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AIBU?

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Unless Labour stand up to the public, we will never have functioning services

139 replies

Rainbowsponge · 06/07/2024 09:54

Which, obviously, will never happen.

Anybody who works in a public service - schools, NHS, any government department - will tell you the public have become more entitled, more aggressive, and are absolutely bombarding them with their rights to complain, have decisions double checked, have their case reviewed again, call meetings, and so on.

You only need to read on here the sort of minor incident a parent will then hop onto their emails and bombard their child’s teacher with messages about. It takes them 2 minutes to fire off an angry email, but this then sparks a chain of events which takes the teacher a long time (in addition to all their other work) to sort out and go through the relevant processes.

So, AIBU to think rather than throwing more money at bloating the systems, the government need to give people in public facing roles more powers to simply refuse to engage with trivial or irrelevant complaints?

It would also have the effect of allowing people to focus on their actual jobs and therefore reduce waiting lists, backlogs and so on. It feels like this culture of expecting instant and endless interaction from public servants is breaking the system as much as the underfunding.

OP posts:
Sendinsanity · 06/07/2024 10:17

QuotetheRaven · 06/07/2024 10:10

Cutting benefits so they only tip you up to minimum wage would be a start. People need to go to work, unless they are signed off with disability. The benefits bill is an absolute joke.

Services also need borrowing and huge investment. Say 10% of GDP to restore them.

Third, build build build to drive growth. The treasury has a study that shows unleashing house building will provide 3-4% growth.

Close the tax loopholes as well, cancel nondoms etc

It's all doable but I agree the government are just wet and won't do what's necessary

Your post shows how ignorant you are about benefits. The benefits system is brutal.

Sendinsanity · 06/07/2024 10:15

Clicked send too soon. We can only take on case work now when it is absolutely crisis point. If we were resourced and meeting our minimum standards we could probably resolve many issues with a meeting at the very start

Sendinsanity · 06/07/2024 10:14

I work in the public sector. We aren't meeting our minimum standards because we are grossly understaffed. That isn't the fault of the families we support, they are absolutely 100% right to complain. Ironically, the cost of not supporting them properly is far far far more expensive for the state. Perhaps if we could get the little things sorted it prevents problems escalating?

DeerOhDear · 06/07/2024 10:13

I wholeheartedly disagree.

We need complaints and parents to complain and be on the ball to improve systems.

We know our rights more, we can see what other people did to get an achievement.

Eg trying to get ehcp.

If a teacher is struggling to respond to one complaint that's on the teacher.
A great teacher with one complaint should understand its part and parcel of the job and they should be supported by their manager.

Obviously a teacher getting lots of complaints is a problem themselves.

Parents, keep vigilant and keep on top of what's going on and don't be afraid to advocate for your child.

QuotetheRaven · 06/07/2024 10:10

Cutting benefits so they only tip you up to minimum wage would be a start. People need to go to work, unless they are signed off with disability. The benefits bill is an absolute joke.

Services also need borrowing and huge investment. Say 10% of GDP to restore them.

Third, build build build to drive growth. The treasury has a study that shows unleashing house building will provide 3-4% growth.

Close the tax loopholes as well, cancel nondoms etc

It's all doable but I agree the government are just wet and won't do what's necessary

Bellsandthistle · 06/07/2024 10:10

Two things can be true at once. There are those who are complaining because a base level of service isn’t operating properly, and there is also a massive increase in those who feel entitled and are poorly behaved.

Rainbowsponge · 06/07/2024 10:10

Hoardasurass · 06/07/2024 10:06

If these services ditched all the dei crap and stuck to delivering their core duties and provide a decent level of service that doesn't come with a woke lecture or snearing contempt of the general public I suspect most complaints would disappear as we wouldn't need to complain just to get a basic level of service

The woke crap is in response to the complaints if anything.

OP posts:
ParrotPirouette · 06/07/2024 10:07

I’m a local government officer and I completely agree OP. However to coin a cliche I think it would be like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, it’s probably too late now and all we can do is manage expectations.

Hoardasurass · 06/07/2024 10:06

If these services ditched all the dei crap and stuck to delivering their core duties and provide a decent level of service that doesn't come with a woke lecture or snearing contempt of the general public I suspect most complaints would disappear as we wouldn't need to complain just to get a basic level of service

Rainbowsponge · 06/07/2024 10:05

Echobelly · 06/07/2024 10:04

Yes, if people are complaining excessively it's because the baseline service is underresourced, which is why people are so unhappy. I agree it's totally unfair that they often 'take it out' on people at the bottom of the chain, but as @Summerhillsquare said, if the services were better resourced in the first place, front-line workers wouldn't have to deal with so many unhappy people misplacing their anger.

But parents never used to email teachers because their child got into a minor scrap. They just didn’t. The expectation has massively increased.

OP posts:
Echobelly · 06/07/2024 10:04

Yes, if people are complaining excessively it's because the baseline service is underresourced, which is why people are so unhappy. I agree it's totally unfair that they often 'take it out' on people at the bottom of the chain, but as @Summerhillsquare said, if the services were better resourced in the first place, front-line workers wouldn't have to deal with so many unhappy people misplacing their anger.

LlynTegid · 06/07/2024 10:03

In some ways, I think Labour will be more supportive of those working in public services. Think of how Gavin Williamson treated teachers, for example and compare with what will happen.

Though agreeing with you about trivial complaints and the way some people are unreasonable in the way they complain.

Rainbowsponge · 06/07/2024 10:02

Summerhillsquare · 06/07/2024 10:01

I think the things you describe, the bad behaviour, Is a symptom not a cause though. Tackling underlying issues of demand, it public health, inequality, underfunding of services is the only thing that will really resolve it.

I don’t think it is. I think it’s smartphones (rather than snail mail you can just quickly fire off a message, and consult with others about how to ‘get the right result’ from the system), coupled with a general public entitlement that public services are literally there to give you what you want at any given second. That’s just my personal view though.

OP posts:
Summerhillsquare · 06/07/2024 10:01

I think the things you describe, the bad behaviour, Is a symptom not a cause though. Tackling underlying issues of demand, it public health, inequality, underfunding of services is the only thing that will really resolve it.

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