The London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ Parking Services is looking for a Policy and Performance Enhancing Manager. Paying between £42,258 – £44,910, the candidate will have to fit-in with the Service ethos, “firm but fair” (no, I’m not joking!)

The council has done itself no favours by giving the role a ridiculous job title, and a job description that goes on for 2000 words. We are told the successful applicant will manage a team of up to 12 people. I am assuming these 12 people will be office-based staff (as there is no mention of managing parking wardens), which then makes me wonder how many people there are working in Parking Services. This may or may not be a non-job, but there are times when you read job descriptions and you realise the longer they are, the more pointless the job is! Continue Reading

Oxford City Council again this week. For the record, I do not check this council’s website every week, desperately trying to root out any non-jobs. It simply comes up on the usual websites I check. This week it is looking for an Assistant Energy Officer, paying between £21,519 – £24,646 per annum. After some very lengthy job descriptions of late, this one is short. The main duties and responsibilities are to ‘support Oxford City Council’s Climate Change Officer in delivering key parts of the Carbon Management Programme’.
Continue Reading

If I continue to write about Oxford City Council, I am worried I will get an e-mail from their solicitor accusing me of harassing them! I am going to risk it again this week though. On 1 June I wrote the council was looking for a Business Improvement Partner. It seems all has not gone to plan, and it is advertising the post once again. Perhaps someone is trying to tell them something or perhaps the Performance Improvement Manager is getting lonely? Continue Reading

At the end of July, I commented that Oxford City Council was advertising for a Business Improvement Manager. I also commented that the council had previously advertised twice for a Performance Improvement Manager, and a Business Improvement Partner. This was on top of all the other jobs with similar titles. Once again, life is not going smoothly in this famous city. It appears that the council’s search for its new Business Improvement Manager has also hit the buffers, and once again it is advertising the same post, on the same salary of £41,616 – £46,673. Lesser mortals would think someone was trying to tell them something, but nothing is going to stop Oxford creating its mini-department of change and performance. It’s rather like the local government equivalent of a long-running soap opera! Continue Reading

The London Borough of Havering is still looking for a Programme Office Manager. It isn’t the first time that Havering has been under the microscope. The council has recently been searching for a Performance Improvement Officer. The vacancy for the former says that an “exciting opportunity has arisen to manage the programme office for two programmes”. The description suggests that the successful candidate will work with the existing Transformation Manager. Which makes you wonder why, if the position is so critical to providing taxpayers with a good service, is it only being created now? Continue Reading

In last week’s bulletin sent out to all our supporters, I asked for examples of increases in parking charges across the country. Many thanks to those who got in touch. (If you would like to receive our weekly bulletin, sent out every Friday, click on this link to sign-up)

It appears that many councils are planning increases, or are considering charges on evenings and weekends. Some councils regard motorists as the gift that keeps on giving, however as we have highlighted this year, some councils – Wiltshire Council in particular – have found themselves in the eye of a storm as drivers desert town and city centres to visit and shop in other places that are cheaper to park.

Brighton and Hove Council has been in the news lately because the ruling Green administration is planning to refuse the extra cash from the government to help freeze council tax. It instead plans to increase it by 3.5%. Cllr Jason Kitcat, the finance portfolio holder, was awarded our Pin Head of the Month prize in November for this action that will increase the burden on council taxpayers. But it’s not just council tax bills that will increase. Car parking increases are on the way too. Continue Reading

A new year dawns, but unfortunately the same old non-jobs remain. Thanks to an eagle-eyed supporter, I’ve discovered that ‘a central government client’ is searching for an Interim Diversity Professional. The daily rate for this non-job is a whopping £375-£400. That’s an annualised salary of around £100K for making sure the government doesn’t discriminate against its employees, even though it’s illegal to do so. It seems as if the war on non-jobs in Whitehall is proving ineffectual when you read job adverts like this one.

Newham Borough council is looking for a Hearty Lives Project Manager. The purpose of this job is to ‘increase children and young peoples [sic] physical activity levels and promote heart health activity to prevent ill health.’ Continue Reading

Last year I commented regularly on the amount of improvement managers and officers Oxford City Council was advertising for. The council has previously advertised for a Business Improvement Manager, a Performance Improvement Manager and a Business Improvement Manager (both twice), and a Business Improvement Partner. It is now advertising for a Business Improvement Officer. This is a permanent, full-time position, paying between £25,472 – £28,636.  Continue Reading