To wonder how public services will looks like in 5-10 years time?

[Dancingwithcrutches]

Just musing really. The public sector has been bearing the brunt of the cuts for years now without any signs of let up. Teachers are leaving, ditto healthcare staff and whatever remains of the police force may be facing compulsory severence in the future.

But the thing is the public need these services, so I wonder what form will it take a few years down the line. Will schools have corporate sponsors in return of advertising? Privatisation is already happening in the NHS, I expect that free healthcare at the point of use will not exist within a decade.

Am exhausted but can't sleep so apologies if I'm not making sense .

www.standard.co.uk/news/london/downton-abbey-star-jim-carter-leads-campaign-against-ridiculous-housing-regeneration-plans-in-west-a3085636.html

ShowofHands
The rest of your post made it abundantly clear that he's a Police officer.

Please find me the link that shows ANY unfunded scheme with contributions greater than liabilities

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/398743/Police_pension_schemes_2012_valuation_report_Final_111214__revised_.pdf
Page 9
The taxpayer pays in 25% of the Police Salary bill every year to cover the cost of pensions, even AFTER the money that officers pay in

and it will only get worse

The problem is with how many people take the piss out of public services. The NHS for example pays way over the odds for things like paper as plenty of back handers happen meaning the suppliers who get contracts massively inflate the prices. They do the same with the council and even with school kitchens. There has been times where the only f&v supplier I'm allowed to order from has cost £2 for one cucumber when they're selling them up the road in lidls for 25p.

Also people take the piss with the paid sick days. It's an absolute life line to me when I'm genuinely ill as I rely on my income but I've seen to many people have a bad back for two weeks or a convenient sick bug when they want to sort their Christmas shopping out.

The few bad apples ruin it for everyone.

What MrsD said. With bells on.

MrsD I don't agree with the spending cuts. It's an ideology not a need. However working where I work I see what goes on and if it can go on there it's probably going on everywhere.

Only a few years ago my council spent 8 million shutting down the little council offices and re modernising a big place to get it all in one. They are now shutting it down and moving even further away. What was the point in spending that 8 million!

My aunt works in a brand new hospital. She says it's been built like a private hospital and the nurses there believe it's been built to be able to sell off as private.

BrandNew
When I was a Public Sector auditor I always wondered why the public sector employed people that the private sector would not tolerate

then I grew up

and realised that paying somebody £20,000 to do £15,000 of work for a council works out a lot cheaper for the state than having them sat at home idle

• in benefits
• in health care
• in mental health support
• in support for their children

in fact its £5k rather well spent ....

we could of course leave such people to starve
I'm trying to rehome a friend who has a tendency to rough sleep in cemeteries
but a society is judged by how it treats the most vulnerable

Gideon Osborne has no comprehension or care

I see what your saying sort of tp But then I think of others mental health and their dc when they can't afford their council tax and rent.

But why should companies who get the contacts be able to profit by inflating prices up so much. There really is no need to charge £2 for a cucumber just because you can. It doesnt sound a lot but a 75% mark up for all council run kitchens f&v really adds up and wastes money.

The administration of what goes where and who gets what is grossly unfair and it won't be sorted out as the upper managers are happy creaming off the top.

If it could be sorted then services that desperately need the funding wouldn't be as hurt by the cuts and they will/have.

By the time labour get back in power they will have to invest so much money again like they did in the 90s.

but sadly Eric Pickles - for entirely personal vindictive reasons - had the Audit Commission abolished
rather than ramped up

Public sector procurement is a huge issue

• a committee of willing unpaid politicos
• versus commercially minded sharks

I play on both sides
and it scares me how unequal the process is

and when I have my public sector hat on, the private sector people's faces fall when I walk in the room as they know I'm a shark like them

BUT
I'm not on "secondment"

"in kind" and "secondment" are two of the most destructive and dangerous things in the public sector
but non monetary so not recognised

eg
the amount of staff in the treasury "on secondment" from accountancy firms
the amount of staff in DCLG "on secondment" from housebuilders
the amount of staff in the DWP "on secondment" from ASOS

start digging and start shouting ....

Yes, meh. I don't dispute that services for needy kids and the elderly are piss poor, nor do I burn kittens for fuel Equally I don't share other posters' conviction that the welfare state has been a roaring success or that the provision of ever more cash will eventually fix everything. I have seen endemic waste and corruption, poorly negotiated contracts drafted by 600 quid-an-hour lawyers, and poor employee performance is not managed. (Talking specifically about LA's here - who then "can't afford" to provide basic services). Root and branch reform is needed and some (not all) aspects of public services need the money tap to be turned off.

James Bartholemew is an interesting read on this subject, if anyone is interested in an alternative view