Tax Abuser Of The Week

[dog]

Tax abuser of the week

Director of Children's Services

LEEDS CITY COUNCIL

Yorkshire & Humberside

£135k plus benefits

You will provide the leadership needed to focus children's services into a more holistic, child-centric service provision. You will have the influence to shape structures, implement new models of working, forge lasting partnerships.

Mass tax abuser of the week

Job 1. Director of Resources (£120k)

Job 2. Director of Communities (£120k)

Job 3. Director of Development (£120k)

Lincolnshire County Council

Most useless job of the week

HEAD OF COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP

WORCESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Worcestershire

£66,036 - £71,369

Within our community there are many voices, concerns, fears, and demands, all of which need to be heard and responded to.

Other tax abusers

Chief Executive

Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust

North London

Circa £110,000 p.a.

You will lead the organisation and help it overcome the challenges it, along with all similar organisations, is facing. A robust understanding of mental health is required, together with insight into broader health and social care issues.

Executive Director of Children's Services

Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council

Greater Manchester

c. £100,000

You will join a corporate management team that is proud to be part of the transformation of Oldham and you will help challenge some of the perceptions of Oldham.

Deputy Chief Executive

Calderdale Council, Yorkshire & Humberside

c. £100,000

We have a good record of continuous improvement and you will continue to develop our approach in order that we meet the constantly changing challenges of the twenty-first century.

Head of Education

Fife Council, East Scotland

£97K

You will be a senior manager whose career and track record demonstrates a proven ability to operate as the Head of Education managing a budget of £236m and over 6,500 employees in Scotland's third largest Council.

[Guest Bart of Darkness]

Within our community there are many voices, concerns, fears, and demands, all of which need to be heard and responded to.

As long as they are asking for the things the council want to give them?

And which the council finds politically acceptable and "correct"?

[unlikelyevents]

As long as they are asking for the things the council want to give them?

And which the council finds politically acceptable and "correct"?

[CrashCrash]

Tax abuser of the week

Director of Children's Services

LEEDS CITY COUNCIL

Yorkshire & Humberside

£135k plus benefits

You will provide the leadership needed to focus children's services into a more holistic, child-centric service provision. You will have the influence to shape structures, implement new models of working, forge lasting partnerships.

Mass tax abuser of the week

Job 1. Director of Resources (£120k)

Job 2. Director of Communities (£120k)

Job 3. Director of Development (£120k)

Lincolnshire County Council

Most useless job of the week

HEAD OF COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP

WORCESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Worcestershire

£66,036 - £71,369

Within our community there are many voices, concerns, fears, and demands, all of which need to be heard and responded to.

Other tax abusers

Chief Executive

Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust

North London

Circa £110,000 p.a.

You will lead the organisation and help it overcome the challenges it, along with all similar organisations, is facing. A robust understanding of mental health is required, together with insight into broader health and social care issues.

Executive Director of Children's Services

Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council

Greater Manchester

c. £100,000

You will join a corporate management team that is proud to be part of the transformation of Oldham and you will help challenge some of the perceptions of Oldham.

Deputy Chief Executive

Calderdale Council, Yorkshire & Humberside

c. £100,000

We have a good record of continuous improvement and you will continue to develop our approach in order that we meet the constantly changing challenges of the twenty-first century.

Head of Education

Fife Council, East Scotland

£97K

You will be a senior manager whose career and track record demonstrates a proven ability to operate as the Head of Education managing a budget of £236m and over 6,500 employees in Scotland's third largest Council.

Where do yuo get these from ? I want to apply

[Guest Charlie The Tramp]

Tax abuser of the week

Director of Children's Services

LEEDS CITY COUNCIL

Yorkshire & Humberside

£135k plus benefits

You will provide the leadership needed to focus children's services into a more holistic, child-centric service provision. You will have the influence to shape structures, implement new models of working, forge lasting partnerships.

Be fair!

It must be a very responsible job, is not the salary more than the PM`s basic.

[dog]

Be fair! It must be a very responsible job, is not the salary more than the PM`s basic.

What responsibility? When did one of these people get prosecuted or sacked for failing in their duties?

It is the job of parents to look after children, not the government.

[murpaul]

Be fair!

I note the hint of irony in your post. Question, is working for children social services a pleasant job? I mean, dealing with the fallout of abusive parents, drug & alcohol abusing parents, children who have been abused and neglected. Children who have been raped, prostituted? I couldnt do it, it would break me.

And managing the people who do this very necessary and difficult work, do you think they have a cushy number? Slogging your guts out in under resourced, over worked conditions, and if you make a mistake then its media villifaction and of course the fact that children can and do end up dead as a result of your mistake.

In comparision, managing a business is a cake walk. If you f@ck up there all that happens is that the shareholders lose out or some people lose their jobs, serious but not life or death like it is for social services. The stress alone would be too much for me. While the salary stated does seem a lot, compared to the salary for managers in the private sector its not usual.

Every week I see these posts, and every week I think you havnt got a clue. You've never seen the work these people do, you've never put yourself in the position of people who work with the most vulnernable people in society. I know social workers and can tell you its not nice , its not a cushy number. When you have been down to your local social services and seen the sh1t they have to deal with then you have a right to criticise.

So yes, be fair before you start spouting off rubbish that you know nothing about.

Edited October 21, 2005 by murpaul

[zorn]

It is the job of parents to look after children, not the government.

So what should be done when parents are incapable of looking after their children properly?

[ThePiltdownMan]

I note the hint of irony in your post. Question, is working for children social services a pleasant job? I mean, dealing with the fallout of abusive parents, drug & alcohol abusing parents, children who have been abused and neglected. Children who have been raped, prostituted? I couldnt do it, it would break me.

And managing the people who do this very necessary and difficult work, do you think they have a cushy number? Slogging your guts out in under resourced, over worked conditions, and if you make a mistake then its media villifaction and of course the fact that children can and do end up dead as a result of your mistake.

In comparision, managing a business is a cake walk. If you f@ck up there all that happens is that the shareholders lose out or some people lose their jobs, serious but not life or death like it is for social services. The stress alone would be too much for me. While the salary stated does seem a lot, compared to the salary for managers in the private sector its not usual.

Every week I see these posts, and every week I think you havnt got a clue. You've never seen the work these people do, you've never put yourself in the position of people who work with the most vulnernable people in society. I know social workers and can tell you its not nice , its not a cushy number. When you have been down to your local social services and seen the sh1t they have to deal with then you have a right to criticise.

So yes, be fair before you start spouting off rubbish that you know nothing about.

You are right. All that stress and at the end of the month there's only 8000 pounds in the bank. What an awful life it must be.

[bpw]

The salaries make me think of Orwell's Animal Farm!

Face it. The public sector under Labour has grown into a gargantuan hog with fuzzy value and quango organisations. No wonder taxes are sky high. Still there must always be high paid jobs for graduates from esteemed institutions like Oxford Brooks. People at the forefront of creating wealth and happiness and who deserve final salary pensions.

[Guest Charlie The Tramp]

So yes, be fair before you start spouting off rubbish that you know nothing about.

Yes I was being slightly ironic towards the job and salary.

Well I have more respect for the ground troops who do the dirty work for a pittance.

Who are you to tell me I know nothing about it, and my spouting rubbish, how do you know my personal experiences in such matters.

I had to deal with it for five years before events turned the corner for the good.

[erranta]

Do you lot know that Trevor Mcdonald's 'Tonight' show is looking for precisely this sort of information for a show next week on Council Tax abuses!!

Perhaps Charlie/a mod would be kind enough to collate the similar HPC Tax Abuser of the week threads and send them off to his site.

Sorry dunno the web address for emailing to

Must be a bit of publicity in it too??

[dog]

mupaul

A little less of the dramatics please. The 'Director of Children's Services' is not a social worker and if there is enough to pay a him (a middle manager) £135K, this suggests that there are ample resouces. It also suggests that the resources are being missued.

Don't get me wrong, I am not anti social workers. I just think that children would be safer if the government had more respect for family life and stopped trying to control everyone. Adults are being conditioned to behave like children and are becoming less responsible as the government takes more and more control.

Two parents are better than one and regular visits from grandparents is even better. The government has done much to undermine the virtues of family life with their obsession with political correctness and such tripe as 'inclusivity'.

[2005]

mupaul

A little less of the dramatics please. The 'Director of Children's Services' is not a social worker and if there is enough to pay a him (a middle manager) £135K, this suggests that there are ample resouces. It also suggests that the resources are being missued.

Don't get me wrong, I am not anti social workers. I just think that children would be safer if the government had more respect for family life and stopped trying to control everyone. Adults are being conditioned to behave like children and are becoming less responsible as the government takes more and more control.

Two parents are better than one and regular visits from grandparents is even better. The government has done much to undermine the virtues of family life with their obsession with political correctness and such tripe as 'inclusivity'.

I fully agree.

Part of the problems we face today with youth violence/behaviour etc is because parents are no longer allowed to parent...and they have forgotten how.

[Guest]

You will join a corporate management team that is proud to be part of the transformation of Oldham and you will help challenge some of the perceptions of Oldham.

This reminds me of when Stockport got a tourism official!

[Loftus Road]

Cracking film Groundhog Day.

[Guest Bart of Darkness]

And managing the people who do this very necessary and difficult work, do you think they have a cushy number?

The people who do the work? No.

The hugely overpaid manager in an office far, far from the "front line". Yes.

The average HPC poster is closer to the front line that this guy will be. We have to face the fall-out from 40 years of misguided "social engineering".

Do you really think someone on this kind of money will live in the inner-city. From comfy suberbia to comfy office via comfy car.

It's a hard life isn't it?

[Guest struthitsruth]

The government has done much to undermine the virtues of family life with their obsession with political correctness and such tripe as 'inclusivity'.

Well said that dog !

My sister-in-law regularly fosters young children on a short term basis, and she says that her biggest headache is dealing with their social worker who is disorganised, incompetent and unreliable. She finds it extremely frustrating trying to carry out liaison and contact arrangements with the social worker, and has complained to the social worker's boss. The response she got was "Try not to give her a hard time, she's finding it difficult enough as it is. . . ."

Now doesn't that sound like effective management ?

Edited October 21, 2005 by struthitsruth

[Elizabeth]

What responsibility? When did one of these people get prosecuted or sacked for failing in their duties?

I do get a bit fed up with all these people thinking people working in the public sector should be working for rice and beans and love. Ever since the Climbie Report the higher ups on the food chain have been on their toes a bit more (the director of whatever council it was at the time described himself as strategic, but couldn't identify anyone who was actually directing) but then there was that case in Hackney not so long ago... hmmm... must not take it personally, must not take it personally!

[Loftus Road]

Elizabeth - you're wasting your breath with these people.............

[Matt]

How can someone on 135,000 understand what a child is going through who lives in a grotty council house, mum passed out on a sofa etc etc..?

[Guest Bart of Darkness]

Tony Blair gets around £179,000 a year, a £50,000 increase on his salary in 2001.

So this £135,000 job pays more than what the PM was getting only a few years ago.

The Prime Minister for fecks sake!

Surely ruining running the country is a tad more responsible than some tin-pot council position?

No one is suggesting that public sector workers work for peanuts. But are the salaries of the people this person will oversee in line with this position? Or is it a case of fat-cat managers and underpaid drones?

This goes on in the private sector to be sure, but they don't get their finances through taxation.

Maybe we should just sit back like good little sheeple and not make a fuss.

[dog]

I do get a bit fed up with all these people thinking people working in the public sector should be working for rice and beans and love. Ever since the Climbie Report the higher ups on the food chain have been on their toes a bit more (the director of whatever council it was at the time described himself as strategic, but couldn't identify anyone who was actually directing) but then there was that case in Hackney not so long ago... hmmm... must not take it personally, must not take it personally!

£135K for a middle manager is far too much which ever way you want to look at it. In the private sector, a job with that level of responsibility would be paid no more than £30 or 40K.

Generally speaking, public servants are better paid than the private sector, they have better pension schemes and nearly half retire before 60 (and the rest are gone by 60). They enjoy generous holidays and perks. They treat sick leave like normal leave entitlement and they rarely work past 3:30 in the afternoon. Sacking or demotion is almost unheard of in the public services.

With such generous employment terms, the public might expect a decent standard of service. Sadly, the opposite is true and we have low calibre managers wasting taxes and filling their boots with money. So much money is wasted by middle management, that corners have to be cut at the sharp end. That is why we have socially indaquate social workers. It is also why we have to deplete third world countries of nurses.

[Beans-on-Toast Britain]

There's a good leader in the Sunday Times on public sector perks. It really is a case of a buy (bribe) now/pay later. They'll be some very painfull decisions over the next couple of decades when the Nation is too broke to honour the pension pledges.

Ask any businessman about this government and the response is: “They just don’t get it.” They don’t get it that maintaining public sector pension privileges at a time when the private sector is having to adjust painfully tilts the balance against enterprise. Private firms are being crowded out of the job market by public sector pensions, perks and salaries. The old bargain, that public servants accepted lower pay in return for secure pensions, no longer applies. Median pay in the public sector is 11% higher than in the private sector.

[Civil Servant]

£135K for a middle manager is far too much which ever way you want to look at it. In the private sector, a job with that level of responsibility would be paid no more than £30 or 40K.

Generally speaking, public servants are better paid than the private sector, they have better pension schemes and nearly half retire before 60 (and the rest are gone by 60). They enjoy generous holidays and perks. They treat sick leave like normal leave entitlement and they rarely work past 3:30 in the afternoon. Sacking or demotion is almost unheard of in the public services.

With such generous employment terms, the public might expect a decent standard of service. Sadly, the opposite is true and we have low calibre managers wasting taxes and filling their boots with money. So much money is wasted by middle management, that corners have to be cut at the sharp end. That is why we have socially indaquate social workers. It is also why we have to deplete third world countries of nurses.

Dog,

Thank you for this illuminating expose of public sector life in the UK.

CS

P.S. By the way, can you tell me where you are describing in such knowledgeable terms? It sounds like I should get a transfer to the place you've such experience of and where middle managers get 135K for working till 3.30. Where I work, people with degrees work for 14,500 in Central London, usually till from 0830 till about 1900, often later, and senior management start on about 51,000. The folk on 14,500 with degrees get a little bit fed up that Starbucks pay considerably more than that for barristas at their coffee shops, but they'll be reassured to read your post and know that riches await them.