Latest clock-off research

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Four-day week council’s productivity crisis

Continuing our campaign against the public sector clock off ([link removed]) , new TPA research this week has exposed the flaws and unrealistic expectations in South Cambridgeshire’s plan to improve productivity.
Any organisation moving to a four-day week would have to increase their productivity by 25 per cent to get five days worth of work done in four. Despite this, the council claims that simple management changes, such as sending fewer emails and making sure that everyone at a meeting is there for a reason, will somehow boost productivity by 25 per cent. Yet as our head of research, Phil Basey, points out in the paper ([link removed]) : “Public sector productivity only increased 4.1 per cent in total in the 20 years up to 2019, before the onset of the covid pandemic.”

If making such simple changes could unleash such a huge increase in local authority employees’ productivity, taxpayers will surely conclude that this underperforming town hall has been over staffed for years. Clearly the saving on staff should have been passed on to local ratepayers, particularly when council tax was raised by the maximum permitted this year.

Council claims about savings made are even undermined by their own report. As our research shows, using the council’s own figures, they’re saving just half of what they say. Local residents are facing reduced services and rising tax bills, whilst the people they pay for are given an extra day off every week.
As our head of campaigns, Elliot Keck, explains in a hard-hitting op-ed for CapX ([link removed]) : “The four-day week sounds too good to be true, and it is. Unless you have been mismanaging time to a huge extent, you cannot simply reduce hours worked and increase productivity to fully make up for it.”

With other councils, such as Bassetlaw and Glasgow, mulling their own experiments ([link removed]) , our efforts are more important than ever. You can back our campaign by signing our petition here.

We are completely reliant on the generosity of our supporters. You can chip in and back our work by clicking here to donate.
Big bucks for BBC bigwigs

The BBC was back in the news this week with fresh questions around trust and transparency. While many people were focussed on the headlines, our team was poring over Auntie’s latest annual accounts and making some alarming findings. Shockingly, the bigwigs at the broadcaster are really bringing home the bacon, with a £72 million bill for all BBC employees earning over £100,000 ([link removed]) .

Adding insult to injury the average salary at the BBC for all staff is a handsome £49,305, 78 per cent more than the average salary for the rest of the country.

The problem with all of this? The BBC is funded through the licence fee, an effective TV tax. No matter what you think of the Beeb, you have to cough up if you own a TV whether you watch the BBC or not.

Our chief executive, John O’Connell, was quick to call out this latest kick in the teeth for licence fee payers ([link removed]) telling Express readers: “If the BBC wants to pay these huge sums, they should move to a subscription model and axe the tax.” A point that Elliot also made live on GB News ([link removed]) , “the BBC is not going through a good time… and people who want to opt out do not have the choice to do so.”

Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way. Our research has shown ([link removed]) just how the BBC can be reformed and the licence fee scrapped.

You can stay up to date with our campaign to Axe the Tax by clicking here! ([link removed])
TaxPayers' Alliance in the news

Plane silly

We all want to see our nation’s leaders flying our flag on the world stage, but it takes the biscuit that the government blew nearly £800,000 painting a flag on a second prime ministerial plane, which we revealed this week. Is one not enough?

Venting the frustration felt across the country, our media campaign manager Conor Holohan told the Mirror ([link removed]) taxpayers would be livid, and added: “Ministers should rein in their love of luxury.”
Networking or not working?

We’ve warned before ([link removed]) of the woke NHS network events that take staff away from the front lines. This week, our investigation revealed that these networks put on almost a thousand events between January 2022 and March 2023, which has lost the NHS a whopping 26,000 working hours.
John told the Daily Mail ([link removed]) : “Health bosses were warned about the cost placed on the NHS by staff networks. Yet still these groups are taking up vast amounts of staff time, while waiting lists show little sign of coming down.” It’s high time ministers stepped in and got staff back to work.
Cheap as chips

It continues to shock taxpayers that meals served on the parliamentary estate are subsidised. Surely parliamentarians on generous taxpayer-funded wages can afford to feed themselves?

Our digital campaign manager, Joe Ventre, told the Sunday Express: “While Brits grapple with high food inflation, parliamentarians tuck in to cheap meals at their expense. These catering subsidies should have been scrapped long ago."
Blog of the week
Global Quangos Uncovered: Association of Commonwealth Universities

As part of our Global Quangos Uncovered ([link removed]) campaign, TPA intern Callum McGoldrick has taken a long look ([link removed]) at the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), which receives millions from taxpayers every year, £7 million in 2021/22 alone.
Needless to say, Callum didn’t love what he found, and neither will taxpayers ([link removed]) . While the ACU’s stated goals sounded reasonable enough - building a “better world through education” - Callum’s view was that many of its methods are “activism for a political cause.” It’s long past time that these organisations are properly scrutinised. That’s exactly why we launched our campaign. Find out more here ([link removed]) .
War on Waste

Nicola Sturgeon must really be missing her taxpayer-backed credit card. Because following on from last week’s revelations about the £150,000 cost of sending her and other officials to a climate conference, it now turns out she’s billed taxpayers for yet another jolly, this time it’s a farewell tour! ([link removed])

While she did the rounds of various TV studios, the former First Minister stayed in a hotel room costing more than £500 a night, while using business class to get to London. Brits who are having to scrimp and save will not look kindly on this flight of fancy!

Please send me your examples of wasteful public sector spending (mailto:[email protected])

Benjamin Elks
Operations Manager

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