Why Do Councils Go Bust?

[Canada Farmer]

Half the country believing they are entitled to be housed by the council doesn’t help

Tent, problem solved.

 

[case44]

Shropshire County Council spent £51M on local shopping centre, partly to redevelop and partly to relocate main Council office which was due to be sold for housing.Most employees now work remotely and half shopping centre is closed awaiting “Regeneration “
Announced yesterday to spend £6 M on consultants (PWC) to achieve
£40/60 M cuts!

 

[Bogweevil]

So you don’t know where else we should be taxed then?

Our tax system is incredibly inefficient and seems to be almost designed to discourage working and saving, being more productive and all the while impoverishes the nation, but who will dare reform it?

 

[warksfarmer]

Yes it does affect farming, but why? my local council seems to be "awash" with money, from the many thousands of private houses paying council tax, plus all the indusrial estates with small and extra large industrial/commercial businesses are occupiyed, never seen it so busy, and nots even counting the many more houses been built ans large commercial built, or to be built? So if the councils income and by that spending it "wisely" with prudence, why do they either need to borrow money thus have debt and debt interest payments or go bust? Shouldnt they the people in charge of spending these huge/massive budgets be held accountable? Answers please?

The thousands of people living in houses not paying council tax for starters. Immigrants and universal credit people dont pay as well as take money out of the council coifers to live their daily lives of doing nothing.

Secondly their precept from the government is not big enough for the amount of people within their remit. Again the government fail to account for the thousands coming into the country who never work.

 

[Farma Parma]

The thousands of people living in houses not paying council tax for starters. Immigrants and universal credit people dont pay as well as take money out of the council coifers to live their daily lives of doing nothing.

Secondly their precept from the government is not big enough for the amount of people within their remit. Again the government fail to account for the thousands coming into the country who never work.

every 2nd home for a start seem to pay nothing that cant be right?
Meanwhile every farmer in the uk with a decent sized house Tenant or Owned it doesnt matter all get fleeced for Council tax
Recon ours will be plus £3.6k on renewal next month & thats for 2 people in a 4bed house with no street lights.

 

[bluebell]

Case44 all you ever here about is "consultants", who are these consultants, another layer of costs to bear, building a house, you have to pay "consultants", govt, pays "consultants" to do? say what? how much somethings going to cost? Then its allways ending up 4 times what they said it would have cost? might as well gone out on the street and asked a six year old child for free they would have a better idea? No consultants to me rank closely with these "human rights" lawyers who milk the system, and us poor old tax payers for millions and millions and thus rolls on the gravey train?

 

[red]

The single biggest drain on council finances is reckless speculation into the commercial property market. A few years ago councils could obtain loans at 1% interest, They convinced themselves it was a great idea to borrow the money and invest in shops and office buildings with an annual return of 3 or 4 %. They didn't factor in the possibility if interest rate rises nor that people might not want to rent their properties. Some councils purchased shopping centres that have lost 90% of their value. My local council spent £6m on an office building that no one wanted to rent !!

It was obvious that it was going to happen years ago but to be fair they only started investing (badly as it’s turned out) to offset the cuts to their budgets from the ridiculous austerity drive from the Tories.

English councils went on property spending spree to offset cuts

Public spending watchdog fears they could be over-exposed in a recession or property crash

www.theguardian.com

 

[d williams]

Don’t underestimate the cost of social care! It costs a fortune to have carers going into someone’s home or keep someone in a care home and the numbers are ever increasing with an aging population.

But yes councils do waste a lot of money on crap.

A cousin was away to Dublin for the rugby last weekend sat next to someone from the council on the plane and having a chat
The man from the council said 90% of house tax went to social services

 

[teslacoils]

Case44 all you ever here about is "consultants", who are these consultants, another layer of costs to bear, building a house, you have to pay "consultants", govt, pays "consultants" to do? say what? how much somethings going to cost? Then its allways ending up 4 times what they said it would have cost? might as well gone out on the street and asked a six year old child for free they would have a better idea? No consultants to me rank closely with these "human rights" lawyers who milk the system, and us poor old tax payers for millions and millions and thus rolls on the gravey train?

Consultants are hired to "identify" things that can be cut. Councils can then do these cuts while using any report as some kind of shield. They should be severely limited, if not outlawed.

 

[Bongodog]

Not necessarily true.

A workers salary is - partly - based on their 'responsibilities'. With greater responsibility it usually comes with greater budget responsibility and in-directly responsibility for more staff.
Although it doesn't automatically mean that if you manage a few more person or responsible for a few quid more, you get paid more.

As a former council chair, I've used the local govt spinal column that is used to determine salaries, points are given for number of staff, gaining additional qualifications, years in post etc. That's how workers in the public sector get pay rises even when we are told there is a pay freeze

 

[Netherfield]

I'm sure that this will stop the problems in Gaza

 

[Bongodog]

View attachment 1167589


I'm sure that this will stop the problems in Gaza

Reminds me of the 1980's with Labour Councils passing motions declaring them to be nuclear free zones. Cambridge erected signs at the City boundaries, I often wondered if the convoys taking nuclear weapons to East Anglian air bases took a different route when they saw them

 

[little_p]

As a former council chair, I've used the local govt spinal column that is used to determine salaries, points are given for number of staff, gaining additional qualifications, years in post etc. That's how workers in the public sector get pay rises even when we are told there is a pay freeze

Ah, 'spinal points'. Where you said 'points' I thought that you meant points in a job evaluation scheme.

Of course for most jobs there would be in a banding, so a post holder would progress up the spinal points of that band the longer that they have in post.

But surely being given additional spinal points is mostly at senior level?
And lets not forget about the 'market rate supplement'! The ability for senior managers to dream up ways to have their noses in the trough knows no bounds.

But surely additional spinal points at minion level is relatively unheard of (unless their a career 'gateway')?

 

[Swarfmonkey]

A cousin was away to Dublin for the rugby last weekend sat next to someone from the council on the plane and having a chat
The man from the council said 90% of house tax went to social services

90%? That's a fantasy. You should be able to find the annual budget for your local authority easily enough and you'll be surprised what the biggest spends are on, though it's worth bearing in mind that the sneaky little sods also hide their massive payments to LGPS under the same headings to muddy the waters.

 

[Still Farming]

Bosses milking the system.

New hourly rate for council's lowest paid staff to be introduced from April

Pay policy will boost wages of the lowest paid - and helps comparisons with top earners.

www.southwalesargus.co.uk

 

[Still Farming]

Birmingham Council effectively gone bust tonight?

 

[bluebell]

I see on this early morning tv news, that birmingham council cuts spending by £300 million and puts council tax up by 20%? Well those that dont work? Wont have to find the extra 20% but, what about those that do work or run small buinesses?

 

[teslacoils]

Go bust .....but then get to scrap services and raise council tax by 20 percent. They'll all be back in cushy jobs while the locals pick up the tab. Council tax on higher band houses needs to be ramped up dramatically.

 

[Hilly]

I see on this early morning tv news, that birmingham council cuts spending by £300 million and puts council tax up by 20%? Well those that dont work? Wont have to find the extra 20% but, what about those that do work or run small buinesses?

I think the workers are getting mighty sick of the wont works …….. trouble ahead !

 

[Still Farming]

I see on this early morning tv news, that birmingham council cuts spending by £300 million and puts council tax up by 20%? Well those that dont work? Wont have to find the extra 20% but, what about those that do work or run small buinesses?

They got to bang as well for Councils failures!