Councils offshore accounts
Discussion
Has this slipped under the radar? with the latest revelations of Banks collapsing in Iceland it appears Bucks, Herts and a few other councils are going to be out of pocket to the tune of around 50 million quid.
How come they can have so much invested around the world (how much else do they have stashed away?)yet are unable to offer basic services, cut back on existing ones and still hike our taxes up?
How come they can have so much invested around the world (how much else do they have stashed away?)yet are unable to offer basic services, cut back on existing ones and still hike our taxes up?
Apache said:
Has this slipped under the radar? with the latest revelations of Banks collapsing in Iceland it appears Bucks, Herts and a few other councils are going to be out of pocket to the tune of around 50 million quid.
How come they can have so much invested around the world (how much else do they have stashed away?)yet are unable to offer basic services, cut back on existing ones and still hike our taxes up?
Did you only see 1/2 the story? A lot of it is Pension Fund money, that's why it was 'stashed away'.How come they can have so much invested around the world (how much else do they have stashed away?)yet are unable to offer basic services, cut back on existing ones and still hike our taxes up?
It was in the stock market and moved because of the risk!
Either way it would have been down the tubes.
DSM2 said:
Apache said:
Has this slipped under the radar? with the latest revelations of Banks collapsing in Iceland it appears Bucks, Herts and a few other councils are going to be out of pocket to the tune of around 50 million quid.
How come they can have so much invested around the world (how much else do they have stashed away?)yet are unable to offer basic services, cut back on existing ones and still hike our taxes up?
Did you only see 1/2 the story? A lot of it is Pension Fund money, that's why it was 'stashed away'.How come they can have so much invested around the world (how much else do they have stashed away?)yet are unable to offer basic services, cut back on existing ones and still hike our taxes up?
It was in the stock market and moved because of the risk!
Either way it would have been down the tubes.
Hell27 said:
I actually think its all taxpayer's money.................
Which is a great and convenient excuse to raise taxes just a little more, in exchange for having your bin emptied.
However, not all councils were stung, but I bet they all put price rises on
So we'll be buying their pensions twice ? Which is a great and convenient excuse to raise taxes just a little more, in exchange for having your bin emptied.
However, not all councils were stung, but I bet they all put price rises on
f
k this, i'm emigrating.I was talking to a civil servant yesterday. He was very smug about his pension and job security. He also let me know about his plan to get early redundancy at my expense too..
This guy was talking about lowering the level of service that his department provides until the department is seen as no longer viable and redundancies are offered..
If that is the attitude of your average Civil Servant then we are screwed.
This guy was talking about lowering the level of service that his department provides until the department is seen as no longer viable and redundancies are offered..
If that is the attitude of your average Civil Servant then we are screwed.
Hedders said:
I was talking to a civil servant yesterday. He was very smug about his pension and job security. He also let me know about his plan to get early redundancy at my expense too..
This guy was talking about lowering the level of service that his department provides until the department is seen as no longer viable and redundancies are offered..
If that is the attitude of your average Civil Servant then we are screwed.
Having worked with them, it seems a lot of them are idiots.This guy was talking about lowering the level of service that his department provides until the department is seen as no longer viable and redundancies are offered..
If that is the attitude of your average Civil Servant then we are screwed.
Councils are run by self serving, bureaucratic morons who think:
"ah job for life in the council"
Ever wonder why local authorities never seem to have job cuts? Yet other areas of the private & public sector do?
Jump back 50 years and I think you'll find that most communities were getting along just fine without the ever expanding local authorities and "entrepreneurship services". The numpties who work at the council (speaking for experience with Glasgow City Council) are generally barely employable elsewhere and would've been sent to the poor house or left to die on the streets in days gone by. Now they get salaries and expense accounts to go with fancy job titles they have no clue about.
Fuk me I'm at the otherside of the world and the UK still pisses me off !
"ah job for life in the council"
Ever wonder why local authorities never seem to have job cuts? Yet other areas of the private & public sector do?
Jump back 50 years and I think you'll find that most communities were getting along just fine without the ever expanding local authorities and "entrepreneurship services". The numpties who work at the council (speaking for experience with Glasgow City Council) are generally barely employable elsewhere and would've been sent to the poor house or left to die on the streets in days gone by. Now they get salaries and expense accounts to go with fancy job titles they have no clue about.
Fuk me I'm at the otherside of the world and the UK still pisses me off !
I know of a civil servant in the Inland Revenue who has been off for two years on full pay (on the sick) because her finger was hurting after typing on a keyboard......
Sad thing is that the majority of civil servants will vote Labour come the election as they know they'll lose their jobs if another government comes in.Great way of securing votes?
Sad thing is that the majority of civil servants will vote Labour come the election as they know they'll lose their jobs if another government comes in.Great way of securing votes?
Mr Fenix said:
Ever wonder why local authorities never seem to have job cuts? Yet other areas of the private & public sector do?
Just earlier this year I had to make one of my colleagues redundant due to the council making savings, fortunately for him he managed to get redeployed temporarily in another part of the council, so he still may find himself out of a job come next March. However, for the last couple of years we've had a 'recruitment freeze' so any vacancies arising have to be approved by senior managers before they can be readvertised. Many posts weren't, in fact when my boss left 2 years ago they scrapped the post altogether. This is probably why you don't hear about big redundancies by councils, but believe me, they do happen.From what I understand, a lot of this money is for pensions (as mentioned) as well as a small percentage is operational money that is stored. However, the money looks quite a lot, but its a drop in the ocean...
My local council had a budget of £800M last year. That's quite a lot of money. But think about it for a minute, how do they get this money and what do with the money during the year?
Do they just pay people the full amount for the year? You know, all of the contracts such as household waste collection. Do they pay up front for the year? Or do they phase payments over the year? What about paying people? Do they pay people over the year or do we pay them a fixed lump at the beginning?
The reverse of this is on the receipts they get. Do they get a fixed amount for the full year? Or do they get some money phased over the year itself? Actually its a bit of both. A large amount is paid in full for the year, while the rest is paid quarterly or monthly. So the councils have a large amount of money sloshing around as well as receiving a lot throughout the year.
So comes the next question - do they put £800m in a single bank account then? What happens if that bank fails? That means the whole council fails.... millions affected etc. Or do you balance the risk and spread it around? Well, in the case of some of the councils, they have spread their money and risk around and in one case it was with 31 different banks around the world - in a hope of weathering any storm - i.e. getting best protection for the tax payers.
What has happened is unprecedented. Banks have been taken over in Iceland and they have refused to cover their liabilities - this is a VERY unusual situation. In fact, I don't think we have seen anything like this for decades.
So exactly who predicted that the Icelandic banks would fail?
Shame you never told the councils in advance so that they could take their money out in advance - that kind of banking foresight would be worth a fortune....
My local council had a budget of £800M last year. That's quite a lot of money. But think about it for a minute, how do they get this money and what do with the money during the year?
Do they just pay people the full amount for the year? You know, all of the contracts such as household waste collection. Do they pay up front for the year? Or do they phase payments over the year? What about paying people? Do they pay people over the year or do we pay them a fixed lump at the beginning?
The reverse of this is on the receipts they get. Do they get a fixed amount for the full year? Or do they get some money phased over the year itself? Actually its a bit of both. A large amount is paid in full for the year, while the rest is paid quarterly or monthly. So the councils have a large amount of money sloshing around as well as receiving a lot throughout the year.
So comes the next question - do they put £800m in a single bank account then? What happens if that bank fails? That means the whole council fails.... millions affected etc. Or do you balance the risk and spread it around? Well, in the case of some of the councils, they have spread their money and risk around and in one case it was with 31 different banks around the world - in a hope of weathering any storm - i.e. getting best protection for the tax payers.
What has happened is unprecedented. Banks have been taken over in Iceland and they have refused to cover their liabilities - this is a VERY unusual situation. In fact, I don't think we have seen anything like this for decades.
So exactly who predicted that the Icelandic banks would fail?
Shame you never told the councils in advance so that they could take their money out in advance - that kind of banking foresight would be worth a fortune....
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