Staff At Nuclear Decommissioning Quango Paid £5M In Bonuses

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jul/16/nuclear-energy-quango-bonuses

Bonuses at taxpayer-funded quango the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority rose by almost a third last year even though it faces a £4bn budget shortfall by 2015.

Staff were awarded £5m, according to an answer to a Freedom of Information request tabled by the Guardian, compared with just under £3.8m the previous year. The NDA, which employs about 300 people, will publish its annual report by the end of the month when it will outline how much it paid to directors for the last financial year. The TaxPayers' Alliance said that the pay-outs would be hard to justify at a time of public sector spending cuts.

The NDA's chairman Stephen Henwood recently admitted there were "shortcomings" in the way the bonus scheme worked, and it has since been tightened up. He has also promised to cut a third of its staff and its £800m annual running costs by a fifth within three years. Staff costs went up by over 40% in two years, according to the NDA's most recent published annual reports.

A spokesman for the NDA said that senior managers received between £15,000 and £20,000 in bonuses last year and that the average bonus was about £12,000. According to its annual report, executive directors were awarded £65,000 each.

The NDA is responsible for decommissioning the UK's old reactors, estimated at costing £73bn. It is supposed to fund about half its annual clean-up budget through its commercial activities, such as operating the remaining Magnox reactors and reprocessing spent fuel. The rest is paid for by the taxpayer, via the energy department. But recently, lower income and higher decommissioning costs mean funding the NDA takes up two thirds of the energy department's annual budget.

During the year corresponding to last year's pay-outs – 2008/2009 – the NDA increased its income by over £500m largely as a result of higher electricity prices. It also said that it achieved £183m of efficiency savings. An NDA spokesman said: "In order to attract and retain the calibre of people necessary to deliver the NDA's required performance, NDA staff have the contractual opportunity to achieve an annual bonus dependent on the achievement of strict performance targets."

Excellent so to keep people who managed to lower incomes and increase costs we pay them more money. This performance clearly deserves to be rewarded with higher pay.

[@contradevian]

http://www.guardian....-quango-bonuses

Excellent so to keep people who managed to lower incomes and increase costs we pay them more money. This performance clearly deserves to be rewarded with higher pay.

So they are claiming lower income and "higher decommissioning costs" but still paying higher bonus's. It must be because they are worth it.

[talksalot81]

This is an interesting one. I attempted to get involved with these guys. Unfortunately, like so many others, their demands are quite significant. As a result, I actually hadn't got a prayer inspite of having as good a scientific background as could be hoped for. Anyhow, my point is that, assuming the people they do eventually employ meet their strict criteria - the pool from which they are selecting is absolutely tiny and it is absolutely unsurprising if their costs were massive because those they employ are sought after all around the world.

My old rant, I know, but this is yet another example of non-joined up thinking. Instead of the silly requirements that require large money, why not pay half as much and train someone? At the moment, this is the biggest challenge to nuclear. There is a very narrow entry route in the UK so a lot of good people will never have a chance.

[interestrateripoff]

This is an interesting one. I attempted to get involved with these guys. Unfortunately, like so many others, their demands are quite significant. As a result, I actually hadn't got a prayer inspite of having as good a scientific background as could be hoped for. Anyhow, my point is that, assuming the people they do eventually employ meet their strict criteria - the pool from which they are selecting is absolutely tiny and it is absolutely unsurprising if their costs were massive because those they employ are sought after all around the world.

My old rant, I know, but this is yet another example of non-joined up thinking. Instead of the silly requirements that require large money, why not pay half as much and train someone? At the moment, this is the biggest challenge to nuclear. There is a very narrow entry route in the UK so a lot of good people will never have a chance.

Yes but if you lower the entry requirements you enlarge the pool meaning you can be paid less, barriers to entry ensure the club remains elite and the wages remain high.

Works well in the boom.

[@contradevian]

This is an interesting one. I attempted to get involved with these guys. Unfortunately, like so many others, their demands are quite significant. As a result, I actually hadn't got a prayer inspite of having as good a scientific background as could be hoped for. Anyhow, my point is that, assuming the people they do eventually employ meet their strict criteria - the pool from which they are selecting is absolutely tiny and it is absolutely unsurprising if their costs were massive because those they employ are sought after all around the world.

My old rant, I know, but this is yet another example of non-joined up thinking. Instead of the silly requirements that require large money, why not pay half as much and train someone? At the moment, this is the biggest challenge to nuclear. There is a very narrow entry route in the UK so a lot of good people will never have a chance.

They clearly need to incentivise their training programme.

[Cogs]

This is an interesting one. I attempted to get involved with these guys. Unfortunately, like so many others, their demands are quite significant. As a result, I actually hadn't got a prayer inspite of having as good a scientific background as could be hoped for. Anyhow, my point is that, assuming the people they do eventually employ meet their strict criteria - the pool from which they are selecting is absolutely tiny and it is absolutely unsurprising if their costs were massive because those they employ are sought after all around the world.

My old rant, I know, but this is yet another example of non-joined up thinking. Instead of the silly requirements that require large money, why not pay half as much and train someone? At the moment, this is the biggest challenge to nuclear. There is a very narrow entry route in the UK so a lot of good people will never have a chance.

You're quite right but over the last 50 years we've seen a move from the firm being responsible for training, to the state being responsible for training and now to the individual being responsible for training. The problem with the scenario you describe, which I'd like to see as well, is they'd be off to do consultancy after three years and not repay the costs of training. Joined up thinking would be not to pay expensive consultants several times what you pay your own workers but thats obviously far to complicated for the prior or current government to grasp. Anyhow, considered the nuclear inspection lot? I got an approach from them a couple of years back. Pays quite well but its a fairly tough job, not really suitable for anyone with a family because its all travel and living out of a suitcase.

[SarahBell]

Indeed. I'd say a small number of staff could be ensuring their wages don't get diluted.

it's not rocket science is it?

It's not like they don't have huge numbers of set rules to follow so should be able to train anyone up within a couple of months tops.

[19 year mortgage 8itch]

Anyhow, considered the nuclear inspection lot? I got an approach from them a couple of years back. Pays quite well but its a fairly tough job, not really suitable for anyone with a family because its all travel and living out of a suitcase.

Why would you bother other than some mis-placed sense of duty. You can find far easier work in the field, for more money, in a single place, close to civilisation.

[Bloo Loo]

so you need a degree now to know that radiation is dangerous, and handling radioactive things needs a great deal of care.

Im sure systems have been developed years ago.

What are these "brains" doing all day for their £4000 per week?