Pfi Is The New Scapegoat?

[El Cid 222]

All of the maintenance, catering and cleaning for the school is included in the PFI contract which will cost more than £470,000 this year - a rise of more than £151,000 since 2021

A rise of £151,000 since 2021 is roughly 10% per year, can someone do the math?

 

The Department for Education said it was increasing support for schools in PFI contracts by 10.4% in the coming financial year.

So they are getting roughly the same increase from the Government?

 

RPI inflation did go as high as 16.4% in Oct 2022, so high increases are to be expected?

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-68207051

[Organgrinder 1,946]

25 minutes ago, El Cid said:

All of the maintenance, catering and cleaning for the school is included in the PFI contract which will cost more than £470,000 this year - a rise of more than £151,000 since 2021

A rise of £151,000 since 2021 is roughly 10% per year, can someone do the math?

 

The Department for Education said it was increasing support for schools in PFI contracts by 10.4% in the coming financial year.

So they are getting roughly the same increase from the Government?

 

RPI inflation did go as high as 16.4% in Oct 2022, so high increases are to be expected?

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-68207051

That's exactly what any thinking person would have predicted.    That rules out politicians of course.

People should realise that everybody's in business to make a profit  and that,  we are the ones who will be paying for that profit.

 

[Anna B 1,417]

1 hour ago, Organgrinder said:

That's exactly what any thinking person would have predicted.    That rules out politicians of course.

People should realise that everybody's in business to make a profit  and that,  we are the ones who will be paying for that profit.

 

Yes! 

The school i worked at was built by PFI, very shoddy build and tied into a contract, but a new school was very necessary so had no choice. Work was only guaranteed for 20 years, so now 20 years on, it's falling apart.  It's on it's own and repairs are ridiculously expensive these days.

[Organgrinder 1,946]

2 hours ago, Anna B said:

Yes! 

The school i worked at was built by PFI, very shoddy build and tied into a contract, but a new school was very necessary so had no choice. Work was only guaranteed for 20 years, so now 20 years on, it's falling apart.  It's on it's own and repairs are ridiculously expensive these days.

PFI was used by our governments to con us into thinking that they were providing us with the things we needed, 

whereas they were simply doing a Hire Purchase deal,  and we would pay later,  after they had gone.

 

[BigPP 104]

6 hours ago, Anna B said:

Yes! 

The school i worked at was built by PFI, very shoddy build and tied into a contract, but a new school was very necessary so had no choice. Work was only guaranteed for 20 years, so now 20 years on, it's falling apart.  It's on it's own and repairs are ridiculously expensive these days.

Which school, Anna B?

[Anna B 1,417]

8 minutes ago, BigPP said:

Which school, Anna B?

Not saying on a public forum. It was in Barnsley, but could be applied to a great many schools built with PFI.

The deals were flawed from the start as anyone with longterm vision could tell you, and often tried. 

[BigPP 104]

13 minutes ago, Anna B said:

Not saying on a public forum. It was in Barnsley, but could be applied to a great many schools built with PFI.

The deals were flawed from the start as anyone with longterm vision could tell you, and often tried. 

Bearing in mind that you are anonymous on this forum why can't you say? Give some examples of the problems.

[El Cid 222]

There are some 700 PFI contracts.  The contracts range from roads to student accommodation, prisons, military equipment, and street lighting, with schools and hospitals

[Anna B 1,417]

4 minutes ago, BigPP said:

Bearing in mind that you are anonymous on this forum why can't you say? Give some examples of the problems.

Just watch today's News. There's plenty of problems with PFI in their reporting that demonstrate the problems. |They resonate with me and probably with a lot of other teachers too.  

[Organgrinder 1,946]

5 minutes ago, BigPP said:

Bearing in mind that you are anonymous on this forum why can't you say? Give some examples of the problems.

It doesn't make a difference which particular school is affected.  the problem is widespread as reported  by local and national news media.

As has been said already,  it isn't just confined to schools either but also hospitals and many other places.

[alchresearch 215]

A cut and paste from my post in the Labour thread.

 

I'm finally pleased that the school PFI farce is coming to light.

 

BITD you could see it was a disaster in the making. These schools looked lovely, but huge glass atriums of buildings cost a fortune to heat in winter, and cool in Summer. 

 

In a regular school if a window was broken, the caretaker would get a pane of glass and his ladder and quickly replace it.  But in these new builds you need a special piece of glass and an expensive cherry picker.

 

Network equipment that wouldn't be out of place in a high-end bank.  No £300 HP network switches (the school standard) when you can buy a £1000 Cisco switch instead.  

 I worked with one school that was getting new Dell computers.  If they'd bought direct from Dell they were £329 each.  But as it was under PFI they were forced to buy from their managed service provider, who bought from an IT supplier, who then bought from Dell.  Price per machine £549.

 

One consultant at a school said "we're going to give every staff member and student an ipad". Completely overlooked the cost of managing them.  The school had to take on TWO extra full time technicians to manage all the losses, damage and handle loaners and chargers.  The company managing the warranties which covered "accidental" damage had to cancel the contract as it was costing them a fortune and the school was out of pocket having to foot the bill.

 

 

The PFI contracts bankrupting our schools are coming back to haunt Labour

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/keir-starmer-labour-pfi-mistakes-2901882

[alchresearch 215]

Another PFI failure from a few years ago - was costing Amey too much to maintain Brum's roads, so they got out of it,

 

Amey ‘agrees £300m settlement’ with Birmingham council

https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/civils/amey-reaches-300m-pfi-settlement-birmingham-council-27-06-2019/