Non-job of the week
When Windsor and Maidenhead Council installed smart meter in council buildings, energy consumption fell by 15% overnight. Surrey County Council did not go down this route, and instead decided to employ...
View ArticleOutgoing BBC boss gets an eye-watering reward for failure
The news that outgoing BBC Director General George Entwistle is to pocket a whopping £450,000 pay-out will shock and appal taxpayers everywhere. Mr Entwistle was in his job for just 54 days, meaning...
View ArticleNon-job of the week
Lambeth Borough Council is becoming the country’s first co-operative council. As part of this change, it appears more staff are being hired, although with the following example, priority will be given...
View ArticleToo much taxpayers’ cash is still spent on publicity
The London Evening Standard reported last week that councils in the capital spent £23 million on publicity last year, including advertising and publishing free newspapers. Tower Hamlets spent £3.2...
View ArticleNon-job of the week
Councils wasting our money isn’t anything new, but they do keep finding new and imaginative ways of doing so. And they don’t come more imaginative than this new role at Northgate High School in...
View ArticleYork action day
TPA activists are on the streets of York today to protest about the propsed Council Tax hike in the city. Here are a few snaps from the day so far.
View ArticleNon-job of the week
The NHS Commissioning Service in Leeds has a range of opportunities on offer that are supposedly designed to make the patient experience better. Whether this will mean Mrs Jones gets her hip operation...
View ArticleAre Police and Crime Commissioners appointing friends to non-jobs?
Some Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) are in the news this week, however it’s not for their crime fighting plans. In a report in the Mail on Sunday, 16 out of 41 PCCs have said they will appoint...
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More rows as some PCCs appoint friends as deputies
Since writing about Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) appointing friends to well remunerated jobs last week, the press has been full of reports about more PCCs appointing deputies and assistants. In...
View ArticleHello: Will somebody answer the phone?
The fact that taxpayers are facing a bill of £126 million a year because of the inability of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officials to answer the phone is totally ludicrous. Last year a...
View ArticleNon-job of the week
Rochdale Council recently announced its intention to increase Council Tax by 3.5%, however using a loophole in the Localism Act, it intends to deny residents a say in a local referendum. Rochdale may...
View ArticleNon-job of the week
Lambeth Borough Council is looking for a Senior Policy Equalities and Performance Officer, paying £40506 – £43152 per annum. Once again the council says ‘this is a key role supporting Lambeth’s...
View ArticleDWP is helping to burden the taxpayer and business
Small business owners believe it’s crucial to get the right mix of individuals with the skills needed to develop and expand a business. With a lot of small businesses starting to see some shoots of...
View ArticleDisastrous airport site receives even more taxpayers’ money
The failed Sheffield City Airport is to be redeveloped with a £1.8 million taxpayer-funded loan. This comes despite current owners having being allowed to purchase the £18 million site for £1. The...
View ArticleBPA using taxpayers’ money to lobby for higher parking charges
Calls for a rise in the maximum parking fine have been supported by the British Parking Association (BPA), which draws much of its funding from local authorities. The BPA is a membership based industry...
View ArticleNAO report on NHS waste
A new report from the National Audit Office shows that the NHS has spent an eye-watering £435 million in redundancy payments as a result of the Health and Social Care Act which came into force April of...
View ArticleTaxpayers deserve a better deal from contractors
After the Olympic security debacle the security firm G4S, along with others, has further failed taxpayers by charging for criminal monitoring services they were not actively providing. G4S and Serco...
View ArticleIPSA has compromised public trust and lost all moral authority to safeguard...
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) – the body charged with administering expenses for MPs and their staff – has surpassed itself in what appears to be an effort to lose any...
View ArticleThousands wasted on luxury perks – but Leeds Council won’t investigate
Lurene Joseph is the chief executive of Leeds and Partners, a Leeds City Council funded investment initiative. Despite the Council having to reduce its expenditure by ten of millions of pounds, Ms...
View ArticleFiReControl centres continue to cost taxpayers dear
Despite being scrapped in 2010, the FiReControl project to establish nine regional fire control centres continues to be a millstone around taxpayers’ necks. The Public Accounts Committee report...
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