To want to sink to my knees and cry?

[tessofthedurbervilles]

When my baby is born I would be better off not working than returning to my well paid respectable job....that is just the most stupid thing ever. All I want to do is pay my way but the system is making it easier to live on handouts.....

A huge retention factor for me is the pension and sick leave set up, otherwise I would not entertain the notion of being in the public sector for a moment, because it can be limiting professionally.

Xenia, one big issue is that a lot of jobs in the public sector have become casualised over the last ten years, which was supposed to increase flexibility and save money, but which has actually ended up costing the tax payer a fortune via expensive agency rates, working tax credit, etc, so that is something I'd like to see scrutinised more closely in future.

BTW about a third of our income in my industry is privately generated now anyway, through doing high level research for the private sector, so we are not a total drain. Another third supports the charitable sector (much lower overheads) so we are not too bad at paying our way in societal terms either - that might be research that looks at employment policy, for example. We also make a fair bit of dosh out of overseas students and offering pre-university courses to the wealthy Chinese. We're pretty canny.

I think Xenia would be quite shocked if she saw what sort of shoestrings we operate on when doing the public sector work, to keep costs down. I am talking near-Ryanair standards of meanness sometimes!!

I agree Boffin!

Having worked in both private and public sectors, the reality is that there are good and bad about both.

I am shocked by some of the waste of funds in some aspects of the public sector, but equally have been shocked by the lack of professionalism in some aspects of private.

I also agree that the pension is a big factor in keeping me in public sector atm. I'm shocked at some of my intelligent high earning friends who havent given a moment's thought to what they are going to live on once they stop working!

There are benefits to the public sector - as long as the government delivers!! I can very easily see a day when my pension doesn't look quite as rosy as it did when I started it.

Like the fact it's final salary. That sounds perfect - but if you look at the mainly female work force, most of us are full time in the early years and then hours reduce over the years with kids etc. Plus many in late 50's early 60's would struggle to do my kind of job full time, they tell me themselves so this isn't a sweeping ageist comment. Clearly it's not accross the board.

So my final salary pension will be based on fewer hours. Pay is fairly capped within roles and so infact - I'd probably be better with an average over the years not final salary.

Well my father worked to 77 full time and died at 79 so I've a fairly dim view of pensions and had put all his spare money into pensions.

Yes contracting out can be expensive for the state - nurses charged out at £110 an hour who keep half that and the agency (the clever nurse who set up the business to provide the nurses or whoever) keeps the other half.

Sorry to hear that Xenia.

It is a lottery though. My grandfather worked for a big Swiss company from 1945 when he came back from the war until 1977, so paid in 32 years, and then proceeded to live until 2005, so collected a handsome pension for 28 years. Now that's what I call an investment ...