Politically correct 'non jobs' cost the taxpayer £600million a year
Last updated at 08:59 28 December 2007
Politically correct 'non-jobs' costing
the taxpayer almost £600million have
been advertised in the past year, it
emerged last night.
The 15,700 posts were offered by local councils
and quangos in the Guardian newspaper's
controversial 'Jobzilla' Society section.
They paid an average salary of £38,000 – a
fifth more than in the private sector.
They included a raft of politically correct
jobs, according to the TaxPayers' Alliance
pressure group.
Examples ranged from a community
empowerment network programme manager
at Thurrock Council in Essex – paying almost
£30,000 – to assistant chief executive (value
for money) at Charnwood Borough Council
in Leicestershire.
The latter post – supposed to save the taxpayer
money – pays £55,000 a year.
In November alone, Hackney Council and
the East London NHS Foundation Trust
each offered three separate equality and
diversity jobs paying £39,030 each – a total
salary bill of more than £225,000.
The phenomenon, which has continued
despite a promise by Gordon Brown three
years ago to cut non-essential posts, was
branded Jobzilla after the all-devouring
screen monster Godzilla.
Peter Cuthbertson, research fellow for the
TPA, said: 'The public sector is clogged with
these ridiculous jobs, draining huge amounts
of resources away from essential activities.
"It's insulting to expect taxpayers who
struggle to meet the taxman's demands to
foot the bill for unnecessary roles."
Every Wednesday, the Guardian's Society
supplement fills its 40 to 50 pages with
adverts for public sector jobs.
The TPA said that, over the past 12 months, 15,678 jobs have
been offered by councils and Government
bodies, with a total salary bill of £585million.
The final cost to the taxpayer will be even
higher when the cost of advertising the posts
is factored in.
Each council spends an average of £394,000
a year on job adverts. Across the country, the
total spend would be £185million.
The salaries paid for the 'non-jobs' are
described as 'staggering' by the TPA.
The average full-time position on offer in the
Guardian's pages is £38,508, which is £7,606
more than in the private sector.
The benefits listed range from a '£3,053
location allowance' to a '£1,000 essential car
user allowance' and a £675 environmental
allowance.
Some of the job descriptions are vague or
meaningless, according to the TPA.
The advert for Charnwood's assistant chief
executive (value for money) says: "We
emphatically don't want a one-off, cost-cutting
approach; instead, you'll create a mainstream
culture of asking the right questions,
persuading people to embrace the issue of
VfM rather than avoiding it."
The TPA's annual non-jobs report said: "We
would have thought a cost-cutting approach
was exactly what was needed!"
TPA spokesman Tim Aker said: "It's now
inexcusable for anyone to say tax cuts mean
fewer frontline services.
"Each non-job representing bureaucratic,
politically correct council over-staffing is
taxpayers' money diverted from essential
services.
"Taxpayers should demand lower tax bills
and an end to these non-jobs."
Earlier this year, the TPA revealed the
number of council 'fat cats' earning salaries
of more than £100,000 has risen by a third,
up to 578 in 2005-2006, from 429 in the previous
year.
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