost of a complex benefits system takes funding away from frontline services.  The long run implications of an ever-increasing public sector pay roll will be to swell the size of the state as well as higher tax bills.

Please make this point to the leader of Lambeth Council, Cllr Steve Reed, and ask him what he will do to lower council tax bills in Lambeth. 

Also get a local debate started, send your letters to:

South London Press
2-4 Leigham Court,
SW16 2PD
Email: newsdesk@slp.co.uk (please make your subject ‘for the attention of Hannah Walker re: letter to the editor’)

Non-job of the week

Melting ice caps?  Drought?  Global Warming?  Fear not because Southwark Council are coming to the rescue.  Feel free to roll your eyes at yet another local government non-job using taxpayers’ money to appease a guilty conscience.

Southwark Council this week have four jobs aimed at ‘tackling’ climate change.  I use inverted commas precisely because these jobs will hardly tackle climate change.  More likely these jobs will preach from Al Gore’s green handbook all the while diverting scarce resources from frontline services, listed on the Southwark Council website as street cleaning, flood defence etc. 

Previously we’ve had these green jobs as our non-job of the week because local government won’t stop greenhouse emissions or the like when China is building a coal power station every week. 

So our non-job of the week comes from Southwark council:

“Sustainable Learning Manager
£27,807 - £32,961

Are you ready to conduct detailed analysis and drive high profile projects against climate change? Can you build on the track record established by our Energy Team?

Leading and inspiring a number of Sustainable Services Officers, you will bring our Education for Sustainable Development Strategy to life. This will involve overseeing educational provision within schools, building positive relationships with Junior Streetleaders and “Young Friends Of…” groups and engaging young people from every walk of life to share your passion for environmental issues. So as you can imagine, we need a real self-starter with a great personality and the ability to devise learning experiences that are fun, involving and closely linked to the National Curriculum.

Working with communities, hard to reach groups and external agencies should be second nature to you, and you will be capable of producing world class publicity material, managing high profile initiatives and controlling significant budgets. Most importantly, you’re an innate leader with everything it takes to encourage recycling, responsible waste management and the cultivation of biodiversity – and you’re ready to make your mark from day one.”

Just for comparison sake, a band D property in Southwark pays £1,180.94 council tax a year.  Are you in Southwark, are you getting value for money?  Let us know by leaving a comment below or contacting us.

Also get involved, write to the Southwark local paper and tell them we want our money put to local services, not green ‘education’:

Please send your letters by:
Post: Unit A302, Tower Bridge Business Complex, Clement's Road, London, SE16 4DG
Email: letters@southwarknews.org
Fax: 020 7237 1578
All letters should include a street address.

Non-job of the week

It’s not a good week for NHS Trusts.  Yesterday the 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Trust disclosed they spent £6,000 of taxpayers’ money on 1500 annual reports of which only 40 were distributed to residents in the North West.  Today the East London NHS Foundation Trust is in our sights because it advertises for the non-job of the week.

The East London NHS Foundation Trust is advertising for three posts, not for someone medically qualified to perform an essential public service, but for three ‘Equality and Diversity Co-ordinators’.  You may be wondering what an NHS Trust is doing hiring three equality and diversity co-ordinators, so have a read of the job description and judge for yourself whether these non-jobs are necessary:

“Equality and Diversity Co-ordinator (x3)

The Trust provides a comprehensive mental health service to a diverse range of cultures and ethnic groups covering the City of London, Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets. Our aim is to provide the very highest standards of care based on strong to partnerships with Social Services and Primary Care Trusts.

Salary Breakdown is as follows:

Basic Salary - £27,622 - £36,416 per annum pro rota plus 20% of basic salary, subject to a minimum payment of £3,383 and a maximum payment of £5,638 per annum pro rota.

Inclusive - £33,146 - £42,054

These 3 posts in total are based across Newham, Tower Hamlets and Hackney provide an exciting opportunity to further develop equalities, diversity and human rights work across mental health services.

As equality and diversity coordinators you will provide clear direction and guidance to others, have responsibility for leading practical project work and managing a variety of work streams that underpin the diversity agenda.

You will help to ensure that local policies and services are Impact Assessed, that equality based training is provided for staff and that you will have a key role in delivering locally, the Department of Health’s Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health programme. You will also oversee the implementation of the Trust’s Equality Schemes and Action plans and support a culture that is socially inclusive and values diversity.

You will be educated to a degree or equivalent level and have at least 3 years experience working on Equalities and Diversity related issues. You will need to have experience of Equality schemes, knowledge of impact assessments and possess a good working knowledge of current equalities and diversity related legislation.

NHS experience is desirable but not essential for this role.”

That’s £100,000 plus for these jobs in salaries alone.  Add in running costs, pensions and other expenses and you could easily get a budget into a quarter of a million.  Feel free to send them a freedom of information request for a more detailed breakdown of the expenses within the Equality and Diversity department and remember every penny spent there could be spent treating ill taxpayers.  You can use the Trust’s online form, or you can write to and contact:

Freedom of Information Act Co-ordinator
Trust HQ, EastONE
22 Commercial Street
London, E1 6LP

Tel: 020 7655 4119
Fax: 020 7655 4118
Email: FOIRequest@elcmht.nhs.uk

Also if you’re not satisfied that the NHS is spending your money on bureaucrats and not doctors, feel free to complain to the Trust:

Jane Quinn
Consumer Relations and Legal Affairs Manager
Trust Headquarters
EastONE
22 Commercial Street
London E1 6LP
0800 085 8354 (you can call free of charge)

The more we hold these public services to account the more they will think twice before wasting taxpayers’ money.  If you get any responses, then please email them to me so we can publicise them on the website.

Non-job of the week

It’s that time again, the weekly painful trawl through the pages of the Guardian Society jobs section to find yet more cringe-worthy jobs you couldn’t make up but ones that you certainly are paying for.  We look this week to North Norfolk District Council, spending your money on a ‘County Community Cohesion Officer’, a job oozing with politically correct overtones.

At a cost of well over £40,000 to the taxpayer, can we really say this job is value for money?  If people want to experience and research other beliefs and cultures, what can a Community Cohesion Officer do that a Public Library, place of worship or voluntary community can't?  Nothing.  The council should be working to lower taxes in next years budget and not looking to increase its payroll.

So we present to you this week our non-job of the week:

“County Community Cohesion Officer
£40,772

Everybody in a community has a voice.

We want you to make sure that everyone listens.

Norfolk is an outstandingly beautiful county, and we want to make living here just as special.

We have strong strategic partnerships that include the public, private and voluntary sectors.

A key objective of the Norfolk Strategic Partnership is to support strong and vibrant communities.

This aspiration will be achieved through extensive partnership working to create an environment where people live and work together appreciating and respecting difference and diversity. This means positively recognising the beliefs, cultures and identities of individuals and communities and ensuring that everyone is valued. It's about ensuring that strong and positive relationships are developed between people from different backgrounds in schools, the workplaces, and within local communities and neighbourhoods.

As the County Community Cohesion Officer you would be responsible for developing:

- A Community Cohesion Strategy - which promotes and encourages opportunities for people to learn about and appreciate and respect the wide range of cultures, beliefs and values which exist in Norfolk

- A Community Cohesion Contingency Plan which brings together key agencies in the provision and development of services which respond effectively to activities or incidents that may threaten community cohesion in Norfolk

- Developing mechanisms to ensure that key agencies and organisations and community interest groups are working together to understand and develop their knowledge of community cohesion and integration issues at a strategic and local level.

This post will be hosted by North Norfolk District Council on behalf of the Norfolk County Strategic Partnership. North Norfolk District Council operates from modern offices in the resort town of Cromer on the North Norfolk Coast. The requirements of the post will however require extensive travel across Norfolk and work at a sub-regional and regional level.”

As always, let the people know about this.  Get writing to your local papers about this, look through your local papers and find more non-jobs.  These people are wasting our money and it has got to stop.  So get writing.  Feel free to contact:

Letters Editor
Eastern Daily Press
Prospect House,
Rouen Road,
Norwich,
NR1 1RE,
United Kingdom
Email: EDPLetters@archant.co.uk

Please put in the comments section any other newspapers in the area worth writing to.  Keep up the work folks.

Non-job of the week

Last week Sandwell Council deservedly got a lot of flack from us by advertising for two positions in their welfare rights department.  This week, Nottingham City Council is advertising for ten positions in its welfare rights department.  Top City firms may be handing out redundancies, but the welfare rights industry is clearly booming.

Think about that contrast for a minute.  The profit making sector is showing signs of weakness but week on week the state sector continues to swell its ranks.  Who is going to pay for these jobs?  We are.  But what if, as some suggest, there’s an economic slowdown on the horizon.  Fewer people working in the profit making private sector will be subsidising the growing gut of the state.  How do they pay for it?  Through high taxes, of course.  And for what?  For bureaucrats in Sandwell and Nottingham and every other council to go and hand out more and more of your money to more and more people ‘entitled’ to it. 

This isn’t a perfect world; there are winners and losers.  But look at the alternatives to spending taxpayers’ money inviting bureaucrats to hand out more and more benefits.  Charles Murray’s plan would give everyone a national minimum to look after their own welfare, dramatically shrinking the state as a result.  You could raise the income tax threshold to allow hard-working, less well off families to keep more of their money.  Instead, the government are taxing the poorest to pay for big government, a state raking in even more when the 10% income tax band doubles in April, hitting the poorest hard and trapping them in a system of complex benefits.  And yes, they are complex.  Government gives with one hand from the welfare rights directorate, and takes with another from the overpayments bureau.  Ronald Reagan said “government isn’t the solution, it’s the problem”.  Who now thinks he was wrong?

So, we present to you our ten-in-one non-job of the week, from Nottingham City Council:

“The Welfare Rights Service

Team Manager - £28,221 - £30, 843
Welfare Rights Officers x5 - £18,450 - £24,708
Administration Assistant - £14,778 - £15,825
Senior Welfare Rights Officers x3 - £25,437 - £26,928

The Welfare Rights Service is committed to addressing poverty and social exclusion, through the provision of specialist benefit and debt advice, targeted take-up campaigns and by addressing social policy issues.

A community based advice service delivering welfare benefit and debt advice, casework and representation to residents in the North and West of the city via advice sessions at the Bulwell Advice Centre and community outreach venues and targeted take-up campaigns.

An advice service delivering Welfare Benefit advice, casework and representation to some of the most vulnerable residents known to the authority, via referral from Social Care professionals, and awareness raising via the provision of planned training programmes.”

So please feel free to tell Nottingham’s taxpayers where their money is going and the crisis our country faces if the public sector keeps expanding like this:

Letters Editor
Nottingham Evening Post
Castle Wharf House,
Nottingham,
NG1 7EU,
United Kingdom
Email: malcolm.pheby@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk (the editor)

Non-job of the week

This week we have yet another local government non-job that squanders taxpayers’ money.  Our target this week is Sandwell Council who think they’re not handing out enough benefits.

Their advertisement for a ‘Welfare Rights Team Manager’ in the Guardian jobs pages this week reads as follows:

“Welfare Rights Team Manager
£36,636 - £39,132

The Welfare Rights Team Manager will manage over 40 staff located around the borough that provide visiting and open door services to our residents. They will be expected to develop services, work well with partners, and show initiative and a real understanding of best practice in the field.”

But read the ad on the Sandwell Council website…and you see why this is our non-job of the week:

“Our Welfare Rights service has an excellent reputation and has had huge success in creating wealth for the residents of Sandwell. During the last 12 months benefit gains of over £21 million have been generated for people living in the borough. We want to build on that success and are reshaping and refocusing our services to do this.   

The Welfare Rights Team Manager will manage over 40 staff located around the borough that provide visiting and open door services to our residents. They will be expected to develop services, work well with partners, and show initiative and a real understanding of best practice in the field.”

Creating wealth by getting people onto benefits?!  On the back of spending £21 million of your money on benefits, Sandwell Council have to employ a team leader to supervise the FORTY other welfare rights officers working to increase spending taxpayer-funded benefits on only 280,000 residents.  That’s yet more money – on top of the £21million of handouts – for bureaucrats in the Town Hall. 

The irony here is that, alongside the job publicising how good Sandwell Council is at spending taxpayers money on benefits, they advertise for a ‘Welfare Rights and Anti-Poverty Manager’.  I don’t know about you but by making dependency sound attractive, Sandwell Council is creating the problem rather than working to cure it.

In all the weeks I’ve been searching for local government non-jobs, this is truly the most unbelievable job promoting dependency on the state.  So please do write to the Sandwell local papers objecting to this obscene waste of money from Sandwell Council:

Letters Editor
The Express & Star
51-53 Queen Street,
Wolverhampton,
WV1 1ES,
United Kingdom
Email: letters@expressandstar.co.uk

Letters Editor
The Black Country Bugle
Bugle House,
41 High Street,
Cradley Heath,
B64 5HL,
United Kingdom
Email:  editor@blackcountrybugle.co.uk

Non-job of the week

Our non-job of the week is yet again another politically correct post in local government the British people could easily