So what you are saying is that a member of staff on your squadron could instigate and organise a trip to Snowdonia and you wouldn’t know. I doubt that very, very much, unless you don’t go to the squadron for months at a time or in contact with them.
If we are looking to do anything, it normally involves as the first step is, who is free at this time as we want to do …, if enough staff are available crack on and if not look at more convenient dates.
There is all the talk of reducing admin and this step would make life much easier and in the same stroke “empower” staff who are fully qualified (better qualified than many OCs including Wing and Region wallahs) and or more than capable, but made to feel like steerage class. Region have to OK some activities and what is their qualification to say yes or no, other than needing something to justify jobs? The activity system is just like having to ask if you can go to the toilet. I haven’t done that for the best part of 40 years, except in a figurative way in the Corps.
I received a letter of thanks from the Camp Com following being on camp this year as a CI.
I’ve no idea if he sent one to all staff or just a couple depending on what they delivered, but it was personal in that it mentioned the elements I’d delivered. Either way my attendance was appreciated, and that letter meant more than AOC 22 Groups.
Yes and no. Your rank should reflect your input at the Sqn*, and therefore the level of responsibility you hold. For example, you shouldn’t have any Flt Lt (paid) staff on squadrons who aren’t squadron commanders. Or WOs who have not successfully passed the promotions matrix. So you could say the increase in daily pay when you are promoted is recognition for the additional responsibilities you take on.
I know, in practice, there are OICs who are SNCOs, Officer cadets, and even CIs who have been coopted into running squadrons, so pay can’t directly be linked as a reward for holding positions of responsibility, but that is more symptomatic of wider failings in the organisation.
On a personal level, I am a Squadron Commander and Flt Lt (Paid), and I feel that the extra money my rank attracts helps offset the crap I get thrown at me, that isn’t directly related to me delivering the cadet experience. If the pay is removed, or equalised with a lower rank, I will seek to remove myself from the firing line of said crap. If the only way that can happen is if I stand down as OC, the that is what I’ll do.
We had the support from the gods this summer on AOC 22grps note - however knowing it was drafted by HQAC reduces it value somewhat - benefit of people just forwarding a full email chain.
But it really means nothing to me what they think at the top - it’s the local recognition that’s more important to me personally.
To paraphrase Winston Churchill “payment according to rank is the worst form of pay structure, except for all the others.”
The current pay structure may not be the fairest but it is transparent. It rewards long service, it rewards responsibility and it incentivises going into uniform. I think the policy of putting NCOs or even worse CI in charge of units is plain wrong. It devalues the rank structure and it places an unnecessary burden on staff who have chosen a “cadet staff career” that didn’t include command. If some body choses commission then they choose command. If they refuse to take command then they revert to NCO. NCOs should lead, officers should command.
If you are going to pay a Flt Lt the same as a CI for doing the same activities, what is the point of being a Flt Lt.
I know and have known many CIs who are Adj, ATO, Shooting, TO and so on, and they don’t get paid at all. Or is it wrong to have CIs doing things because they don’t wear a uniform and they should be forced to wear a uniform?
I wonder if we could get a point where we had a recognition that the insignia on people’s shoulders are largely irrelevant to the role/job they do. By applying rules around only certain people can do things, invokes limitations as to what can be done.
I would never block a person from taking up a post, simply because of status. If a CI wants to be adj, I will encourage them as much as possible - I’m of the opinion that a volunteer is better than ten pressed men! But, in a perfect world (I’m aware that our organisation is nowhere near operating in a perfect world, btw!), our structure is set up to work as Oz says: Officers command, NCOs lead, and CIs instruct.
TO and Adj are important roles on their own, but are also training roles for command. The rank, and pay, are awarded in recognition of the knowledge and experience that you have, and are prepared to take control of a unit with all that command entails.
the great thing about not being paid (though perhaps its less of a driver than not being in uniform) - as a CI - is that i feel under far less external and internal pressure to go to things that i’m either not interested in, or are inconvenient.
when this comes in, and it will eventually, i’d put good money on staff attendance at weekend/weekday events dropping significantly. its not, ime, that people do it for the money, its that it allows people to put another tick in the ‘yeah, i’ll go, even though i’m not that interested’ box, rather than the ‘i really can’t be bothered’ box.
i can’t imagine anyone but the retired, worryingly single or the unemployed going to camp without being paid…
Being paid, or not, has precisely no impact in my desire to attend various activities. I don’t avoid things if there is no money in it, nor do I feel somehow obliged to attend just because I am in uniform… If I do attend, I may not even claim VA.
I don’t think it will make a huge difference to Camp Attendance except maybe amongst the poor students, people either enjoy it or don’t and those who don’t tend to not go.
I can see it making a difference to some of the wearier weekend events but more because the argument to the spouse of “it’s a days pay and I won’t be too late” will no longer hold up, staff will still do it because it’s a leadership function for their cadets.
Realistically if you are self employed or a Contractor then VA isn’t going to come close to offsetting what you lose by taking time off work so that’s not going to be the “real reason” for the majority of people stoponhbdoing things.
For the unemployed it won’t make a blind bit of difference since without VA they will be free feeders.
I can see a small term hiccup but beyond that people will just get used to it. Most of the old and bold will do what they have always done, because a) they always have b) because it’s “their thing” and c) because they won’t want to let the cadets down. New staff will know no difference and a few people will do less and the rest of us will take up the slack.
(Happened at work when they stopped paying certain grades overtime. Some people threw all their qualifications in and their was a short term gap but within a year or 2 it was back the Business as usual as new people filled the gap).
Won’t it? By my estimation, Flt Lt pay x 8 days works out at around £800 for losing 5 days work (working week), equivalent to about £20 per hour. Possibly not quite as much as some self-employed or contractors, but certainly enough to make a difference.
Once you take Tax & National Insrance into account you are only taking about £400. When I was self employed I a) worked more than 8 hours a day b) worked more than 5 days a week c) paid less tax.
