7 ms·

I'm sure the £4.5M bonus pool paid for 'improved performance' really stuck in the craw. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/met-office-staff-set-to-

by tezza 11y ago

I'm sure the £4.5M bonus pool paid for 'improved performance' really stuck in the craw. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/met-office-staff-set-to-soak-up-208m-in-bonuses--just-for-doing-their-job-10432757.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/met-office-st...

Zenst 11y ago
Indeed and also no details upon who will now run the contract is concerning in ommision and somewhat telling. So fun times ahead.
toyg 11y ago
There is another subtext: the current government is on a privatization drive. Met Office is a prime candidate for being spun off, since it's already trading. Making them lose one of their biggest customers will force them to find new ones (readying MO for full privatization) or failing that, put their finances in an unsustainable position (readying MO for full privatization or even shutdown). The BBC has many ongoing fights with the current government, so this was probably a relatively easy wish to grant in order to build back some favour. Among other things, it could end up reducing expenses for them, so it's a win-win as far as the BBC is concerned.
- DanBC 11y ago
  The met office is already a "trading fund" - which means they're required to run on a commercial basis. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/who/management http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/who/management The BBC was not a huge amount of money for the met office. They have plenty of other customers. (Sky, ITV, Channel 4, are other media companies.)
  - toyg 11y ago
    Being a trading fund only means that trading receipts must account for 50% of revenues. It says nothing about where those revenues must come from, nor where continuous capital investment must come from. Their revenues are still 85% from government contracts (bid and no-bid) according to 2013 accounts [1]. From a cursory read, I'd say it cost the government £16m in 2013 and produced £12.3m in profit, with more than £170m of revenue coming straight from governmental contracts and £30m from commercial ones. I can see people looking forward to cutting £16m from the yearly budget and force all internal contracts to be bids, lowering that £170m bill. It makes an awful lot of sense, from a certain perspective. [1] http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/n/e/Annual_Report-web.pdf http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/n/e/Annual_Report-web....

by tezza 11y ago

Zenst 11y ago

Indeed and also no details upon who will now run the contract is concerning in ommision and somewhat telling. So fun times ahead.

toyg 11y ago

There is another subtext: the current government is on a privatization drive. Met Office is a prime candidate for being spun off, since it's already trading. Making them lose one of their biggest customers will force them to find new ones (readying MO for full privatization) or failing that, put their finances in an unsustainable position (readying MO for full privatization or even shutdown). The BBC has many ongoing fights with the current government, so this was probably a relatively easy wish to grant in order to build back some favour. Among other things, it could end up reducing expenses for them, so it's a win-win as far as the BBC is concerned.

DanBC 11y ago
The met office is already a "trading fund" - which means they're required to run on a commercial basis. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/who/management http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/who/management The BBC was not a huge amount of money for the met office. They have plenty of other customers. (Sky, ITV, Channel 4, are other media companies.)
- toyg 11y ago
  Being a trading fund only means that trading receipts must account for 50% of revenues. It says nothing about where those revenues must come from, nor where continuous capital investment must come from. Their revenues are still 85% from government contracts (bid and no-bid) according to 2013 accounts [1]. From a cursory read, I'd say it cost the government £16m in 2013 and produced £12.3m in profit, with more than £170m of revenue coming straight from governmental contracts and £30m from commercial ones. I can see people looking forward to cutting £16m from the yearly budget and force all internal contracts to be bids, lowering that £170m bill. It makes an awful lot of sense, from a certain perspective. [1] http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/n/e/Annual_Report-web.pdf http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/n/e/Annual_Report-web....