Non-job of the week 0

Tim Aker Burning Our Money

This week’s non-job from South Gloucestershire Council:

“Community Engagement Manager
£43,596 – £47,918

Under the direction of the Head of Safer and Stronger Communities:-

To lead on the development, monitoring and implementation of policies, strategies and action to engage and strengthen the diverse communities in South Gloucestershire.
To provide effective management of a range of corporate functions which support the Community Strategy, the Local Area Agreement and the Council Plan.
To develop effective partnerships with statutory, third sector and voluntary organisations, including Town and Parish Councils.

As you would expect from a high performing Council, we offer excellent benefits including:

Final salary pension scheme
Generous holiday entitlement
Childcare vouchers
Family friendly policies
Concessionary fitness club membership
Car sharing scheme
Relocation package”

Anything else the council wants to offer as way of benefits? In tough economic times, councils shouldn’t be recruiting at the rate they are, stuffing Town Halls full of non-jobbers while the taxpayer has to foot the bill as well as struggling with the soaring costs of food, utilities and fuel.

We’ve all had to put up with Councils scaling back bin collections and bringing in new charges for services we all expect our Council Tax to pay for. As the front line crumbles, the fat cats sit bloated in the Town Hall counting their up their money. Will this ‘community engagement manager’ make a blind bit of difference to taxpayers in South Gloucestershire? I doubt it. If they were being paid to empty your bin, deliver meals on wheels or tend the public parks, then it’s a service people consume and reasonably it requires payment through tax to complete the exchange. If government got back to basics and provided services people expect, rather than filling its payroll with an enormous bureaucracy, they’d be able to lower taxes and provide services people want.