Cheapskate County Mountie

[Curator Kid]

I say Mr. Hosty, - the BAJR minimum for a G7 job is £28,221, so the Wiltshire County Archaeologist job which appeared yesterday which starts at £26,928 should either be removed or amended.

Even the BAJR minimum seems pretty measley for the poor sod who ends up being County Archaeologist for Stonehenge... [xx(]

[vulpes]

Hmmm... Explanation please!

[BAJR Host]

Have to look at this... I don't put up jobs any more... my charming assistant does this (my wife... so watch it!!)

Will look - I have to confess I did not know we had got that advert...


<< right - had a lok had a poke about... and the advert is ammended to include a G6 (though at the top end) and then into G7

This reflects the potential span of ability etc.. blah balh. same as the Headland adverts which has a pay range different from BAJR grades, but which reflect the range of responsibilities expected.

BAJR is in the process of both supporting a 3 year pay increase strategy and refining of the Grades system to allow further and overlapping payscales. -- blinkin complicated ya know!

thanks for keeping me right :face-huh:B) >>

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[beamo]

Still doesn't hide the fact that this is a pathetically small salary for the post of County Archaeologist in a county that contains a World Heritage Site that is often at the centre of heated debate regarding development.

The current CAO is well-respected and has steered his team through some fairly troubled waters over the considerable time he has been doing the job. Someone of equal calibre is required in order to continue this work, and I do not see that the advertised salary will attract a decent field - if the County is lucky someone with the right skills will be prepared to take it on as it is a great job in a nice county (albeit that the office is actually in Trowbridge). However, is this any way to run the curator side of the profession - by attracting people who are prepared to put up with a poor salary just because it is a good job ? In a previous post I advocated doubling the salary of curators - that would be about right for this jobs.

I was recently involved in interviewing candidates for the role of archaeological consultant in a multi-disciplinary firm - not one would have taken up the post for less than £33K


Beamo

[voice of reason]

Indeed - the pay level is below the starting salary for similarly qualified and experienced senior project managers in a contracting unit, let alone the consultancy world.

The international importance of archaeology within the county of Wiltshire has to merit appointment of someone who can command sufficient respect and who can be a suitable advocate for it within and outside the authority. Unlikely for this salary I would have thought (unless someone is desperate to escape from another place).

I know money is no everything etc etc but when the average house price in Wilts is above £200k, it has to play a part.

It is interesting to compare the salary with other Wilts CC jobs on offer to see where they see it lying in their strategic thinking and how they value (sic) the post.

[troll]

Have just returned from working in an area where both the City and County Mounty do what the local consultants tell them to.As a tax-payer, I would find it very hard to justify even a small increase in salary levels for curators when some simply function in the best interests of clients and developers.With my (uncharacteristic?) cynical head on, I would even go as far as to suggest that some LPAs deliberately employ the incompetent as curators.

..knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity..(imam ghazali,ayyuhal-walad)

[Penfold]

Bravo Troll, agree wholeheartedly...........

Vive La Revolution

Penfold

[historic building]

Not wishing to justify what is a pathetically low salary for a County Mounty, the pay boundaries for jobs such as this in local government are based on the population of the county as this is likely to reflect the volume of work. I am sure that Wiltshire is pretty low.

In Wiltshire there is also the issue of land ownership. County Mounties have no authority of Scheduled Monuments or land is guardianship. This is dealt with by the Inspectors of Ancient Monuments. Other land owned by the National Trust will have archaeological advice supplied from within that organisation as will land owned by Defence Estates. I am guessing once these are counted there is not a great deal of Wiltshire left.

But still the pay should be more.

[voice of reason]

Never let the facts get in the way.

Population of Wiltshire including unitary authority of Swindon for which Wiltshire provides archaeology DC advice was estimated at 630,000 in 2005. Swindon is one of the fastest growing towns in Britain, with large demands for DC and strategic archaeological work. The quality and quantity of archaeological remians in the county will make for a high level of need for archaeological input in DC etc, irrespective of absolute number of applications for planning consent.

And, have you looked at a map of Wiltshire? There is actually quite a lot left even if you discount areas which you identify for some reason (not entirely clear and apparently erroneously) as being 'off-limits' to the County Archeologist.

Anyway, irresepctive of that, salaries are not set by size of population, they are set by relative position within the overall council pecking order and managemnt structure. Poor pay = low view of worth of job, generally based in my experience on a basis of lack of any kind of comprehension by those assessing about what LA archaeologists actually do.

[beamo]

Troll

I have worked in most counties in England and Wales and know full well that there are a few curators out there who do not justify a doubling of their salary.

However, I would consider that to be a relatively small price to pay if the generic increase leads eventually to the placement of effective, knowledgeable, responsible and motivated curators across the whole of the UK.


Beamo