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Thousands of Council Staff Allowed to ‘Work From Beach’

by Will Jones
30 December 2024 3:00 PM

Thousands of council staff have been allowed to work from the beach since the pandemic despite six authorities declaring bankruptcy in that time. The Telegraph has more.

Council bosses approved more than 2,000 requests for staff to work from abroad in the past four years, allowing employees to sign in from holiday destinations such as Barbados, South Africa and Thailand. 

Last year, councils approved 731 staff requests, a rise from 708 in 2022 and 440 in 2021, according to Freedom of Information requests obtained by the Taxpayers’ Alliance lobby group. 

It comes as data from the Office for National Statistics showed that public service productivity in the second quarter of this year  was 8.5% below pre-pandemic levels at the end of 2019. 

Meanwhile council tax bills in England are set to rise by up to 5% in April, adding an above-inflation increase of more than £100 to average bills.

Matthew Pennycook, Communities Minister, told the Commons in November that this was the “right threshold”, as he pointed to the pressures on council budgets.

Mr. Pennycook said the Government expected an extra £1.8 billion to be raised through council tax in 2025-26.

At Labour-run Islington Council, bosses have approved 330 trips since 2020. Staff  were allowed to work from numerous Caribbean islands famed for their golden sand beaches including St Lucia and Montserrat. 

The Caribbean proved to be a popular destination for council staff. There were 10 approved requests to work from Jamaica including from one senior employee at Haringey who earns in excess of £77,000 a year. 

Somerset County Council and Powys County Council in Wales approved multiple trips to Barbados with one member of Somerset staff working from the island for two and a half weeks. 

The longest known trip was made by a member of staff at Wigan Council who was allowed to work from France for two years without having to move back to Britain. 

But while its staff were working from abroad, Wigan Council increased council tax this year by 5% – the maximum it is allowed to do so – just like 95% of other councils in England. 

It means the average family home has been forced to pay an extra £120 in council tax in 2025-2026.

Worth reading in full.

Tags: COVID-19Local AuthoritiesPublic sectorTax RisesWasteWFHWork from home

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19 Comments
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Art Simtotic
Art Simtotic
1 month ago

Informative graph, but Pakistan and Bangladesh notably absent – camouflaged by British citizenship and/or difficult to track stats for non-citizens?

0
0
Marcus Aurelius knew
Marcus Aurelius knew
1 month ago
Reply to  Art Simtotic

They are on the chart. Both names overlaying each other, mixed in with Nigeria and Slovakia.

2
0
Art Simtotic
Art Simtotic
1 month ago
Reply to  Marcus Aurelius knew

Okay thanks, gotcha.

0
0
CGW
CGW
1 month ago
Reply to  Art Simtotic

They are overwritten bottom left, just above Latvia and Slovakia.
The question is, what are our authorities going to do with this table? Ignore it, I suppose.

Last edited 1 month ago by CGW
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0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
1 month ago

Just look at US crime statistics by race.

1
0
Mogwai
Mogwai
1 month ago

Bit of a change of tack from Farage here;

“But it is our intention, ultimately, that if you’ve come illegally, you should not be able to stay.”

”Nigel Farage has announced a change in Reform UK’s policy on illegal immigration, now seeming to support, at least in principle, the mass deportation of ALL illegal immigrants in Britain.

“I know the problem is huge, because there are an estimated 1.2 million people here illegally. And going beyond the last 100,000 is not going to be an easy job. It’s going to be one hell of a battle, and we know that the state, the apparatus of state, will fight us at every point.”

This follows his comments last year, in an interview with Steven Edginton on GB News, where he said it was not his ambition to deport all illegal immigrants, saying “it is a political impossibility.”

During the press conference, Farage also said:

“We will bring a total end to all asylum claims from people who have come here on travel visas, or who are overseas students.”

“We will demand the deportation of all foreign criminals.”

He promises Reform will appoint a Minister for Deportations if the win the next general election.

He also suggests the citizenship of foreign nationals given the right to remain in Britain may be revisited if they commit crimes.

Are Reform listening to criticism that they have softened on immigration lately?

Farage promises further policy announcements in three-to-four weeks’ time.”

https://x.com/Con_Tomlinson/status/1915357142988546439

4
0
NeilParkin
NeilParkin
1 month ago
Reply to  Mogwai

They are still building the policy platform, and so some fluidity in the detail is to be expected.

3
0
LizT
LizT
1 month ago
Reply to  NeilParkin

Is that Neil-speak for Nigel’s flip flopping? He seems to be blowing in the wind these days, particularly since his chairman bought his way in and they set up yet another limited company together

0
0
RW
RW
1 month ago

Nationalities don’t commit crimes. People commit crimes and people also have a nationality. That there are lots of Albanian criminals in the UK doesn’t meant lots of Albanians are criminals (they might or might not be but nothing about this follows from the initial observation).

2
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
1 month ago
Reply to  RW

You’re right, but at a group level, some groups are more inclined than others to certain behaviours. The much more interesting question is what do you do with the information. There are various options, none of which will be followed.

3
0
RW
RW
1 month ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

Groups have no behaviour. If some set of people is artificially partioned into some set groups and one then looks for a certain propery among group members, the rate of occurence of the property will vary between the artificially created groups, as it would also vary for any other conceivable artificial partition. This is essentially historical information of no conceivable use beyond being descriptive for the period of time which is covered.

In addition to this, the population numbers used to calculate the imprisonment rates are estimates aka guesses as the actual numbers are unknown and the rates are really pretty low. Eg, according to the Noah Carl article, 70.3 of every 1000 Albanians in the UK are in prison. That’s 7.03% which means that about 13.2 Albanians in the UK aren’t in prison for every Albanian in the UK who is.

If you have an idea what should be done to these 13 Albanians because of the 1 Albanian in prison, I’d like to know about it. My idea would be nothing.

Last edited 1 month ago by RW
0
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
1 month ago
Reply to  RW

I would stop all immigration for a few centuries. If I ever restarted it I would favour races that had a track record of developing advanced civilisations whose history and culture were similar to ours- basically, white Europeans. I believe that would make our country a better place to live in than alternative approaches. As to those already here, deport all illegals and cut back welfare hoping that at least some of those making a negative contribution would decide to leave. Deport all foreign criminals.

6
0
RW
RW
1 month ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

That’s principally something I agree with. But not because of statistics like the one mentioned in this article which I consider essentially meaningless minus better truisms like Operations of criminals are more mobile than those of people who aren’t.

Last edited 1 month ago by RW
0
0
Jack the dog
Jack the dog
1 month ago

Kind of welcome but only a baby step in the right direction.

Valuable chiefly as an indication that the political weather is finally starting to change on this vital issue.

Long long way to go.

4
0

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