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Nationalisation, police, etc

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Badger

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So some jobs in the police force and local councils are going to be sourced from private, commercial companies.

I'm not going to argue whether that's right or wrong, I have a question really:

How can this possibly save money?

I'm sure there is a reason, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it. But as far as I can work out, you've either got:

1. The government employs the workers and pays them (for example) £13 an hour.

2. The government contracts out to a private company who pays them £13 an hour, but has to take their cut as well, so the government pays, say, £15 an hour.

I must be missing something.

By nationalising police or council jobs, surely the only outcome can be:

- Employees are paid less for doing the same job, or
- The government pays more to cover the profit

If the company's got to make a profit, then to pay the workers the same salary, the government has to be paying more... unless there are less staff. Right?
 
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SS4

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The important thing is that private contractors will have nothing like the conditions that directly hired staff have so I can imagine there are savings to be had there. I can see a lot of them being short term agency staff who can be hired and fired as necessary with minimal cost.

Less staff is incredibly likely
 

the sniper

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I don't know much about these things, but I'd suggest pensions are one of the biggest money saving factors.
 

Yew

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Thats something I dont understand, for example with rolling stock, surely if its built in britain, by workers who pay british income tax, vat, and fuel duty to come to work, then that must mean that in reality for the government as a whole, its cheaper. because they will get tax from the company, and 20% of everything the workers spend, with money that has already had income tax on it.
 

Clip

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This may sound silly, but does the government really tax itself?

Do you know what, that never even crossed me mind - I wasnt even thinking of the Police being a govt body either. I just ran with the private company thing..

So in answer, I dont know.
:oops:
 

SS4

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Well I was taxed when I was working for DWP so I'd imagine so. Probably one of those cases where it's easier to tax than not to
 

exile

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The government does indeed charge itself tax and more importantly, National Insurance. It does get the money back again in a different budget.
 
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