On arriving at a certain Bucks HQ in 2010, I was delighted to find on my first evening that the mess had not gone over to PAYD - complimenting th Chef on the excellent food, he replied "Don't get used to it, Pay-as-you-dine starts in 2 weeks!" He was right. Five of the chefs left in the first 10 days mainly because they couldn't bring themselves to work to the strict recipes demanded by the contractor. Food is now distinctly average.
It's also clearly not true that T&Cs can't be changed. The mess staff there were paid weekly. Suddenly, the company changed this to monthly. In effect, this meant that they wouldn't get paid their next 3 expected pay packets. For the domestic staff in particular this was a massive potential problem.
MAC monitoring is not working, and the company seems free to increase its prices whenever it likes. Those units where a better standard of food is maintained appear to have done so by abandoning the core meals concept (I think Northwood is one of theme based on a recent visit).
I often wonder whether PAYD would ever have been accepted by the commanders if they'd started at the HQs. Certainly at Henlow (a PAYD Trials Site) we kept asking when the 'Trial' would be finished and we could go back to the old system. Answer came there none.
As for HMP, some work was done by a mate at Henlow following a change-over of contractor and a new menu. The menu was NOT up to the standards demanded by HMP guidelines.
STH
Last edited by SirToppamHat; 2nd Jun 2013 at 08:18.