Having done some quotes recently the 30 seater came up as more expensive than the 55!
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For you, me, and others, yes. But thatās the point - it goes back the values and perception of the person making the judgement.
this is the irony of the situation. it was suggested that we had two self drive minibuses instead, which then bumped up the staff numbers required while restricting the number of Staff to choose as they need an FMT600 and D1 licence on that FMT600.
going from 3 Staff to suggesting this would require 5 staff, given the two drivers could not āsuperviseā the cadets as they were drivers - thus 5x VA claims on top.
sense was seen in the endā¦but it was unnecessary effort
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Does anyone know what they are?
Does the org, faced with a finite pile of cash, think itās better for 20 cadets to do a Bronze-level weekend in the Cotswolds, or New Forest, or N York Moors, or for 4 do do a Gold-level, 5 day trip to the Highlands, or the Lakes, or Snowdonia?
20 cadets to have one glider flight each, or for one to have 20, and to go solo?
The emphasis has always been on āmass participationā; i.e. getting as many cadets through an experience as possible.
Most of the questions come from units that donāt deliver the basics but then focus on delivering something relatively high level to a small number of cadets.
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Perm staff have this using Power BI atm.pulls live data from Bader etc
The ACP300 view is that getting every Cadet a Bronze is essential, everything above that level is a nice to have.
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Which i think is a logical approach
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Except getting a Bronze is already very cheap, whereas the higher levels cost more.
Apart from a bit of VA their is no real cost to the organisation for Bronze, walking in the local area and a campsite Ā£5 a night paid for by the Cadets. Cheap as chips.
Gold however, transport required, Staff accommodation, double the amount of VA.
It still needs to be progressive, if you have done Bronze locally and Silver slightly further out you are still looking at finding at least HML terrain for a Gold. Besides who wants to run a Gold on a canal towpath?!
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Which brings into question where you mark your differentiations - do you look at the budget for DofE in its entirety, or split it out onto the B, S, G and assess budget for each.
Then, ultimately, are there ways to improve financial impact by increasing quality and volume of cheaper, lower delivery to generate greater throughput at higher ones which, if correctly managed, could come at minimal cost increases through localised economies of scale.
Orā¦ Do you just judge its expense at current delivery levels and forego the effort of improving.
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Canāt recall the exact context, but I heard a figure of Ā£132,000 being mentioned, just for VA claims - but Iām not sure if this was a Region or Corps total - I suspect Region.
Ironically, being a CI, despite doing the bulk of the trainjng activity, Cosford once, another weekend qualifier twice and going to Nijmegen twice - I wasnāt claiming anythingā¦
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As a hypothetical questionā¦
On the basis that this cost / benefit review is already underway - with the presumed intention of prioritising expenditureā¦ what about placing tiers on that funding?
I understand the idea that costs charged to a cadet, shouldnāt be a barrier to activity, but why not charge a bit more for Silver and Gold level activitiesā¦. I would have thought that cadets experiencing financial hardship could be supported at Sqn or Wing levelā¦ but the constant attempt to deliver every ring as cheaply as possible is inherently damaging to RAFACs long term situation.
If cadets were charged a bit more - then that money could be reinvested in more / newer / better kit, to deliver more activities etc.
Or am I oversimplifying?
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You are still entitled to a F1771 for mileage though to rach training session and then to the bigger RM events to qualify so although no VA there are ways thst your involvement could costā¦
Agreed,
Subs model still works on a model from decades ago. Compare our offering and what we charge vs local football team. Increase Sub contribution to reflect the āmarketā but remain competitive, instantly increases funds avaliable. Welfare committees should support hardship on a case by case basis, and prioritise this over gucci flight sims
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I wouldnāt include VA as a cost in an activity as VA can be used for various different activities so you should have a separate budget code for it. Same for milieage.
As otherwise Drill & Ceremonial camp is going to be the most expensive purely down to personnel costs.
i would still expect JL to be more - lots of staff, lot of travel. lots of O18 Travel, in many cases on trains - that alone cannot be pocket money before considering the hardware required then the basics of accommodation and catering
Iāve suggested this to my OC and civcom treasurer as we havenāt increased subs for about a decade, but neither thought it necessary.
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Wasnāt there a notice from HQ saying not to put up subs?
That said we have had around 15% increase in phone/broadband and a greater increase in SOV costs. Plus we are expected to provide more IT at Squadron level.
We do provide a lot for free which other youth organisations charge for.
As an organisation weāve become over dependant on public funds. We need to shift the mindset that everything will be covered. The money isnāt there anymore (thank you Covid, Brexit voting idiots, and corrupt Tories) so we need to look at increasing the contributions from cadets if we want to continue to offer everything.
We have an obsession in this organisation of not charging cadets for anything - or charging the minimum. A weeks AT camp for example, in my view, is entirely valid to charge a couple of hundred quid. Free food, travel, accommodation and childcare - itās an absolute bargain even at that cost.
Yet we are still trying to minimise those charges when any āprofitā could be used to re-invest in the organisational delivery - new kit, buying in commercial providers where we donāt have the qualified staff etc.
Welfare funds are available (for now at least) to subsidise those for whom the cost might be a challenge.
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