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News and Comment January 2015

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23 January (Part 1) - Send them to Coventry

I kept the postman busy this morning. One SpecSaver leaflet, one pizza advert and four Bexley related letters. The one on Bexley council notepaper was the most puzzling. It said the council aren’t going to include paying-in slips with the next council tax bill. Why should I care, I’ve never used them?
Slips
My file of council tax bills doesn’t include any payment slips but I probably threw them away and I vaguely remember there may have been ten of them in a pack. If I am right it looks as though 24,500 people will have received a letter like mine plus all those people who actually used the slips.

I don’t understand how any money will be saved this year or perhaps for several years, It’s all been wasted on postage costs. Why wasn’t an advice note included in the tax bill envelope? It’s not as though the advance notice will give any practical advantage.

It is perhaps an illustration of just how desperate Bexley council’s financial woes are. Within the past few days we’ve learned that the council is tightening the screw on the sick and disabled and saving money by sending the homeless to Manchester, even though one couple were in local employment. I think I have a brilliant idea…

Move council jobs up there too.

There must be some back room jobs that could be done anywhere. What about the desk jobs in the parking gestapo? The parking shop is long gone, everything is done by phone or internet now. They don’t have to sit in a London office.

The same goes for some of the Contact Centre staff. The fad for large companies hiring support staff in Delhi is largely over, but BT, for example, had, probably still has, support staff working from home on the end of fast net connection. Do we need all the planning staff to be on top of the job? Maybe a mobile handful to tour the borough while the rest stay in their offices.

OK, so you think I have gone off my rocker, but according to council insiders this is exactly what we have to look forward to. Relocate or resign.

Note: Not necessarily Manchester, just somewhere cheaper than Bexley.

 

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