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Original poster

Big Society- How is it going to work?

252 replies

seekinginspiration · 13/02/2011 13:25

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?

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 14/02/2011 18:04

'For his daughter, I mean. He's hardly model material.
'
Nor are any of his daughters.

DuelingFanjo · 14/02/2011 18:17

"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"

isn't this illegal?

I trained as a librarian, I have a degree in librarianship. I am guessing that course will be defunct!

noddyholder · 14/02/2011 18:22

I don't know.But there are definitely going to be redundancies and the 'managers' have said that the idea is that some of them will be offered their old posts as volunteers while they wait and see whtat happens

jackstarb · 14/02/2011 18:22

But Sir Bob G is a 'model' at least his face looms large in my local jewellery shop. Don't open if you have a weak stomach.

rabbitstew · 14/02/2011 18:24

Maybe you'll be re-employed by the Aldi library? Or Sainsbury's, if you're lucky. Or how about the Clegg library?

MinkyMunky · 14/02/2011 18:30

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet.

expatinscotland · 14/02/2011 18:32

It's just you, minky.

noddyholder · 14/02/2011 18:34

he is such a tosser how could anyone fancy him

ScramVonChubby · 14/02/2011 18:36

Just you Minky (I hope)

My friend, 27 newly married and just with her first mortgage, has been made redundant from the library but been told that society would benefit from her returning as a volunteer to run it- er yes, OK!

I am not anti Big Society; have volunteered many times, worked for charities paid and unpaid, etc........ but only when well run. I have seen little evidence of this so far. I also think certain positions MUSt be apid: whether for the sake of having someone with something to lose (when I was a volunteer manager my job was on the line and if someone I 'hired' cocked up I was the fall guy) or because of the role: I ahve a minimally verbal very vulnerable disabled child, I confess I want paid people caring for him at school clubs etc in the intersts of safety, and importantly continuity.

Besides, the charity branch i worked for went under when the big employers left and people couldn;t afford to donate; charities need cash, and the Big Society bank won;t even begin to touch the sides. We were cheaper than the equivalent state service, we were not free!

overthemill · 14/02/2011 18:37

it isn't. it is a fantasy based on no knowledge of how real people work. you cannot force a community

2cats2many · 14/02/2011 18:37

@OP- its not going to work. It's a big load of bolleaux. And despite what Call Me Dave says, it IS a cover for cuts.

RMCW · 14/02/2011 18:42

I do voluntary work, but I dont do a job that someone else could/would get paid to do.

Thats just wrong.

There will be "volunteers" manning the ambulances/fire engines and police stations within 3 years if this stupid idea is realised.

rabbitstew · 14/02/2011 18:43

MinkyMinky - I wouldn't describe him a yummy, but somehow I can't despise him in the way I despised Tony Blair. On a personal level, he looks like he might be quite good company, and he somehow seems like less of a hypocrite. I detest what he stands for, though and would never vote for him.

RMCW · 14/02/2011 18:47

Do I think he is "yummy"?

No.

I think he looks like a bald, sunburnt scrotum.

(But without the personality).

BoffinMum · 14/02/2011 18:49

I know, they all look like horses, but they are related to S'Bob which in modelling terms makes them blessed.

rabbitstew · 14/02/2011 18:52

This is all getting rather personal, isn't it?! One cannot help looking like a scrotum or a horse - one can work on one's tendency to be a self-centred shitbag, though.

RMCW · 14/02/2011 18:54

rabbit Grin

DuelingFanjo · 14/02/2011 18:59

I just don't get this. They make someone redundasnt and then ask them to re-fill the post as a volunteer. When is that person supposed to look for a new job then? Or are they encouraging them to stay on benefits so they have time to volunteer? it's just crazy.

QueenBathsheba · 14/02/2011 19:09

DuelingFanjo, from what I heard on radio 4 yesterday about the "new capitalist economy" I don't think Dave's mates in the city care if people remain redundant.

And if they don't care DC doesn't care.

BeenBeta · 14/02/2011 19:17

noddyholder - "But there are definitely going to be redundancies and the 'managers' have said that the idea is that some of them will be offered their old posts as volunteers"

Thats wat happened in the voluntary organisation I worked for. The manager was made redundant and I was asked to do his job for nothing.

I refused and left. The Board were all politically connected and working in the public sector and on full pay whenever they came to Board meetings. None of them actually did anything to assist the objectives of the charity in their own time.

ScramVonChubby · 14/02/2011 19:21

'Or are they encouraging them to stay on benefits so they have time to volunteer? it's just crazy.

it's an excellent strategy for a very capitalist society.

there are six jobs and six hundred people needing it to keep a roof so they all take very bad working conditions and pay; the rich get richer as their margins grow and everyone else scrabbles around for scraps.

I fully expect the minimum wage to evaporate shortly as it's a massive barrier to this agenda.

noddyholder · 14/02/2011 19:25

It is shocking isn't it? Where my dp works they literally have graduates coming in off teh street every day begging to be considered for voluntary work.They know they can 'fill' any redundancies whatever.It is a nightmare.Luckily dp's job is 'safe' or as much as it can be or we would be panicking.When they did the last lot of redundancies lots of really good staff went and casuals and volunteers took their places so it has already happened way before this big society BS so it is a cover for cuts and nothing more.Volunteering and community work is a natural part of some peoples personality it is not for everyone and why should they?We pay taxes to clean the parks and streets etc.before long we will have teenagers emptying bins to fund college

ScramVonChubby · 14/02/2011 19:32

Yup; I am a 37 year old post grad who has worked for a few major charities: I am on a waiting list to volunteer as they over run by people needing to boost their CV (this is a young offender scheme).

My university is in panic as good students are leaving in droves as they cannot find the work they need to cope- accomodation without food is the same as the loan amount.

Those who remain have affluent parents.

Social mobility? Hardly; looking after one's own.

BeenBeta · 14/02/2011 19:36

Here is an example of how this 'Big Society' idea will create bizarre anomalies.

Me and DW donate to the RNLI ('lifeboats'). They are staffed entirely by incredibly brave volunteers and receive no public funding. Meanwhile Govt is looking to privatise air sea rescue helicopter services.

There will be situations where a volunteer charity funded RNLI crew are working hand in glove with an air sea helicopter crew that are operating on a pure profit driven motive. I don't doubt the helicopter crews are also incredibly brave but the obvious temptation to dump rescue work on RNLI crews to avoid launching a helicopter will always be there.

ScramVonChubby · 14/02/2011 19:41

Absolutely; happened all the time when I worked for a similarly-interlinked charity.

Caseloads we could never hope to manage always sent as they were costly and we had to vreject a fair few as placing our volunteers at risk.