Terms & Conditions

[Ian Stephens]

I know this isn’t strictly the correct place to do this, but I would like to advertise that Caradon has a Benefit assessor position to fill. If anyone knows someone who would like to come to sunny Cornwall or if indeed anyone reading this would like a change of scenery please contact me. We are looking for someone with experience (isn’t everyone), but obviously we will consider all options.

[Anonymous]

So make us an offer we can’t refuse…

[Ian Stephens]

I wish I could but we are limited to what we can offer, in this instance for an experienced assessor we pay scale 3 (£13,581 – £14,532) and a technician will get a 4 (£14,817 – £16.155). I’m not sure if this is attractive to other LA’s or not as I am unsure what others pay, although the Cornish way of life certainly makes up for any lack of financial gain.

[Anonymous]

[quote:9c947e3f4d=”Ian Stephens”]I wish I could but we are limited to what we can offer, in this instance for an experienced assessor we pay scale 3 (£13,581 – £14,532) and a technician will get a 4 (£14,817 – £16.155). I’m not sure if this is attractive to other LA’s or not as I am unsure what others pay, although the Cornish way of life certainly makes up for any lack of financial gain.[/quote:9c947e3f4d]

If you throw in accomodation with the package I’ll apply! 😉

[Anonymous]

If those figures are weekly (or monthly at a push) then I’m there!

In all seriousness though it does highlight the disparity in pay scales throughout the country for doing the same job. In the leafy home counties we’d have no staff at all advertising at those rates (and some authorities still struggle to get staff at much higher rates).

[ann_i]

Are there any LA’s out there willing to divulge what scale their Benefit Assessors and Training Officers are on ❓

[Anonymous]

I will happily tell you the rates in Bath, but only by email! 8)

[ann_i]

email on its way to you

[Anonymous]

When I worked as an assessor in Cardiff, assessors were Sc2-4 with experienced assessors on 4 regardless of qualifiactions

Team leaders were 6
The Training and Review Board Officer was PO1

I left LB Lewisham about 6 years ago, at that time Assessors were Sc5, senior assessors Sc6/SO1

Team leaders PO1
Training Officers P03

Many London Boroughs now pay SO1 for experienced assessors

All of these scales are exclusive of London Weighting which has to be addded depending on whether the inner London or outer London weighting is appropriate

The pay for those doing Tribunal work seems not to reflect their skills as progression up the career scale seems to depend on how many staff are managed, and of course Tribunal presenting officers often dont manage staff

[Anonymous]

The outsourcing company that had the contract at LB Ealing some time ago recruited assessors in Liverpool to work on HB claims in Ealing.

I presume they did this because the could not attract assessors inEaling on the pay they were offering so they got them cheaper in Liverpool.

Will they go to Mumbay or Bangalore next?

[Anonymous]

I know of another LA in Cornwall that pays less than the one at the top of this pile…

The problem lies in the geographical area the LA covers. If the next nearest LA is 25 miles away, that is a 50 mile round trip. The LA exploits this as they know your very unlikely to go to the next LA, even if a vacancy arises. In London, it is easy to ‘jump ship’ as there are 32 employers, each with large caseloads, (some have massive caseloads, though I think Birmingham CC is the biggest at 130,000?), but it shows that ‘National’ Grading is noting of the sort. If a job is worth scale 6, SO1 etc, surely it should be that nationally?

The biggest laugh about salaries is how LA’s are happy to spend 100% more than the total cost of employing permanent staff to a temp agency, but will not increase the salary scale of the permanent post by a scale or two to get it filled….

As someone who has written JD’s and had personal evaluate the JD at the rate I wanted… and who has also written JD’s for evaluation without ‘management input’, I know a wee thing or two about certain LA practices, but my lips are sealed. But whilst permanent at LB Ealing, I was one of those members of staff who in 1994 went on strike rather than see ‘Eden Brownies’ ‘take away’ National Terms and Conditions… Have I mellowed, or just become more cynical…. hummmmmm????

[Anonymous]

I dont think so John, its just that you have worked in same places I have over the years.

[Anonymous]

Ok… 2 points in defence of Caradon.

1. Average wage – the average wage in the westcountry is so much lower than that in the more affluent south east that any comparison with wages there is pretty much meaningless. Whilst at Torbay we do pay significantly more than that offered by Ian we certainly could never compete with London wages and it would be wrong for us to try, the average wage in Torbay is £13k (yes Phil that is pa not weekly!).

2. Quality of life – Life is more than 9-5! i have a lovely wife and two great kids. The idea of taking a hefty pay cut and moving to Cornwall is [b:e4cc865dea][u:e4cc865dea]far [/u:e4cc865dea][/b:e4cc865dea]more appealing than the PO3 training position in stinky London!!

sorry i’ll climb off my soap box now as i realise i’m starting to sound like a bit of a country bumpkin!
8)

[Ian Stephens]

thanks Scot for your reply. I was slightly irritated by some of the London comments, but chose not to waste my time trying to justify Caradon’s pay structure (I can assure you it has nothing to do with exploiting workers as one person has mentioned). However it is what I expected from them as I live with a Londoner, i know they think they know everything and the world revolves around them and their city!!!

In all seriousness, I have been speaking to our Director of Finance about regrading our assessors and thanks to everyone’s responses have further evidence to support my case.

[Anonymous]

I work in London, but I was born in Darlington and lived there until I was 30.

I moved to Brighton in order to get a degree, then moved to South Wales, and then to London in 1993.

I am fully aware that things are more expensive in London and that wages are higher, and I resent paying around £2.50 or even more in some parts for a pint, especially given that Wetherpoon charge much less even in London, (so take that as evidence of my ongoing Northern credentials.)

I still think that it was a cynical move on ITNET’s part employing workers at their Liverpool site to do claims for LB Ealing. Those of you who read Private Eye will be well aware of the Eyes title for the company and I will not repeat it here, but I think that title is an apt description of the wages they wanted to pay at the time, hence my comment re Bangalore

I also think paying Scale 3 for an exeperienced and skilled assessor is appalling and that the salary scales should be National scales. London weighting may need reviewing given the astronomical cost of housing in London, but housing costs are catching up elsewhere, and so wages should reflect this.

[Author]

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