Smelly

Not at first maybe and all their talk of the Equality Act bolsters that but their duties therein will rely on people bringing private law claims to enforce them which are Very expensive compared to the eventual rewards. I strongly suspect that this post will be best measured in pounds, shillings and pence for that is how the vast majority of such posts are, eventually, measured.

A short contract gives it time enough to set up and pay for itself. I generate about 4 times the amount of revenue as I cost providing in depth advice and representation, (That's before standard economic multipliers and cost to health and social care but that will be more difficult to quantify in the role being discussed) someone filling in forms, or telling people which forms to fill out, can double that. The trick is to not get bogged down in too much casework and make sure your audience knows you're there. That last bit will be the challenge

Damn right!

Sorry... I will stop eventually. This post won't pay for itself if it's a life on the road. What it needs to develop is enforcement officers asking the right questions, or at least making an introduction early, income maximization advice from afar, a willingness to refer out once an SSCS1 is lodged and face to face only if it needs it. One person providing national coverage won't generate enough revenue to make it worthwhile otherwise. That and keeping an eye on all the HB claimants so getting a hand into the Local Support Services Framework asap. I'll bet crt have more hb claimants than a lot of Housing Associations

Deffo the last now. With the person spec as it stands it risks employing someone who will expect arriving to a Desk with a pile of files on it rather than someone who knows how to start from square one. I sorely doubt it will involve the kind of skill base that the person spec demands at least at first. The problems I can anticipate aren't the kind of thing that most available welf candidates will be skilled in and don't involve the kind of "regulation 2(z)((iiia ) says x y z" approach that the job will attract although that will be desirable in the mid term so a lot of training will be attractive but, realistically that knowledge is only available to a curious mind. At best it needs good advocacy skills and a willingness to look stuff up if it didn't popup in training. For all the experience in the world the goalposts are changing so quickly that past experience is rapidly defunct and a sole actor in an office in Milton Keynes is so far out of the circle so as to be redundant within the time frame of the job. Half the person spec; Equality Act and safeguarding stuff is not within the sphere of the vast majority of people with 3 years casework experience but is still important. This job needs a networker who's not afraid of learning new stuff & getting their hands dirty rather than the Desk jockey it's currently advertising for. So 3 years in field experience as an essential requirement is a mistake.

My final soliloquy... The person spec is drawn largely for a welfare benefits caseworker. It also asks for safeguarding (did anyone ask where "safeguarding vulnerable adults" comes from?) which is strictly social work. Social work and benefits advice diverged hugely in '99 with the inception of Community Legal Service and since Social Work became a degree level job the people coming into social work, who don't study any welfare rights will be ignorant of the main emphasis. There are loads of welfare rights worker's out there with 3 years experience who will have never encountered the majority of problems skint boaters are likely to face. The new sanction regime has come in since most we're made redundant in April 13 and it takes some thinking about but knowing the quality of a lot of the candidates out there who are used to running cases according to transaction criteria rather than an innate curiosity they might miss the tactical ways in. That, plus this job isn't a normal welf job, half the job will be making the connections to make sure it works. I doubt the enforcement teams will remember someone sat in an office who they heard about briefly six months ago. Building a network and getting heard will be half the battle. Despite that they're advertising for someone with loads of anorak but no muddy boots The Royal British Legion have recently abandoned a project like this and I have heard that the roles weren't generating the revenue expected because they weren't getting the message out widely enough that the service was available. That is a real risk with this job. Well, not my last soliloquy but gotta go home now

The SA are DWP stooges in this, their only training is from dwp and having observed some of it from an independent advice worker's perspective it has horrified me. This post has the chance to generate significant revenue gains for the trust but in it's current form I doubt it will but there's time to fix that. Sod off! I have a perfectly cushtie job with enough of a leash to reach right up IDS's cleft thank you very much. Second tier support will be on offer though. The job spec might be well worked but the person spec is a joke. It will attract the wrong person and the role will fail. The person spec had clearly been drafted by person or persons who have no idea of what they want or the sector from which they are drawing

They'll want the job to pay for itself I suspect. Sadly with the person spec I have my doubts Difficult in a relatively unique environment for the job. They need someone to set it up from scratch: difficult to measure during a probationary That first sentence is spoken like someone who knows the advice sector. With the sector as it currently stands I share your fears.

Wasn't rope; propshaft turns freely in both directions and, worryingly the gearbox has spat most of it's oil out since I last checked it in May. It's feeling expensive...

Dunno, I just know that when my drive plate failed it ran in one direction and stalled in the other; I always guessed because it had taken a lot of energy in one direction. Certainly when we took it off the damper all bulged in one direction.

I have indeed got a vetus sterngland. Cheers Catty. That looks like it was getting quite hot! I'm guessing uncoupling the propshaft, pushing it backward and spinning it might dislodge the offending bit. Otherwise it's an out of the water job?

He lurks for ages and only comes back when he wants something I hear you cry... well rather than emailing the people concerned directly I thought I'd contribute! I have developed a problem with reverse gear. Isuzu 35 with a prm120. About 60k hours. The box will have maybe 10k in drive. When I engage reverse the engine starts labouring, it sounds like it did when it was struggling for fuel a couple of years ago (blocked fuel pipe). It gets worse with increasing revs. It's fine in forward gear. It first developed after I reversed about 1/4 mile last week. I thought it was something on the prop but there's nowt there. Fair to admit that I've not changed the oil for a couple of years so getting a new extraction syringe is first priority come pay day... I wonder whether it might be the drive plate as when I last lost a gear that (and the mattress) was the culprit however thought I'd seek advice before I whip the box off. Thanks in advance.

You know full well that the Hounds know... So long as the wind blows in the right direction...that sewerage farm's close after all. It might look nice but...

I have full batteries between mid march and mid September if the sun's out with 270 watts. Numbers don't really mean much compared to that...

Wasn't it nine miles?

Some already know from Facebook that the Wooden Canal Boat Society announced yesterday that the Big Lottery fund has stumped up the last of the money to finish Hazel and get the Well being Boat into action. Fair to say that the hull restoration is funded but capital items are still required. I was inspired to boating in good part by WCBS and anyone who knows my tale of the missing tip of my index finger might remember that it was Hazel stuck in the lock when that happened. I, for one, am well chuffed and wish Chris and co all the best. Wish I was still on the door step to have helped out. There was some discussion many moons ago of pink wrinkly bits being waved on Ashton Town Hall's steps, sadly the contributor responsible no longer posts. I do hope, should they be good to their word that they let me know... discretion is assured :-)

Yacht club... How deep's the Soar?

It is reported that Will has been found and taken to hospital.

I had just come on to do exactly this. There are real concerns for Will's wellbeing and I too would appreciate knowledge of any sightings. The boat's an old Norman cruiser. Thanks in advance