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Take this week for instance. The civil servants strike is big in the news at the moment. A 48-hour mass walk out is currently underway over proposed cuts in redundancy pay, which would see civil service workers lose ‘tens of thousands’ in redundancy money, according to The Guardian.

Whilst Government ministers insist that at least 85% of civil servants have not taken part in the strike, the Public and Commercial Services Union, PCS put the figure at more than 200,000 who are currently striking. Services within the Courts have been reduced, job centres up and down the country are struggling with minimal staff, and The Guardian says that 2,000 driving tests have been postponed. Even museums are affected, as are Revenue and Customs, some aspects of the Metropolitan Police and even House of Commons security.

Yet, at the same time, Housing Minister, John Healey has released £83 million in funding to build thousands of affordable homes, creating 1,700 jobs. Crucially, these jobs will be available in the form of apprenticeships and will provide opportunities to local workers. Whitehallpages.net say the funding will mean that 99 young people will be given the chance to work in the building trade.

As reported on Whitehallpages.net, John Healey said: “I’m allocating £83 million to get 87 stalled developments across the country up and running again, creating 1,700 jobs and giving more than 2,200 first-time buyers the chance to take an affordable step onto the property ladder. In this recession, the Government has not stepped back and left the homes and jobs we need to the market. We’re using public funding to keep Britain building through the downturn.”

And so there you have it: the bad news and then the good news. The Law of Mindless Optimism.

To further illustrate this, all future blogs will be divided into The Bad News and The Good News sections, where possible. So, if you’re feeling particularly brave one day, you can keep yourself up-to-date with the bad news hitting the public sector, or, if you need a lift and want some positivity, you can just focus on the good news. Alternatively, you read the whole lot.

In the meantime, keep job hunting. Our society needs you.

The Guardian warns that 170,000 jobs are likely to be cut in the next few years. Birmingham Council is set to axe 2,000 jobs and Nottinghamshire Council plans to cut 1,500 jobs. Job cuts are deemed ‘necessary’ if councils are to adapt to significant budget decreases in the coming years. For some councils, job losses have almost become a knee-jerk reaction to maximising on savings. Such blinkered attitudes are clearly not helpful and simply making thousands redundant could be a false economy: redundancy is expensive, and rightfully so.

Yet there is another way. It may not be the knight in shining armour that saves the public sector from its debt deficit, but it could save local councils millions, if not more. And if adopted across the board, jobs could actually be preserved rather than lost.

Total Place

Thought up by London Councils, the organisation that produced The Manifesto for Londoners, Total Place emphasises the importance of sharing within local authorities. By sharing a wide range of services, process and back-office systems, duplication within local government is radically reduced. The Total Place approach looks at the bigger picture, encompassing all aspects of local government including PCTs and housing authorities rather than looking at different aspects in isolation. Local authorities, notorious for their duplicated and beaurocratic processes, resulting in huge wastes in time and resources, will be therefore much improved.

Total Place is a necessary step in public sector reform and a huge leap towards the London Councils own proposal as set out in their Manifesto for Londoners. In terms of widespread approval, the scheme championed by Whitehall is embraced by all political parties.   Currently, it is being piloted in thirteen London areas, where it assesses the needs of local people, how public money is spent in these areas and which services can be shared and integrated to maximise on efficiency.

Scaremongering

And whilst some claim that the recent job cut speculation is just meaningless ‘scaremongering’ fuelled by the Conservatives, job losses are going to take place, and unless schemes like Total Place are implemented and soon, redundancy figures are going to rocket to unprecedented heights. Alternative cost-saving initiatives are definitely the way forward: job losses are not.

In a televised response to complaints of some British natives, where some believe that immigrants are ‘stealing’ so-called ‘low-level’ British jobs, The day the Immigrants left asked: if these jobs were vacant, would the native Brits actually take them?

The Experiment

Located in Wisbech in Cambridgeshire where 2,000 of the market town’s local residents are currently unemployed, many of the residents blame their unemployment on the growing immigrant population.

Twelve unemployed British residents from Wisbech were given the opportunity to work for two days in place of migrant workers in a potato packing factory, an Indian restaurant, an asparagus farm and a building site.

Those working at the Indian restaurant would receive on-the-job training whilst those working in the potato packing factory would be required to fill 85 bags per minute during their twelve-hour shift. According to the BBC, factory work is the most common occupation for EU workers, employing approximately 270,180 of registered EU workers between 2004 and 2006.

The outcome

Of the twelve volunteers, one assigned work at the factory texted in sick the night before, three due to work at the Indian Restaurant called in sick and the fourth (and only) volunteer left at the restaurant was found to be sampling the food whilst the permanent staff worked around him.

In summary, nearly half of the volunteers were unable to commit to just two days work. This begs the question, why are some Brits so work shy?  Professor of Sociology, Richard Sennett believes this is due to the British work culture (breadth of career opportunity, financial incentives, promises of promotion etc) rather than just individual attitudes. Yet it’s made Britain into a nation of picky job-seekers. Almost.

In this era of job shortages, more people are willing to take what they can get and work longer hours than ever before. What this documentary taught us apart from highlighting some culture differences in work ethic, is the importance of questioning our own work ethic. Are we putting enough into our jobs once we gain employment? Do we believe ourselves to be hard working, or do we just like to think we are? We all have different experiences in the world of work, but a job is as much as what you put in to it as what you get out of it.

On the surface, it’s the ideal solution for any local government organisation. Staff workloads can be drastically reduced by delegating various administrative functions to private companies for competitive fees. More and more private companies are setting up shop, aware of the growing demand for their services. It’s an easy formula after all: tired, overworked public sector staff drawn in by the confident sales pitch of a new start-up outsourcing company. Fixed fees, competitive prices, delegated workloads, the responsibility handed over to someone else. In this results-driven era, the lure for outside help is all too tempting. And perhaps this set up is no bad thing if confined to back-office systems and behind-the-scenes administration.  Why not invest in small-scale outsourcing if it means that low-key administrative tasks can be done without utilising an already overworked public sector work force?

But the real danger of private sector outsourcing is when outsourcing moves to the front line, dealing with highly confidential and personal data about vulnerable people.

Only last week, The Guardian ran a story following a tip off from a social worker about a well-known outsourcing company which was contracted to run a young people’s service in the public sector. According to the newspaper, the company mislaid highly sensitive information, employed staff to work directly with young people without up-to-date CRB checks and failed to recruit key positions in order to boost profits. At a time when many children’s services up and down the country have been steeped in scandal in recent years (Doncaster, Haringey, Calderdale, to name but a few) this is deeply worrying. It is possible that with the growing popularity in outsourcing, instances of incompetence and blatant private sector profiteering will only worsen.

But in the short term at least, the pressing argument against regular outsourcing is the radically different ways in which the private and public sectors operate. It would be a mammoth task – if not impossible – for a private company to properly grasp and understand the inner workings of a public sector client before starting the outsourcing contract. To do so in a relatively short space of time would be to leave a lot of gaps in the public sector jigsaw.

Paradoxically, this difference of culture can also serve as a means of boosting efficiency too. Consider a public sector employee who sends out a late NHS appointment letter to a patient, or a letter from the council sent to the wrong address. This is seen as ‘typical’, and as such, no one complains. Yet any private sector employee would be hauled over the coals for doing much the same. So in this way, outsourcing to private sector companies could also mean a change in attitude (albeit slight) and a clearer accountability line for all employees.

Clearly, it’s swings and roundabouts. But in a climate where virgin outsourcing companies are as common as the bus you weren’t waiting for (and then three come at once) how will public sector organisations know which companies to work with? There isn’t yet a Which? guide to private sector outsourcing companies. It’s a risky business.

Yet, outsourcing to the private sector can work, if time is on your side, if the right questions are asked and if the correct research is conducted. But it’s a minefield out there, and the reality is that few people will even have the time to carry out such necessary checks. One thing is certain: we are going to hear a lot more about the outsourcing debate in years to come – it’s only just picking up speed.

Perhaps this won’t be necessary (unless you really, really want to, of course). We at Jobsgopublic believe there is another way. London Councils have just launched a ground-breaking manifesto which should (if it lands on the right desk and in the right e-mail boxes) move mountains.

Devolution, devolution, devolution

Forget the devolution of the late 90s. This time, it means business. Public sector business, at that.

In The Manifesto for Londoners, London Councils propose a new system of power centred round local government which collaborates with local public bodies and organisations in order to deliver efficient services which directly meet the needs of local residents. The proposals put forward in the Manifesto are designed to simplify processes and bring clearer accountability within London boroughs. It is not intended solely for London. In the future, if these proposals are adopted by Whitehall (and therefore, handed over to local councils), London will be the flagship of a successful system of devolution. Other boroughs throughout England will follow suit.

Depending on this potential power shift, residents throughout England will see vast improvements in local services. It will give local residents a voice in shaping decisions affecting their local area and solution-based services will be better tailored specific to an individual’s needs (for example, health care, specialist education, etc.) In short, devolution will work because it will allow greater collaboration and an increased use of joined-up services.

Why London?

According to the Manifesto for Londoners, London was an obvious choice for this proposal because of its economy, diversity and willingness to change. The Manifesto states that London “is vital to the success of the UK.” It reports that London’s economy brings in £251billion and consists of 400,000 businesses, 1 in 5 of which has a turnover of £5 million. 300 languages are spoken in the capital, and it is home to over 40 per cent of British Ethnic Minorities. As a result, “London local government is ideally placed to bring all public services together… integrating…secure services designed to fit public expectations.”

The Manifesto proposes:

• To increase accountability of PCT non-acute care budgets within their borough
• To bring together back-to-work schemes through a joint London board
• To promote good practice in reducing crime and re-offending
• To promote the London Safeguarding Children Board as the flagship body
• To transfer overground rail responsibility to Transport for London
• To bring together specialist disability transport services (dial-a-ride, Taxicard etc.)
• To invest more efficiently in housing and infrastructure improvements
• To allow all boroughs to keep council tax increases
• To dissolve the Government Office for London (the role of Elected London Mayor duplicates many of the roles of the GOL) and transfer the remaining functions between the Mayor of London and London Boroughs.

As London Councils acknowledge, public finance is in a precarious situation that will only worsen in the coming years. But by implementing this necessary power shift from central to local government, it is believed that savings of £1.2 billion will be delivered within five years. And if this process of devolution is to be accepted, it is London that must embrace it first. The Manifesto concludes:

“By delivering the first wave of devolution we can chart a path for better public service and more value for money in England as a whole.”

Viva La devolution revolution!

Imminent cuts in public service

This is not going away anytime soon.  While the three main political parties argue about how deep the cuts are going to infiltrate (currently, the Conservatives favour cutting public expenditure,  Labour favour cutting pay and slashing bonuses and the Liberal Democrats favour long term pay freezes and cutting back on future pension schemes), public sector workers all over the UK are bracing themselves for a difficult year.

Speaking on BBC One’s Politics Show recently, David Cameron, Leader of the Conservatives is alleged to have hinted that his party would make huge cuts in public spending if they form the next government. He has since denied these claims but insists that 2010 is the year to start reducing public spending in order to reduce the UK’s budget deficit which is believed to be the worst in the developed world. Meanwhile, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, has warned that public sector staff will have to accept pay cuts if they want to keep their jobs.  And if Darling’s grim predictions of a possible repeat recession later in the year are proved correct, the next government will have to make some tough decisions.

Social worker shortage

Partly due to the recession and the inter-related increase in domestic problems, social worker workloads are at an all time high. In light of childcare tragedies that have hit the profession in the last few years (Baby P, the Doncaster brothers scandal, to name but a few) less people are willing to enter a career so fraught with scapegoat culture and high-stress levels and many already in it are looking to leave. However, subsequent blogs on Jobsgopublic.com will address why this doesn’t necessarily have to be the case.

‘Wellderly’: increasing the retirement age

If the recent plans unveiled by Harriet Harman, Government Minister for Women and Equality, are met with approval, senior citizens over 65 (the so-called ‘wellderly’) could continue to work well into their 70s or 80s. The plans went public during London’s Age UK event in early January. While some criticise the plans as attempts to deal with the skills gap left by retired generations and to disguise the fact that pension coffers are rapidly emptying (therefore the plans would keep pension costs down), the government insists it is purely to tackle ageism and utilise the skills workforce rather than lose it. Those of you who are regular viewers of BBC’s The Thick of It (think Nicola Murray and her ‘fourth sector’ plans) will perhaps see the funny side.

University places shortage

Despite government accusations of ‘scaremongering’, the HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) has warned that budget cuts in the higher education sectors would leave thousands of prospective students without a university place. According to the HEFCE, 160,000 students who applied last year missed out on university places which will increase competition for university places this year as last year’s rejected and this year’s potential students fight for fewer places.

All in all, it’s been a trying month for the public sector with all political parties desperately trying to unveil seemingly recession-ending policies whilst criticising their opponents’ plans. This will only intensify in the next few months in the lead up to the general election and it remains to be seen who will ascend to the government throne. But until then, don’t take the budget cuts too seriously just yet. Nothing is certain until the fat lady sings. And at the moment, she’s nowhere to be seen, let alone heard.

The latest news is that the government would now like private sector companies to provide their own cloud for public sector use as an alternative to the G-Cloud.  Government IT chief John Suffolk explained at the launch of Socitm’s IT Trends 2009-10 Report that the new advice was due to the vastly different demands of public sector bodies such as healthcare providers and the police force.

It seems to be getting more controversial by the day. Sharing data in a centralised platform is a huge security risk. Outsourcing this shared data to a variety of private sector companies – albeit specialist – is an even greater risk. And although the government assures us that anyone providing a computing cloud platform would need to be fully accredited before they can offer secure data storage to public sector organisations (and John Suffolk insists that personal data will not be kept on the G-cloud until it is absolutely ready), I am not sure how this will work in practice. You only need to pick up any newspaper or browse any news site to read about the latest ‘confidential data lost’ scandal. It also makes for a greater accountability issue. If and when mistakes are made, will it be possible to trace the source of the error?

Even so, the government are hoping this centralised infrastructure system will be successfully implemented within the next three years.  And as their policy has been met with support from all political sides, it is highly likely that this will go ahead.

Who knows, it may mark the beginning of a new era for public sector ICT. It may actually deliver on its promises and benefit all involved. In the meantime, we at Jobsgopublic would like to hear from you.

Do you think the G-cloud is a good idea? Why? Or do you feel uncomfortable with an online data storage system?  Let us know your thoughts.

And as if the imminent cuts weren’t enough to strike fear into every public sector workers heart, the media seems to be on a mission to paint the public sector in the most blackest of terms. Stories of failing children’s services and senior officials losing confidential data abound. We need to put this in perspective: many public services are over-stretched, yes, and it is clear there does need to be a major shake-up in specific areas (especially children’s services) but it is the nature of news organisations to report the unusual stories, the shocking stories, the stories of incompetence and negligence, not the success stories (unless particularly unusual or ‘feel good’). And there are success stories within the public sector. A lot of them. We at Jobsgopublic work regularly with a vast range of councils up and down the country to improve their recruitment systems and show them how to utilise talent in candidates from all backgrounds. We are working hard to improve things within the sector and we are succeeding. And as I mentioned in a previous blog, the public sector remains a great sector to be involved in. There will be cuts, but this is the case across the economy in all sectors. And while the public sector is going to be hit hard (no doubt about it), salaries are still higher in many areas when compared to the private sector and there are generous retirement packages. And there are still jobs going: hundreds of them. If you don’t believe us, look here. At the time of blogging, we have currently 1,084 live job vacancies available. This number is highly likely to increase as 2010 picks up speed.

It occurs to me that all this pessimistic talk in the media around the public sector has become something of a trend. But I wonder how much of this pessimism is going to be self-perpetuating. What came first after all: the chicken or the egg? So don’t let all this media pessimism and scare mongering de-motivate you in your job search.  Ride the internet waves and browse public sector job boards in the UK. Not just ours (although we’d love you to come back and maybe even apply for a few jobs!) but everywhere. You’ll see there are huge numbers of public sector jobs out there for a wide range of levels. In fact, record numbers of graduates are starting out in careers in the public sector, according to a November survey carried out by the Higher Education Careers Service Unit. Why? Because these graduates know it’s the place to be in the future. So whether you are just starting out, moving sectors or if you’ve been working in the public sector for years: take heart.  There are jobs out there – you just need to find the right one.

All you need to do is sign up to our Jobs-By-Email service, register your details, tell us about the type of jobs you are looking for and bingo! You’ll receive relevant job vacancies delivered straight to your inbox whenever they’re added to our network. Meaning you can spend more time applying rather than searching for your next job.

Of course, we can’t guarantee you a job from the vacancies we send through (although we’d like to!) but it does free up a lot more of your time so you can get on with the nitty gritty.

Still not convinced? Here are my top 5 reasons why you should register for Jobs-By-Email:

• Convenient: the automatically-generated alerts delivered straight to your given e-mail will prevent you having to manually search for jobs that may not be relevant anyway
• Time-saving: frees up more time for filling out job applications
• Efficient: Receiving these alerts will highlight job vacancies you may otherwise have missed
• Motivating: The regularity of these emails will keep you motivated in your job search
• Discreet: Receiving these emails instead of looking at live vacancies during work hours will be less conspicuous to other colleagues/your boss if you are looking for a job or career change.

Oh yes: and did I also mention it’s absolutely, utterly, definitely and entirely free?