Big Society- How is it going to work?

[seekinginspiration]

I'm really confused. I do a bit of volunteering (two hours a week - but only when it fits in with other demands). I have to put paid work and family first so I need to earn some money. I think most mums and even some grannies are in this situation. How is it going to work?

Chil - I thought Bailey gave an interesting and very real perspective on what the Big Society could mean for deprived communities.

He's very keen on ownership transfer and (I think) giving these communities some autonomy.

Too many high profile people are big on talk (especially if it boosts their own status and egos) and little on follow through. Two decades after Live Aid we see little evidence of wholescale change in Africa as a result, whereas the introduction of microbusinesses via the mobile phone has had a much more interesting transformative effect.

As someone pointed out on a blog the other day, it would be nice to see politicians doing their bit for society and 'putting a bit back' by doing their job for a smaller salary and minial expenses. Why not have politicans that are retired or semi retired and done something else in their life? Well its seen as a career and a route to riches in a top job after political life is over rather than public service.

Problem is, politicians nor anyone else in the public sector does the job for nothing so citizens feel the same way.

On that note, have you see the news today that 43% of Council Chief Executives are paid more than David Cameron. To that I might add the Chief Executives of major charities, Quangos and other public sector bodies.

Thats the problem. There are far too many people making a very nice living out of the pubic sector and charity sector for the citizenry to feel they should chip in their time as well as hard earned taxes.

"whereas the introduction of microbusinesses via the mobile phone has had a much more interesting transformative effect."

Boffinmum - sometimes enabling people to do things for themselves is the most powerful and sustainable help you can give.

have to disagree re; the salaries of chief execs and the like and polititions.

if you want the calibre of person you have to pay them

i don't know how this marries with politics - seems a bit of an oxymoron

Nothing has ever stopped rich people from donating time and money. If they wanted to they would. Not enough of them do.

Anyway - what has it got to do with the Big Society? You can't run a country's finances by hoping that wealthy people will donate more!

Rabbitstew. I lived in what was called a slum, as a child, not to long ago, people helped each other out.(cos we was all poor). I was not aware of DCs 'playing fields of Eton', now that would have been another world. Although I do remember my father 'decorating a mansion' I thought it magical. I of course doffed my cap to the owners! {grin]

Bono and Geldof hypocritical arseholes!!

just for info - and i'm not defending rich slimy banking types, but there is an organisation that links city workers with charities and the city donates people time if the charity can get the resources.

a lot of companies allow employees time to do charitle work - i think a day a year or something

some points

and yes declaring bias

more vies from assorted people here and yes I guess still biased

I like the idea of the big society and think that voluntary work should be encouraged.

Dame Suzi Leather, the chair of the Charity Commission, has been named on the Cabinet Office?s list of quango high earners.

The list names those receiving annual pay packages of £150,000 upwards or the equivalent from non-departmental public bodies. It was published this morning.

It says Leather?s pay package, including taxable benefits and allowances, is between £100,000 and £104,999 a year for a three-day week. Five days at the same rate would be well above £150,000 a year.

This is the link I took the above quote from.

Baildonwen no-one would argue with that.

But we also need our hospital services, don't we? I don't fancy being treated by under-trained volunteers.

And we need the money to run the voluntary organisations. Glad to hear there's going to be a Big Society Bank, but what would be more useful would be for local people to set up something similar to the old Mutual Societies, ie something that is not controlled by the government. They were run by the local community for the local community. They took your money, kept it safe and gave it back to you when you needed it. What banks used to do.

very badly

The Big Society ISA sounds like a joke. Most accounts are about 0.5% interest, as a result of the bank bailouts and quantitive easing (how the banks got all our money). Maybe the government is counting on interest rates shooting up because of VAT rises and inflation?

?Social investment is set to play an increasingly important role as part of a diverse funding landscape for the voluntary sector, but it is a very new market and it is still being developed," It is important not to raise false expectations and present the Big Society Bank as a financial panacea for the charity sector. Loans must be repaid!?

I have just found this on civil society.org

So what happens when a charity takes the money believing they will win the contract from those commissioning services, only to find that a well funded private company can undercut them.

Did anybody hear the radio 4 programme last night about the economy. The economy isn't built on suply of goods and services, just dodgy loans.

I had no idea that Dave and co would go this far and give the financial sector the means to make profit from human missery.

So it's clear to see that banks will now be able to make money from the big society, as will investment funds etc, it's also clear that they will not be compelled to give more to charity. Goldmans cut their charity giving this year by something like £300million.

complimentary - would you like to go back to slum people helping each other, but still living in slums and not having much, if anything, in the way of help from the better off? Maybe, so long as you are unaware how the other half live, it doesn't matter???

carminaburana - we shouldn't need other people to set the example to do the right thing ourselves, but a large proportion of people do (and throughout history always have), particularly if they see the advantages in being selfish played out by those with the wealth and power. I entirely agree that this society has in many ways become selfish and self-centred and people should be encouraged to help each other out as much as possible, but I really don't think that is being achieved by the current government.

Bankers' bonuses are likely to top £6billion this year, (Andrew Clark, Sunday, 13 February Observer.)

There was a Daily Mail backed campaign in the early 1970s, 'I'm backing Britain', where a lot of patriotic and well meaning people put in a bit of extra work, unpaid, in an effort to put the country back on its feet...

Were the bankers to give back this year's six billion pounds' bonus as an act of contrition - this would rehabilitate them in the eyes of the public, would it not?

Unfortunately, pigs might fly.

They are basically going to fill all the redundant positions within public services with volunteers ie people who have lost their jobs will have to work for benefits.Already being discussed at dp's work.The library and museum are going to be losing many many staff some of whom have been there years.They will then be offered their old positions on a voluntary basis???????

'Geldof and Bono... Also massive tax avoiders '

Yeah, they're forever preaching to other people, especially taxpayers, to give more. But live a life of riches based on tax avoiders.

They're hypocritcal twunts many people despise.

You should hear Geldof on the phone negotiating £10k in pay for a day's modelling or whatever. TOTAL hypocrisy.

For his daughter, I mean. He's hardly model material.