Winter fuel payments cut Options

[Richard Garvie]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12846318

The yearly tax-free payment to help people pay for their heating in the winter was worth £250 for the over 60s last week, and £400 for the over 80s.

But the payment will revert to £200 and £300 for the two age groups in the winter of 2011-12.

[NWNREADER]

I don't have a problem with someone making a business out of providing a service, as long as the cost remains well within the cost before they took it on. Councils and Governments tend to make a sows ear out of actually running things, so private enterprise can often deliver as effectively for a lower contract price.
It is not an ideal world, and there is not an ideal solution. PFI is proving to be outrageously enriching for the contractor.

[Cognosco]

I don't have a problem with someone making a business out of providing a service, as long as the cost remains well within the cost before they took it on. Councils and Governments tend to make a sows ear out of actually running things, so private enterprise can often deliver as effectively for a lower contract price.
It is not an ideal world, and there is not an ideal solution. PFI is proving to be outrageously enriching for the contractor.

Just take hospital cleaning as an example. Since private contractors took over not only has hospital cleaning standards declined but cleaners pay and conditions has declined as well so the only gain is the profits for shareholders. The poor patients have lost out again with infections spreading and dirty toilets and wards etc.

Catering that has gone to private contractors has declined as well. Look at the case that has just been won by a patient that, because the food he was provided with whilst in hospital was inedible, was forced to let his relatives buy and bring in food from outside. The court agreed and the hospital was forced to repay his costs.

I too am not against making procedures more efficient but because of all the time and motion studies etc carried out in the recent past the only way for private contractors to make money is to cut corners and workers pay and that usually means patients suffer in the long run and the taxpayers are not getting value for money.

[NWNREADER]

Just take hospital cleaning as an example. Since private contractors took over not only has hospital cleaning standards declined but cleaners pay and conditions has declined as well so the only gain is the profits for shareholders. The poor patients have lost out again with infections spreading and dirty toilets and wards etc.

Catering that has gone to private contractors has declined as well. Look at the case that has just been won by a patient that, because the food he was provided with whilst in hospital was inedible, was forced to let his relatives buy and bring in food from outside. The court agreed and the hospital was forced to repay his costs.

I too am not against making procedures more efficient but because of all the time and motion studies etc carried out in the recent past the only way for private contractors to make money is to cut corners and workers pay and that usually means patients suffer in the long run and the taxpayers are not getting value for money.

Those issues - which I agree arise - are because the people who draw up the contracts are commercially inept and the level of checks on service delivery are laughable (or would be were it not so serious). There is an issue with so much public service that the private sector struggles with - many public sector staff are 'vocation' driven. They care. The commercial side tends to struggle to accommodate that as it cannot be costed. In particular, the managers tend to want to charge for that extra level of service leading to headlines about people being told to stop doing 'nice' things.