Not long now before we get our new council tax bills,i havent yet heard what the increase is gonna be,but who thinks we get what we pay for in this fair city?

Businesses get stung the most. I have to pay over £400 per month for the CRB. It was double that for a small pub in the city centre!

The increase this year is going to be 4.9%.

That's before the precept for the police, etc. is added on which may be another 1%.

Bear in mind that your council tax is only 10% of what the council spends the rest being controlled, and supplied, by central government. So as to whether or not it is value for money is difficult to assess.

Originally posted by max
The increase this year is going to be 4.9%.

Bear in mind that your council tax is only 10% of what the council spends the rest being controlled, and supplied, by central government. So as to whether or not it is value for money is difficult to assess.

I take your point max

the part of the bill that always intrigues me is the bit about the pensions authority,do we the people of sheffield contribute towards the pensions of council employees?

if this is so,why dont they have their own fund like other big establishments do taken from employees salaries

Originally posted by gizmo
I take your point max

the part of the bill that always intrigues me is the bit about the pensions authority,do we the people of sheffield contribute towards the pensions of council employees?

if this is so,why dont they have their own fund like other big establishments do taken from employees salaries

I think you'll find that where an employer provides a pension they also contribute to it. I work for a large multi-national organisation which provides a pension to which both they and I contribute.

I work for the council and I get deducted £65 from my wages a month for my pension, it's exactly like max stated on the big organisation, it's the same.

yes max i did the same when i worked for the railways,they had a pound for pound scheme,every pound i contributed they matched it.

my point is, i have lived in various cities across the country and sheffield seems to be the only one that has a deduction for a pensions authority( that i have come across anyway)and i was wondering what this deduction is for.
if the council employees are paying into a fund,are we the council tax payers making up the rest for them. and if so, is this fair

Originally posted by gizmo
yes max i did the same when i worked for the railways,they had a pound for pound scheme,every pound i contributed they matched it.

my point is, i have lived in various cities across the country and sheffield seems to be the only one that has a deduction for a pensions authority( that i have come across anyway)and i was wondering what this deduction is for.
if the council employees are paying into a fund,are we the council tax payers making up the rest for them. and if so, is this fair

All authorities will make contributions into the pension fund of their employees. It may be that the other authorities lump the amount they pay into the salaries budget and so the amount of contributions is not explicit.

Check these other authorities' web sites (they're all <name>.gov.uk) and look for their budgets, maybe they've changed the way they present the information since you were there.

A bit off the topic but isn't the pensions authority in very heavy debt? If it is I may take my share before the two year lock in takes place!

Is it value for money?

No.

But Sheffield is no worse than anywhere else in this respect.

£750 a year to have my bin emptied?

enough said