Freedom of information from local authority.

[Consumer dude]

I am waiting a response from the local authority regarding council tax which I understand they have 20 days to reply. If they fail within that time, what is the next step I should take ?

[Guest]

do you mean re a freedom of info act request, what are the circs?

[Consumer dude]

Does council tax pay for anything else apart from public services and if so, I request an itemised statement of such. Executive pensions for example. Reasonable request I think..

[Guest]

a formal FofI act request then?

according to the gov site, first complain to the recipient. then the ICO if no joy.

eg https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/official-information/

[citizenB]

Will your LA website not identify everything that your Council tax pays for ?

[Consumer dude]

Will your LA website not identify everything that your Council tax pays for ?

 

It may well give amounts for various, services, eg, police fire service and indeed any other public service. My main question is as re post three..

[citizenB]

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3005730/Third-council-tax-spent-staff-pensions-warns-leading-council-finance-chief.html

 

According to this article, a third of council tax money is used for Staff pensions, so I would say that the answer to your question is, yes !

[citizenB]

The article in post # 7 (2015) suggests a 1/3rd of council tax money goes to pensions whereas this one from 2013 suggests a quarter so it looks like things are getting worse !

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2512940/Quarter-council-tax-goes-funding-town-hall-pensions--5-7bn-handed-past-year-goes-paying-retirement-incomes.html

 

 

Experts predict that within three years the scheme will run out of cash. The weakest funds were already selling off assets just to bankroll existing pensioners.

 

 

 

 

 

‘Successive governments, irrespective of political hue, have, for decades, acted with irresponsible abandon when making provision for their own staff’s pensions. Pension promises have historically been worth roughly 35 per cent of salary, yet contributions have been only around 21 per cent: pure Madoff economics,’ he said, referring to the pyramid scheme which has been described as the biggest financial fraud of all time.

 

Mr Johnson’s report highlighted the massive disparities in administration management costs: £13.70 in Nottinghamshire per member compared to £119.40 in Durham.

 

 

 

 

Fund management costs were even more varied with City of London council workers paying £317.30 each compared to £7.60 in West Yorkshire.

 

 

 

[Consumer dude]

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3005730/Third-council-tax-spent-staff-pensions-warns-leading-council-finance-chief.html

 

According to this article, a third of council tax money is used for Staff pensions, so I would say that the answer to your question is, yes !

 

This is very interesting and most concerning. I will attempt to understand why I or any else should have to pay towards the pensions of council staff...

[Guest]

dude, have you already done a formal FoI request, or were you just pondering doing one.

[Consumer dude]

dude, have you already done a formal FoI request, or were you just pondering doing one.

 

I have already done so and

am waiting for a reply..

[honeybee13]

This is very interesting and most concerning. I will attempt to understand why I or any else should have to pay towards the pensions of council staff...

 

Yes, council taxpayers pay towards staff pensions, this is normal.

 

HB

[Ethel Street]

Does council tax pay for anything else apart from public services and if so, I request an itemised statement of such. Executive pensions for example. Reasonable request I think..

 

This is very interesting and most concerning. I will attempt to understand why I or any else should have to pay towards the pensions of council staff...

 

Why wouldn’t councils pay the employer contribution to staff pensions? It’s just part of staff pay.

 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3005730/Third-council-tax-spent-staff-pensions-warns-leading-council-finance-chief.html

 

According to this article, a third of council tax money is used for Staff pensions, so I would say that the answer to your question is, yes !

 

It’s someone’s prediction for 2019/20, not what they are spending now. As you say this is a percentage of Council Tax, but that’s only on average around a quarter of a council’s revenue, 75% comes from elsewhere. The quotation on its own could give the impression that a third of council spending is on staff pensions. Nothing like it. 5% maybe? Just guessing.

[Consumer dude]

Why should council tax even be paying pensions of staff of the council. I'm sure there is something I don't understand here and so am willing to be educated..

[Ethel Street]

Why should council tax even be paying pensions of staff of the council. I'm sure there is something I don't understand here and so am willing to be educated..

 

I don't understand why you think that's odd or unusual or shouldn't be done. All employers have to contribute to employees' pensions. It's part of staff pay. Why do you think council employees should be treated differently?

[Consumer dude]

I don't understand why you think that's odd or unusual or shouldn't be done. All employers have to contribute to employees' pensions. It's part of staff pay. Why do you think council employees should be treated differently?

 

I thought council tax was for public services, not to contribute towards private pensions..

[Ethel Street]

I thought council tax was for public services, not to contribute towards private pensions..

 

It is, but public services don't deliver themselves. People - council staff - deliver public services. Staff need to be paid (including their pension contributions). I don't understand why you thinks that's surprising or unacceptable.

[Consumer dude]

I personally do find it unacceptable that some council executives get gold plated pensions while basic public services are cut..

[Ethel Street]

I personally do find it unacceptable that some council executives get gold plated pensions while basic public services are cut..

 

What's a "gold plated pension"? Why is a "council executive's" pension any more gold plated than my daughter's, who's a school teaching assistant? They're in the same pension scheme and their pensions are calculated the same way. My daughter isn't paid as much as the chief executive of course, but whether public sector employees are paid too much or not enough is a completely different subject to the one you've raised.

[Consumer dude]

I didn't say that employers shouldn't pay the pensions of their employees but I just wanted to establish how they were paid for, hence the reason for my freedom of information request. I don't understand why they are late with the response. ..

[ericsbrother]

I personally do find it unacceptable that some council executives get gold plated pensions while basic public services are cut..

all of the pensions come out of the same pot so if the executives get gold plated ones then so to the street sweepers. The real difference is how big the salary is to generate the pension entitlement. as already stated

A FOI request can be refused if the information is already publicly available.

You have now bumped up your local council tax expenditure by committing pen to paper without proper thought of the consequences.

[Consumer dude]

How much does it really cost for them to reply ?

[ericsbrother]

because of how the law is set out about £20 plus any research costs. Typically about £45 for a request that requires one dept to deal with it, £100-150 when info has to be gathered across departments. One can argue that most staff costs are there anyway but the converse of that is they have to stop doing something else to deal with the FOI request. I think all the info should be accessible anyway and in this day and age not that difficult to just publish the raw data and let those who are interested in knowing the ins and outs do the computation. Very little would need to then require a FOI request but undoubtedly there will be fome old farts who refuse to use computers still sending in letters about published information.

[Consumer dude]

Update, have been sent email with a link, which at first observation does not appear to address my question, as regarding costs for the local authority to do this, it has not cost them anything as I can see, as it would be a job done in the ordinary course of a wage earners day. Having said that I wonder if a claim would be made by the local authority as if there were extra costs ?

[Ethel Street]

If the council pays someone £15 an hour and it takes them an hour to deal with your request then its cost the council £15. It's irrelevant that they would be paid anyway, because if they weren't dealing with your request then they would be doing whatever their day job is.