Get back to the office! But why?

Sweeping generalisation.

People who work in private industry have issues with local and government service providers because they realise that if their business were as inefficient as those providers they would never survive.

However, with local council and government, there are no other competitive services for the public to turn to, therefore they can be as inefficient as they wish without any come back or repercussions.

Simple as that.

Exactly! Local government employees aren't civil servants. In many cases, they're not even public service employees because so many services have now been outsourced.

gillybob Have you tried a letter to your local newspaper? I have no idea why nobody's responding, but it's clearly unacceptable and a letter to the local press can sometimes work wonders.

You obviously have an issue with public service employees, as you've criticised them so many times.

I hope you didn't vote Conservative in the hope that your public services would be improved. If you did, there's a real possibility you've been conned.

It's a myth that Council Tax pays for local services. Briefly, what happens is that most of it is paid to central government which then pays it back to councils, using a formula. Business rates are different and richer areas can usually raise more.

Some richer areas receive back far less than they pay, while the reverse is true in poorer areas, which have higher social needs and have fewer big houses, so they can't raise as much tax.

The Conservatives spoke about "levelling up" - without explaining what they meant. I think some people thought that there would be more money going to areas which needed it. In fact, the reverse is true. The grants to poorer areas have been cut, while the richer areas are paying less - they are the ones who have "levelled up".

The situation is likely to become worse when poorer areas lose EU grants.

Of course, poorer areas tend to have Labour councils, which are now being forced to make cuts to local services and are taking the blame for the cuts. In reality, they have less money as a result of central government decisions.

Some London boroughs have always been an exception because they have been able to raise income from parking charges, etc. and have been able to keep Council Tax low.

There is already some evidence that working from home is benefiting small towns, which has to be a good thing, as the economy needs rebalancing. The biggest losers so far in terms of money spent are London, Manchester and Oxford. Some of the places which are witnessing an increase in local spending are Middlesbrough, Burnley, Wakefield, Barnsley and Blackburn. This could, of course, change when people are made redundant as furlough schemes end. The biggest single group of losers are the owners of commercial property, which is why the government wants to shame people to go back to office working.

Two weeks! Two weeks!
We've been waiting nearly four years for some essential roadworks to be carried out!
I think they've all been at home for four years.

Ah, no, there's the difference, they're not civil servants.

It’s really not good enough MissA . I have waited almost 2 weeks to speak to someone in licensing and have sent several emails too with no reply . Ditto someone in finance . These people are supposed to be working from home .

My council is the same.
In or out of the office, notes are never made, nobody phones back, nothing gets done.

I didn’t think there was a longer time than never but hey ho .... good old civil servants . What would we do without them ?

Nowhere can survive on public sector jobs alone, nor on private sector jobs alone. Each needs the other.

Also, if jobs are lost through cutbacks in the public sector, those put out of work will add to the cost of supporting everyone who isn't employed, and the taxes they paid won't be going into the pot.

And it could take even longer for public sector phones to be answered!

^ Our region cannot survive on public sector jobs alone although I doubt there will be any cutbacks in the town hall^

What would be the advantage of 'cutting back' in the town hall, gillybob?

Or, what cut backs would you envisage and what would happen to the money 'saved'?

Our labour council will just keep on doing what it’s always done . Burying its head in the sand and looking after those in the town hall . Meanwhile shoving commercial rents and rates up and up to cover their costs .

I'm sure all the shiny new Red Wall Tory MPs will be fighting your corner gilly.

I wonder just what they will do

growstuff

Not true, gillybob. Public sector jobs keep the North East afloat. If you didn't have them, you'd be stuffed. There are a higher percentage because decisions were made to provide employment. Working in the public sector isn't as rosy as you always claim.

But the fact is growstuff we are sleesdy stuffed . Well and truly . I work on an industrial estate and businesses are closing left right and centre. Huge redundancies announced in several larger businesses too. My neighbour is currently working on making 100’s of people redundant when furlough ends and that’s the tip of the iceberg . Our region cannot survive on public sector jobs alone although I doubt there will be any cutbacks in the town hall . Private sector wages here are among the very lowest in the UK and there are going to be less and less paying into the system.

My LA put my factory rent up last year by 20% in one go . How could they justify that ?

In my town * Calli* nurses, teachers, civil servants, police officers are by far the best off. Hard to believe eh? But it’s true .

The City of London is an anomaly - it's tiny (Square Mile) with only around 10,000 residents. Financially they don't need to charge the residents anything but that wouldn't go down well with the rest of the country!

Chewbacca local authorities recognised many of the issues months if not years ago. They are currently looking at different ways to use town centres, in many cases those plans are very well advanced. This has accelerated the process but it was happening anyway.

You were the one who wrote that loss of income from business rate taxes would affect residents.

Oh come on growstuff, surely you can appreciate that in any city or town, there is a mix of both residential and commercial properties, all paying either domestic or business rate council tax. Therefore, if you have a high percentage of vacant properties, either domestic or business, they are not now going to be paying their council taxes. That, in turn, will have a negative impact on the amount of revenue that that council has in their coffers to spend on services such as social services, amenities, schools etc. It makes no difference whether the empty properties are business or domestic; the impact on loss of revenue is the same and does adversely affect those who live in that borough.

As for City of London rates.... well, we agree on something.

the public sector “ I’m alright Jack”

The public sector includes doctors, nurses, policemen, emergency services to mention just a few.

All paying taxes and using local businesses.
I've worked in both public and private sectors and can honestly say that the public sector was harder; perhaps that was the particular sector.

Not true, gillybob. Public sector jobs keep the North East afloat. If you didn't have them, you'd be stuffed. There are a higher percentage because decisions were made to provide employment. Working in the public sector isn't as rosy as you always claim.

Chewbacca

Business Rates Council tax isn't calculated the same as domestic council tax. In London or anywhere else in the UK.

I know it isn't. You were the one who wrote that loss of income from business rate taxes would affect residents. In the case of the City of London, it's about time they paid the same as people in other parts of the country.

Here in one of the poorest boroughs in the country we have one of the highest rates of CT . Not far from where I live a developer has repurposed a large call centre ( long since closed) into luxury apartments. It’s in a lovely setting but they can’t sell them as not many people around here can afford them . It won’t matter how many businesses close our LA will just keep cutting services and putting the CT and business rates up to cover the inflated salaries of their executives. All currently “working” from home. We are fast becoming a very divided society. The private sector struggling to keep afloat and pay wages, pensions, NI contributions v the public sector “ I’m alright Jack”

Business Rates Council tax isn't calculated the same as domestic council tax. In London or anywhere else in the UK.

In Edinburgh, Band C Council Tax is £1,135.47, and water is £182.72

Council Tax in Westminster for Band C is £693.58.

In the case of the City of London, I can't say I'm too worried about an increase in residential council tax charges. Council Tax for a Band C residential property in the City of London is £864.59. A Banc C property in Liverpool is £1802.08 - more than twice as much.

Chewbacca, in regard to your post @
09:35 today, the news on Capita is not surprising as they are a company that through poor planning and management now have deep financial problems.

They have been asking all employees earning over £70,000 per year to accept substantial pay reductions. They have also allowed their 60,000 other staff to build up holiday entitlement during the Covid Crisis which they are now having problems in meeting all those accrued payments.

The Capita share price has dropped substantially over the last few months as revenue from running the London congestion charge etc has dropped hugely.

However, I do agree with you that the Capita action in attempting to overcome its large financial problems may be a guide to how other companies badly affected by the Covid-19 crisis will approach their problems.

Certainly one to think about there. Thank you for the post chewbacca.

Councils will need to prepare plans to acquire and use the empty buildings as soon as they can, and convert them to uses that will bring in revenue. Housing and local shops, community centres and services, startup premises and workshops would be good uses. If they don't do this, commercial interests will overtake them and get any income that is available.