MOD cutbacks looming, but still mis spending tax money

[Corsair7]

The MOD is facing serious cutbacks accross the board, right?

Two guys I know work as civvies for the MOD. They've been booked on a long training course (lucky them). They live in the same house, so could travel by car together and share the costs.

Someone in the MOD has approved theem staying in a hotel on rates Sunday to Thursday. Cost per person £100 per night, thus £1000 a week, plus meals etc.

This is to stop them having to drive 42 miles each way. Bless.

Nice way to save money.

(my daily commute is 100 miles per day btw)

Cant the nobbers in the MOD see sense? just once?

[spikeyhead]

Corsair7 said:

The MOD is facing serious cutbacks accross the board, right?

Two guys I know work as civvies for the MOD. They've been booked on a long training course (lucky them). They live in the same house, so could travel by car together and share the costs.

Someone in the MOD has approved theem staying in a hotel on rates Sunday to Thursday. Cost per person £100 per night, thus £1000 a week, plus meals etc.

This is to stop them having to drive 42 miles each way. Bless.

Nice way to save money.

(my daily commute is 100 miles per day btw)

Cant the nobbers in the MOD see sense? just once?

Half the learning on a training course happens in the evenings, discussions round the breakfast and dinner tables, over a few beers at night. Sure it makes loads of sense for them to be leaving the bar at midnight and then driving 42 miles home, then up at six for a long drive back in to breakfast.

[DSM2]

spikeyhead said:

Half the learning on a training course happens...........

EFA?

[freecar]

Is that it? A couple of quid wasted and your pee is boiling?

I used to mork on an MOD site shredding confidential waste. Lets just say that it used to cost £240 to change a lightbulb (just fitting not supply!) about 20 years ago! The waste is systematic and throughout the entire organisation. The value of an invoice requiring tender bids was £250,000 and you'd probably not be surprised to see invoices regularly over £200,000 for jobs that would have cost nowhere near that amount. The whole institution needs tearing down and starting again.

[loafer123]

Q1 - An admin officer in procurement in the MoD gets posted to the Falklands for 2 weeks...how much do you think they get?

A1 - Double pay, tax free.

WTF?

[hidetheelephants]

loafer123 said:

Q1 - An admin officer in procurement in the MoD gets posted to the Falklands for 2 weeks...how much do you think they get?

A1 - Double pay, tax free.

WTF?

The penguins have lousy conversation skills. Seriously, of all the moneypits in the MoD you're picking temporary duty station hardship payments?

[EDLT]

Thats criminal, I'd want at least triple if I had to spend two weeks on an island stuck in 1970.

[Dixie68]

loafer123 said:

Q1 - An admin officer in procurement in the MoD gets posted to the Falklands for 2 weeks...how much do you think they get?

A1 - Double pay, tax free.

WTF?

That's a bloody disgrace! I got a whole £5 a day extra for being in Iraq for god's sake. Bloody civil servants need shooting.

[Jim the Sunderer]

It's the 'use it or lose it' lark that gets my wee boiling.

[hidetheelephants]

Jim the Sunderer said:

It's the 'use it or lose it' lark that gets my wee boiling.

What, do you mean 'oh my god, it's nearly April and we've not spent everything yet!' syndrome? That's hardly unique to the MoD, although it definitely needs sorting out.

[Mojooo]

where is the 42 miles? i could understand it if its through heavy traffic and the course starts early.

[Russ T Bolt]

loafer123 said:

Q1 - An admin officer in procurement in the MoD gets posted to the Falklands for 2 weeks...how much do you think they get?

A1 - Double pay, tax free.

WTF?

Not true

[johnfm]

84 miles a day. Assuming they have to use their own car the MOD would need to pay mileage at 40p/ mile which is £320 a day. It is probably cheaper to put them in the hotel.

[s2art]

johnfm said:

84 miles a day. Assuming they have to use their own car the MOD would need to pay mileage at 40p/ mile which is £320 a day. It is probably cheaper to put them in the hotel.

Thats £32 not 320.

[johnfm]

s2art said:

johnfm said:

84 miles a day. Assuming they have to use their own car the MOD would need to pay mileage at 40p/ mile which is £320 a day. It is probably cheaper to put them in the hotel.

Thats £32 not 320.

Doh! Never post early on Sunday!

[loafer123]

Russ T Bolt said:

loafer123 said:

Q1 - An admin officer in procurement in the MoD gets posted to the Falklands for 2 weeks...how much do you think they get?

A1 - Double pay, tax free.

WTF?

Not true

So what allowances do they get then?

[Dunk76]

freecar said:

Is that it? A couple of quid wasted and your pee is boiling?

I used to mork on an MOD site shredding confidential waste. Lets just say that it used to cost £240 to change a lightbulb (just fitting not supply!) about 20 years ago! The waste is systematic and throughout the entire organisation. The value of an invoice requiring tender bids was £250,000 and you'd probably not be surprised to see invoices regularly over £200,000 for jobs that would have cost nowhere near that amount. The whole institution needs tearing down and starting again.

This always tickled me in my dealings with the MoD. As a tank commander mate of mine once said;

'Yes, I can drive a 70 tonne tank, handle live ammunition, depleted uranium darts, and high explosive charges. I can also put a certain number of rounds on target a certain range in a set time with my rifle, build my own temporary shelter out of whatever materials are convenient, and call in an airstrike using nothing more than a 30 year old O/S map and even older radio. I can also survive for up to three weeks on nothing but Egg Banjos, Panda Cola and Yorkie bars... I am not, however, authorised or trusted to go down the local WHSmiths and buy a box of HB pencils.'

It would be funny, if it were not for the fact that a fair proportion of servicemen feel the need to buy their own equipment privately as the MoD stuff is so poor. DMS boots anyone?

Edited by Dunk76 on Monday 11th October 08:55

[hidetheelephants]

Dunk76 said:

It would be funny, if it were not for the fact that a fair proportion of servicemen feel the need to buy their own equipment privately as the MoD stuff is so poor. DMS boots anyone?

Dem's Mah Shoes were binned in the eighties. Granted Boots Combat High aren't particularly good or comfortable, but they don't fall apart and everybody's getting gucci(Altberg et al) dessi wellies for playing in the sandpit these days. It took 6 years of UOR sticking plasters, but the standard squaddy 1098 is pretty good now; if they are buying non-issue gear it's because they want to look ally, not because the standard kit is gash.