Friday, June 22, 2007

Contracters at the Passport Office costing £500,000 a week??

A strange and bizarre anonymous SMS message appears in this evening's London Paper which says,
"I work for the Home Office and it spends £1 million a month on contracters. That is taxpayers' money. There 50 people in the passport/ID card department earning £2,000 a day. Worst place I've ever worked"
Yes, the maths is wrong, if the rate is correct it works out to £2m not £1m a month. The question is, is it true?*
* Probably not

9 comments:

AD Scott said...

Dizzy is the source for this available online? Evening Standard?

dizzy said...

Afraid not. It's on page 30 of "The London Paper" in their feedback/text sections.

AD Scott said...

Well clearly these guys must be doing something absolutely fantastic, as they are being paid in line with Premiership footballers. (sarcasm)

dizzy said...

Indeed. My gut tells me that the person that txted in is disgruntled and any contracters are probably earning 25% of what they say.

Chris Paul said...

Looks like nonsense. Your headline maths is also shakey, almost Dale-esque, btw.

dizzy said...

oops.

dizzy said...

fixed.

I do wonder.. why text into a paper hardly anyone who cares about politics reads though if there is not a hidden truth?

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't someone ask a friendly MP to table a Parliamentary Question?

john b said...

£2000 per day is £250 per hour, which is approximately the rate at which a strategy consulting firm would bill out relatively junior (1-3 years' experience) consultants.

As it happens, a friend of mine - who is in that position at a strategy consulting firm (not one with which I'm affiliated) - spent some time on secondment to the passport office. Presumably, she was billed out at approximately the usual rate.

(obviously, that doesn't equate to *her* pay, which would be more like £200 a day).

John B