news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/8674891.stm
I'll confess I don't know the duties or responsibilities but isn't this a sort of "Christmas post" job? A few hours over a few weeks then, job done? And it pays - £20,000?! That's obscene. I wonder how many hours he clocked up doing this? Full marks for having the decency to turn it down and it's not his fault it pays £20,000, he didn't set the rate. But someone did and how is it justifiable? I'll do it for £10,000.
JH
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The root cause of most of our problems, out of control public spending. A music teacher I know was asked to judge a schools music competition - £250 a day. A former colleague teaches driving theory at the local college, about four hours at £100 a day. When I was an ADI contract work for the local authority was paid at £2.50 per hour more than I was charging my own pupils, and I wasn't cheap.
Multiply all that across the board and you will see where the taxes paid by the private sector are going.
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I looked into being a polling clerk - 130 quid flat rate, plus expenses which include time for training. Friend made £250.00 on the day.
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>>I looked into being a polling clerk
I wouldn't mind having a crack at that - just for the experience.
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There were other things happening that day for me or I would have ! I did some work as a student in a polling station but I seem to remember I wasn't paid !
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>> I wouldn't mind having a crack at that - just for the experience.
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It is interesting .
I have been in employed in a polling station and have been at several counts including this week. On the previous count I was counting Kelvin Mackenzie's votes with all the attending press.
It was initially a bit unnerving doing the count as the public sit immediately opposite you , " eyeball to eyeball" monitoring your every movement and soon draw attention to any of your mistakes.
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i couldnt do it
i would resort to pranks to annoy people like setting fire to pretend voting slips or eating them
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> i would resort to pranks to annoy people like setting fire to pretend voting slips or eating them
Lol that would make legendary news footage that night. It'd eclipse the results.
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>>I would resort to pranks to annoy people like setting fire to pretend voting slips or eating them
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Not a lot of time for fun when dealing with folks who have problem reading / doing as instructed. Then dealing with paperwork to sort out
- posted in the wrong box , messed up ballot paper etc. etc. Or trying to explain the rules to a helper who can hardly speak english what they can /cannot do when assisting their elderly charge.
Oh and sort your own catering out!
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>>130 quid flat rate, plus expenses>>
Well it is a 15-hour shift, plus the time to and from the polling station.
Unfortunately such "easy" money doesn't come around very often...:-)
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>> Unfortunately such "easy" money doesn't come around very often...:-)
This year I would think you wil be overworked!
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>> >> Unfortunately such "easy" money doesn't come around very often...:-)
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>> This year I would think you wil be overworked!
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I reckon we will be doing it all again within 6 months!
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>>I reckon we will be doing it all again within 6 months! >>
Very much doubt it...:-)
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The Returning Officer - as in this case - is usually the chief executive of the local authority.
The day job carries a six-figure salary - the chief exec of an authority near me is on £250,000.
If a chief exec has the time to be Returning Officer once every five years, than he is clearly being overpaid for the other four years.
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Sorry for the delay, but I’ve only just spotted this thread. I can speak with a degree of knowledge on what polling station staffs earn and what the job entails, having been a Presiding Officer at various elections over the past 5 or 6 years. I took redundancy/early retirement from the chemical industry and, other than paying my council tax, have no connection with the local authority. I applied to work at elections via a piece in a community newsletter, though it appeared that most people working at the elections were either employees or retired employees of the authority.
The Presiding Officer is ‘in charge’ and, depending on the size of the polling station, has one or more Poll Clerks to assist. I have always worked in rural East Anglia, which could probably be described as a cushy number, but I can imagine that a busy, multi-ethnic, urban polling station could be a nightmare.
I have a great deal of sympathy for staff working at polling stations that weren’t able to cope. On the one hand, THE LAW SAYS that the polls should close at 10pm whilst, on the other hand, all those who had a right to vote ought to be allowed to vote. Those people were in a no-win situation and under a great deal of pressure.
As a Presiding Officer, I attended a briefing meeting at the council offices (30 mile round trip) a day before the election and picked up the booth/ballot box/paperwork etc. This accounted for 3 hours and I was paid £40.
On Election Day, I left at 5.45am, picked up the Poll Clerk and arrived to set out the polling station at 6.20. The poll took from 7 ‘til 10, then we filled in the paperwork and delivered ballot box and paperwork to a local leisure centre where the count was taking place. We were only allowed to leave when it had been verified that our paperwork was in order. Arriving home at midnight, my pay for the day was £195. I also received £20 travelling expenses having covered 90 miles.
The postie delivered my pay + expenses cheque this morning - £208 after basic rate tax. I can’t see me getting rich on a once-every-2 years or so election (I include Euro, county etc elections). However, I was perturbed to hear from a friend who was a council employee in the Midlands that council staffs are paid this fee ON TOP OF their normal wage – I had assumed that they’d take a day’s holiday and earn this as a ‘working holiday’. I am even more disgusted to hear in an earlier post that the Returning Officer gets a whacking fee on top of his fat salary – surely this should be part of the job. But then, as a former industry worker, I’d better not get started on the subject of government waste!
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Can I be a returning officer please? - Robin O'Reliant
