General Chat

Managers in the private sector haven't proliferated - in fact it is the opposite - it is the public sector that needs drastic pruning.

I worked for a major bank, before being made redundant at 57, which over the past 15 years saw management almost eliminated altogether. The is no longer a branch manager in the high street branch. The so called 'manager' today is no more than a senior supervisor earning a pittance.

I do get a pension, but is was only 75% of what I was promised due to being forced to leave early, and no chance of any state benefits as we were stupid enough to save a bit when I was working.

I read somewhere a few weeks ago that productivity in the public sector is around 70% less than in the private sector - certainly a wake up call is long overdue.

Marilyn, I've just checked because I had thought it was £400 a month also ....BUT from BBC

"Housing benefit: New maximum limit of £400 a week for properties with more than three bedrooms, £250 a week for a one-bedroom flat, £290 for a two-bedroom property and £340 for a three-bed property, to save £1.8bn a year by the end of the Parliament. "

Thank you Rose,

Sorry Brian you are correct..

Yes I have looked at that. from the BBC.

Well that's ridiculous , my son rents a big 5 bedroom house in Devon for £900 a month and its huge !!

I think these housing benefit figures are based on places like London and the city prices. Our two bedroomed bungalow in a quiet village and with a reasonable gerden, the rent is £74 a week. Anything much higher than that is a mansion!. It is profiteering by the landlords that brings prices up like that.
The NHS could save money by not throwing away perfectly good equipment that could be sterilized. I snaffled a pair of scissors that were to be thrown away after being used once, over ten years ago, and they are still the sharpest pair of small scissors I have got. I could go on about that sort of thing, Like the waste of cottonwool balls, which are too large and half the size would do.
Another thing is the postal costs of sending out a confirmation of an appointment that you have already been given an appointment card for, which happens here. As any housewife knows small economys mount up.

Thats a very good point Jean about the NHS , when we lived by the sea it was a common occurence to find medical waste washed up ( fly tipping i assume by contractors)...hundreds, literally, of toothbrushes , thrown away after one use for hygiene purposes...but these were not the 3 for £1 efforts that would suffice perfectly well for 1 use ...these were £2.99 'good ones'...such a waste.

Around here I think you can get a three bed semi for about £750 a month if I recall correctly what I saw in an estate agent's window recently.

There is apparently a case of a single mother with seven children whose landlord was charging twelve thousand a month, chargeable to the taxpayer. An isolated case maybe (hopefully), but it shows how badly designed the system is that such a thing can happen.
No limits and no sense by officialdom: after all it's not their money they are throwing away !