Examples of waste in public sector?

[Hammy02]

I started a 3 month temp contract and they put me on a 2 day induction course. I didn't need to know the minutae of the organisation for a 3 month contract.
Had to fill out a form to get a book of stamps.
Had to fill out a form to get space in Outlook increased. No-one was EVER turned down for this so what was the point in the form?!

I think that there is a huge amount of waste but not always caused by employees.At least two thirds of 999 calls do not need an ambulance and each call out costs over £200. Perhaps some more education is needed.

I have worked in both public and private sectors.
Frontline staff in the public sector are not particularly well remunerated and work hard for few if no perks. In my experience, there is understaffing and plenty of stress there too.

The issue I have is with better paid public sector staff, 2 examples here from friends

1. Works in a non classroom based education support unit. All staff there on 35k per year plus, boss on 50k, leaving at 2pm each day, supposed to be full time job. She is in line fot a very generous pension and apparently has another cosy little number lined up for when she does retire.

2. Friend working for Quango. Endless meetings, team building exercises etc and plenty of people on long term sick leave. They get one year paid sick leave.

In my job now, I get 4 months sick leave maximum and all leave is monitored and questioned. Pension better than some, but nothing like Public sector and my job is not well paid. My choice though.

I buy my own pens and stationary because the stuff we're provided with is useless.
There was no soap in the toilets for over a week despite endless emails being sent about it
We rarely take lunch breaks.
Sick or annual leave means you have to catch up on all the time you have missed when you return.

We have offices bang in the middle of town, where parking costs a fortune. Our building literally pisses money; it was so cold over winter I wore a woolly hat whenever I was in the office, despite radiators and additional heaters on full blast. In summer fans are on constantly.

In contrast our central office was built at the start of the recession at huuuuge cost, and also pisses money as the heating is fixed for the entire building and is hot enough to keep reception warm Yes, it's a nice building but we would all have preferred to keep the valuable, knowledgable and skilled people we are losing.

Also there is a lot of taxpayers money wasted on attempted home visits (planned) where you are not let in the door.

No team building days out for us.

We'd be much more efficient if we had cheaper, more energy efficient premises out of town with parking included; if we could choose the stationary we need; if clients did not forget we were visiting, or had the confidence to let us in and work with us.

onceamai I bought politics into it??? How utterly deluded are you dear if you think that the constant public sector bashing in the gutter press isn't Politically driven.

Sadly, Politics is in it whether or not you are savvy enough to realise it.

And for the record disagree with me 'til the cows come home...

Xenia, you sound like a very nice person. I hope you attend our service one day and we are able to provide you with a professional, individual and effective service.

Yes, it can be better for the nation and individuals to cut back the frontiers of the state. I can be the more caring choice.

local hospital has redesigned their what they call 'concourse' about 20 times in the last decade.

the best one was the time they had another new carpet laid and then immediately ripped it up and binned it and laid another because it was "the wrong shade of blue"

The concourse looks like the entrance to a five star hotel.

they are shutting wards, they don't have enough staff and the place is so filty it has GOT to be a hazard, but by heck they have a cracking foyer.

Last time I was there, they appeared to be doing yet more work to it.

Personally, I'd be happier if they had more than one cleaner between two wards.

xenia evidence please.

If we want good budgeting and accountability in the public sector, we need to pay MORE not less for public service positions. We need to get away from this idea that civil servants and managers should be paid peanuts just because they are at the taxpayer's expense. We want the BEST people in public service, not the leftovers that the private sector didn't want.

Was right in the beginning to point out that waste is just as bad in the private sector; this is an inherent risk in large bureaucratic organisations, you can only minimise that risk by getting the best people in. And instilling them with pride in what they do.

...and while we are talking about waste in the public sector I am assumong those of you shouting loudest have NEVER missed a hospital/doctor's appointment without cancelling. Our local GP had 140 missed appointments last month.

Dilly our GP surgery had 130 odd missed appts last week! The money wasted is enough to pay for a locum for a week

But when people want a public service, it is supposed to be there and be excellent. But when they personally don't want or use a service then it is a waste of money and/or badly run.

Go figure.

Oh Taz, in our service the DNA's are our fault, according to management. Of course.

I work in the public sector, and though we are self financing (away from our parent company), the waste is immense.

we were just reading the 'claimable expenses' this week: £5 per day on coffee, £30 on an evening meal, £12 on lunch.

Now I am out of the office most days and could claim this, but I would't dream of it. The senior management team, however, probably claim for duck moat cleaning.

first class travel where a journey is considered too arduous to sit in economy. Regular away days to cities around the UK, nearly all transport is by air, which is not actually quicker when you account for check in times etc,.

My manager has been heard to say she is planning a spot if sightseeing with her husband(!) from the double room paid for by the orgainsation for her (pointless) training exercise.

I have a blackberry and a supersmart laptop. but I do need them for my job.

senior manager often organises catering for visitors and meetings without confirming in advance that visitors intend on staying for lunch, so regularly we get free lunches as food is ordered unnecessarily.

Woodchuck that's unbelievable in this day and age.

We are not allowed to order food or refreshments for meetings - so if, for example, I have people coming from outside to a meeting I provide my own coffee, tea, milk and sugar or I can't even offer them a drink.

First class travel was only allowed for staff above a certain grade, and whilst it is still part of their contractual terms and conditions - they have now been told they must travel standard. The grades that could travel first class, are not allowed to claim any overtime and don't automatically get TOIL when they work over contracted hours. That still stands of course!

We can claim just of £6 for lunch if we are travelling and have to be out for over a certain number of hours, everything has to have a receipt or we can't claim it.

Woodchuck - first class? Are you sure it's not business?

When people spend their lives flying to and from meetings then I think they deserve to fly business. Everything else you talk about is horrific waste.. £12 on lunch? wtf?

tazmosis - like you we have to provide our own tea or coffee for people coming to a meeting. But worse, we now cannot claim any expenses at all if we are working within our organisation's area. Bearing in mind it can take 4 to 5 hours to travel from one extreme of the area to the other it seems a little churlish to refuse to pay something towards either breakfast or dinner given the potential length of someone's day. Packed lunch, fine, but better remember that cool bag. And what if you are invited for an important lunch meeting by private sector colleagues who are on expenses?

Oh, you can still claim for the above things if you are staying overnight. Cue many trips that would have been done in the day now being taken over two.

Somebody said earlier in the thread that the public sector is very good at exploiting its staff and that is so true. Staff are routinely subsidising the petrol costs for essential journeys as the rate is still 11p a mile - anyone thought of that? Staff doing the long trips mentioned above cannot claim more than 2 flexi hours on their normal working day. Needless to say there is no paid overtime under any circumstances, ever.

Funny how people conveniently forget the other side of the coin when engaged in public sector bashing.

Jareth, I'm not sure what you're saying?

Essential car users and those using hire cars are on 11p per mile. That doesn't cover the petrol.

The standard IR rate is 40p per mile, payable to everyone public or private sector.

Everyone else I mean, the casual users. Although I think it's all changing, but nevertheless the essential users have been subsidising their own mileage costs for years now.

woodchuck where in the hell do you work and can I come too. We buy our own tea and coffee and I have never travelled anywhere for work/study days which wasn't funded at the lowest possible rate they could get.

Blimey! Im a Uni lecturer and have to buy all my own resources - pens, whiteboard stuff, pen drives, flip chart paper. No coffee is provided and they dont even pay for you to go to a conference even if you are presenting.

Mileage has always been a bug bear of mine. I went for years getting "public transport rate" for mileage so basically I was subbing them. It didn't even begin to cover the petrol costs. It changed a few years ago and we started to get a better rate but currently as a lease car holder I get 11p a mile. If I could afford my own car I'd probably be better off but I can't. This is the best way for me but my petrol costs are not covered - no way.

and I worked without my own work computer for 2 years and still have no printer 3 years into the job!

i am a nurse in the nhs [ qualified 15 years ago] a few months ago i had go on injection training i have probably given thousands of injections throughout my career but the powers that be deceided we all needed more training if i cant give an injection now i probably shouldnt be doing the job most waste in the nhs [ cant speak for the rest of public sector] is wasted on vast amounts of paperwork and far to many managers its the nhs bosses that need cutting back on and far more spent on patient care