I got paid, but I seem to have made a donation to charity. Only a quid, but not sure how that one got through! I now can't wait to see how they deal with me leaving (terminal date in 8 days), and getting the combination of LSAP repayment, final salary, pension and lump sum all sorted out.....My paperwork has been in for over two months, so I was assured that there were no problems.

And yes, I still have the Government Procurement Card in my possession, and I will send it back, cut into pieces, once I am sure that they have got their end of the deal right.

First day as a civvy yesterday and all pay etc correct. No thanks to the shambles that is JPA. My final act in Admin on Thursday was to leave a bottle of Bolly for the Dep Chief Clerk who pulled out all the stops to sort this mess out.

JPA, a disgrace and heads should roll. Oh yes, I had to sort out my computer acct etc before clearing only to find that I can no longer deal direct with the IT staff. No, I have to ring the Single Point of Contact (SPOC), somewhere in England, and talk to a machine. It then transfers me to the bloke who sits 500m away. Very soon you will pick up the phone to ring the Mess/Admin/MT etc and get a bloke in Delhi.:rolleyes:

Wore my own clothes to work yesterday and looking forward to Xmas AND New Year off.:ok:

Merry Christmas to all shades of Blue and Green. You deserve better, MUCH better.

Blimey....whose clothes did you used to wear? Is this some sort of Crossdressing party?

Afghanistan
 

Does anyone know what payment the RM had been told they would receive but have not? The Telegraph stories have been pretty unenlightening, as the figures quoted bear no relation either to LSA bands or to the new Operational Allowance. It is also said that the erroneous briefing occured 2 years ago. Any ideas?

Regards

Ginseng

I've got a new uniform. I wear green instead of dark blue now. It says "ASDA" on the back, and I wear a badge which says "Happy To Help" on the front. They gave me two pairs of trousers - which is one pair more than the RN issued me! I have a locker, that I didn't have to bribe someone to get, to store it in.

I have no responsibility outside my own personal environment and common sense, I get asked to work late, and they pay me for it. I can say "no" as well. I don't sign for anything, ever, including keys for alcohol storage areas. I go to work, do exactly what I am told, and I know when I start, when I finish, and that I will not have to do somersaults to keep someone else happy. I can make suggestions without someone nicking my idea. People say "Thank You" all the time when I do my job - they even have a big board where people write their "Thank You" notices so that everyone can see. I can't do something that I am not trained for, and no-one asks me to. People talk nicely to me, no-one pulls rank on me, my managers get their hands at least as dirty as mine, and we share the same eating, rest and toilet areas. There are no toilets (as there are in HMS NELSON by the UPO) marked "Officers Only". The staff discount book is better than the Forces Discount Directory, they don't change my terms of service every time the Chief of the Defence Staff scratches his left testicle. I have the right kit and tools for the right jobs, and I BLOODY LOVE IT! I go to work happy, I come home knackered and aching, but happy, and I think I am probably more productive now that I was in some of my jobs in the last 10 years of Service, because I hated the people I was working for and with.

Then again, I start Teacher Training in January. I am the oldest person on the course, and judging by the ladies on the same course, I am going to spend the next 12 months wishing that I was at least 15 years younger. I will be a full-time student, with grants and loans, 13 weeks holiday a year, and job where the people who behave like they are 9 years old actually ARE 9 years old! It will also be nice to teach people that 2+2=4, and not have to worry about them being Number 2 in the Attack Party in the next fire incident......

IT workers under threat as EDS moves jobs offshore
 

It looks like EDS may have plans for their JPA contract.

The Observer
IT workers under threat as EDS moves jobs offshore
Richard Brooks
Sunday December 3, 2006

So much for helpline support! :uhoh:

PompeySailor

Top transmission Shippers, thanks and good luck with teaching. Thought about it but don't have the guts.

Parliamentary Questions
 

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/...668#g105856.q0

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/...668#g105857.q0

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/...668#g105858.q0

So now you know.....It's all fine :ugh:

Miles,
Thanks for the links...

To quote the Honorable Derek,

"...Late payments have, almost without exception, related solely to the specialist pay and allowances components..."

First time in my career that I've been exceptional!!

Still no pay at all (forget spec or allowances) from JPA, my local unit has provided an advance to keep the home fires burning. :ugh:

Pompey

I think I'm as green as your "uniform" with envy. Still 2 yrs left but I aspire only as far as Tescos!

Where is this mythical place called ASDA ?.....this land of milk and honey, where people are treated with respect. Is there a queue? Can we all join? It sounds like the unreachable dream!!!

Fingers crossed I've sorted my LSA errors on JPA. Through PSF I requested a copy of my records held at Innsworth under the data protection act.... on page 47 of 58 I found a LSSA total from March 2004 (before commissioning), these days had been lost. Spoke to my HR and it should now be credited on my next payslip.......

Which brings me on to payslip.... I've not had a paper payslip for over 3 months now!! I've submitted a service request and, you've guessed it, was told to speak to my HR?!? :ugh:

Finally, I'm hoping :hmm: to get paid my LOA from a det in June at the end of this month. I'll be clearing from the unit in January, so if it's not paid I shall request that it's unit paid before I clear. They can have 10 days notice, as I would have to pay back any money I owed before I'd be allowed to clear.

PS: I'm not holding my breath........................:rolleyes:

It's bloody great! The money is not much, but then again, what am I doing? £5.80 an hour to refill shelves is about right, I reckon. I got turned down by B&Q (only 40 and with an Hons Degree, they thought I might be too "threatening" to the managers), Morrisons (same reason), Homebase (same again), and I got the "overqualified" response from other places. I was honest with ASDA, phoned them and asked for an interview based on how I wanted their cash and a Walmart discount card, and they took me on!

I love it, they give me loads of hours because I can be trusted to get on with a job, show some initiative, and take charge and motivate the seasonal staff. It works for all concerned. And the store manager can normally be found on the shop floor getting his hands dirty doing the same job that I do - as can all the section managers. No danger of "separation by desk" with this lot! My wife is now concerned that I will want to stay forever.....

And I was surprised at the amount of "ex" people that work there, and how easy it is to spot them by their work ethics....we may slag life in a uniform, but it does give you some pretty good characteristics and morals which the civilian employer absolutely loves!

I can confirm all PS has said. Mrs Blake worked there for a couple of happy years before the inevitable move due to Service reasons. She was indeed a happy bunny, and it was with great regret that she terminated her contract. Sadly no ASDA within commuter range of our current location.

Perhaps our glorious leaders would benefit from a "management exchange programme", to learn how to treat your workforce properly, especially as the military is now fashioning itself along standard business lines. Not sure about the gaudy green uniform though, but like the idea of the nametags with the monicker "pleased to help".

I feel a GEMS coming on.:bored:

I suggested once that the powers-that-be in Portsmouth dockyard might like to get their shiny arses over to Disney to see how to manage parking when you have lots of people driving to work each day, rather than just issuing passes to their mates and then letting the NCP employees (sorry, MGS) damage cars by moving them, then charging people to get them back, but not on a Friday, or when the ship comes in, or until Ted has finished his tea. And giving civvie companies 20 each, but requiring people joining a ship to turn up with draft orders, both parents, the ship's CO and a signed affadavit from a High Court judge so that they could drop their kit off.

All I got was funny looks and my parking permit taken away.

Oh yes - I can park in ASDA car park all day for no charge now I work there, even on days that I am not working. Could I do that in Portsmouth Dockyard? Don't be silly......:=

I received a few hundred extra quid on the 1st Dec from HMG, used the same ref as my normal wage on the internet banking. However, I have no idea why I was paid it and there is no record of it on JPA. Was looking for a run 2 or something but nothing at all, no extra pay chit also.

Anyone else had the same thing happen, or anyone missing a few hundred quid.

On local (BBC Soth West) news at 1830 there was a story in which the wife of a member of 3 Commando Brigade was complaining that the troops in Afgahnistan were unable to use JPA, hadn't been paid correctly and were not being fed properly.........

Hoots, were you out somewhere sandy this year and expecting to receive the new operational allowance? If you were that might be your mysterious Christmas bonus.

PAY
 

My Online JPA Pay Statement for December states the 31st Dec as payment date.... A Sunday?

Is this going to be another co*k up...?

Sunday is not the last working day of the month !!

FTP
For what it's worth every RAF pay statement I've had in the last 20 years has indicated the pay would hit on the last day of the month and yet it's always been there on the last working day. Simply another case of accurate administration!

Seasons Greetings to all

VAT

Response Requested
 

I brought a number of issues up with my MP on this and it was he (Ben Wallace) that tabled these questions on my behalf. As a former member of the RAF (mostly at ISK), I figured there would be no come back to me personally.

My MP has now written to me to ask for my response to the answers. I am obviously not personally affected by this system, but if anyone can send me contradictory information to that supplied by Derek Twigg, I will pass it on for follow up.

Please PM me with any info. I will not pass on any names etc.

Miles 'n More.

My extra payment isn't the op bonus, it is aparently reserve band flying pay. So 1st Dec £300 odd extra and now on my december pay chit i have reserve band flying pay and its back dated about 4 months, so an extra £2300 gross. However the problem is that im on PAS so at some point they will want it back. No doubt there will be cock ups when they do take it back, just what you need when going off on det.

JPAC say contact HR admin, who it has nothing to do with now, so more time spent on the phone and doing an I-support thingy.

Im sure im not the only one this is happening to, so i put it down to the incompetence of JPA.

So far accurate pay for 2 months out of 8 since its introduction, and im sure there are people far worse off than me.

How long do we have to suffer with this system!!!

JPA Pension?
 

Has anyone out there left the mob since JPA and successfully received their gratuity and pension?

I leave next month and am mildly interested in whether I'll get mine. I've filled the forms in but PSF can't confirm they've been received or processed - "that's JPAC now". JPAC, of course, are clueless as "that's Gosport's responsibility". Obviously, you can't actually talk to Gosport, you go through JPAC. JPAC's advice? "Call us if it doesn't arrive".

Some reassurance would be good as the Christmas VISA bill looks like it could eat the gratuity for breakfast!

I have, and as I said in another thread, gratuity received in 8 working days from last day. I asked the same question of JPAC/pensions and received the we neither confirm nor deny receiving your AFPAA1. Frustrating bearing in mind it would have been just as easy to say, yeah we got the form!! As timely receipt of gratuity and pension (whether you have or have not got a job) is one of the most important things on leaving the service, some acknowledgement is in my view essential. So those of you monitoring this thread - please consider doing something about it.

Ed

Right, now it gets strange. I sent an email to my ex-Boss yesterday (2*) with the details of the problems so far, and who appears to have heard anecdotal rumours of this happening. I checked my account this morning, and I have a pending BACS transfer for what appears to be the lump sum, less outstanding LSAP! However, no final balance of pay, no pension payments, and no letter from anyone explaining what payments are being made and when! I also mentioned the Small Claims Court action that would have been pending from tomorrow (headed off by the lump sum payment, thank you). Coincidence?

I also got through to the compliant human (Steven Harvey) on the JPAC yesterday who actually took my details and gave me a Query Reference, better than the stupid tart (Heidi) who I am sure I was keeping awake, or stopping her from filing her nails. I know it's Christmas, but my Christmas spirit was ebbing fast enough such that if we were not fog bound at Gatwick I would have been tempted to get a flight to Glasgow to give her some customer face-to-face time....

Hi PS

Got my P45 through the post to home a couple of days after BACS payment. The payslip was forwarded from my old work address about a week later that explained how the final payment was made up. It included the 2 days pay and regularising tax credit for the 2 days I 'worked in October'. I have had 2 further payslips since - the last telling me I did not get paid in November. Payslips are still coming from my old work address - this is obviously a common glitch in the system, why does JPA not recognise that when you have left or are about to leave, payslips should go to your home.

As for Pension. You will get a statement from Paymaster saying what you will get net of TAX. I had to e-mail them for mine and subsequently discovered that they had been sending paperwork to the wrong address ie my old work address (this time the Central Registry did not know who I was and returned paperwork). Paymaster have a strange practice of paying you at some arbitrary time of the month - after which this becomes your monthly pay day. I left on the 2rd of the month but get paid a pension on the 23rd? Other mates have similarly arbitrary payment dates.

PM me if you want any more details.

Ed

EDS Makes Huge Profits!
 

Government Pays Double for Consultants

It looks like EDS are making a real killing from their government contracts!

Now, I wonder which other department pays through the nose?

I wonder what their profit margin is for JPA?

Lots, and for a reduced service. Official line is that they cannot meet the same standards that we may be used to, or the same timelines. Got my P45 though, with a letter dated the same day that I threatened court action on them. Everything paid now except final pay, but I should imagine that will be done on time. Simple answer is to post up on here, and then threaten to take the right people to court, publicly.

Helps if you know some friendly journos who can also ask pertinent questions at the right times!

When EDS took over in Centurion, there was a guy who researched them, and came to their first "hello" meeting. He asked lots of awkward questions about redundancies, terms and conditions, etc. His boss was asked to make sure that he was out on a visit on the date of the next meeting. The guy wrote down everything that he thought would happen if EDS took over, and got it all right, even including the closing of the bar. He left the MOD and refused to transfer to EDS. He now has a much better, and more secure job, elsewhere.

Yes it is.... I shall be turned to on 31st Dec and so it will be a normal working day for me and for thousands of others

Ah, pedantry reaches a new height.

Perhaps FTP should have said a banking week, that may have helped VVE (or what ever it's called) understand.

PompeySailor / Bladdered

Saw your comments on the other thread, thanks. If I get through to Heidi when I ring JPAC, I'll pass on your regards.

N Joe

JPAC
 

Having been directed to this rumour network, I find all your comments regarding the JPAC and its staff baffling. I worked there for four weeks during RN roll-out and found that Heidi was one of the more knowledgeable members of the team. What I also found quite incredible is that servicemen/women are extremely rude to the operators who answer your queries. The whole attitude seemed to change when a Service HR adminstrator got on the phone. Could this be the attitude you all use when dealing with call centres who phone up trying to sell you double glazing just as you are sitting down for your dinner. := What you must remember also is that at anytime there may be a senior officer listening into your call. (4* officers have been known to sit and listen.) :eek: Personally, I am impressed with the level of service that the JPAC offer.:D

To be honest, I couldnt care less if some blunty overpaid adminer "general" has listened in... Oh, and where does this stand with current data protection laws I wonder?!
Perhaps its because the service operators have more of a can-do attitude as opposed to "I cannot answer your question so I will palm you off to unit HR" exhibited by many JPAC operators I spoke to... Although I would never be rude, and cannot condone personal attacks on individuals from an anonymous web forum I Simply refused to be bare-faced lied to and expect to take JPACs crap bendt over a barrel, to wait a further week before they bother to return my calls. Just because I am service personnel does not mean I should expect anything less than 100% for matters regarding my pay, conditions and leave, whilst the service expect me to spend most of the year in the sandy place.
You may be impressed, I certainly have not been so far by this frankly atrocious system which was, lets face it, forced upon us way before it was ready.
It took 6 months, over two dozen phone calls, 2 formal letters of complaint and initiating redress prior to my issues getting resolved, over a matter that, prior to JPA, would have required a simple visit to Handbrake house to resolve.:ugh: :ugh:

Oh, and they up top in the ivory towers are currently wondering why we are all leaving in droves.... :hmm:

To the extent that I have been asked to forward all my problems to a Gp Capt and also to an RN 2*,and a Lt RN on the Data Protection Steering Group, because they know that there are problems.. I also have an email which states quite clearly that there are huge problems dealing with people going outside, and that AFPAA have internally revised the timelines because under the newer, better system they are unmeetable! Heidi was ignorant and did nothing more than block my queries, despite it becoming apparent from the dates on subsequent letters that if she had actually tried putting my service number into the computer (if she had bothered to even ask for it), she would have seen the BACS transmissions waiting to be made! If there was a 4* sat on my conversation, then he should have woken up and told her to get her thumb out of her arrse and deal with the problem!

If they want, they can pull the tape of my conversation, and they will hear that she was worse than useless. In addition, I have found that the JPAC staff openly lie. Having been told that things are not being done to the timeline, my stuff all came through on time, and my P45 came through months earlier than expected. I know, it's a bonus that I shouldn't be moaning about, but it's only because I have the requisite "HR" background that I was fortunate enough to know who to call, how to phrase the questions, and the avenues open to me in the event of a JPA cock up. I pity those who don't know where to go when their payments are not made on time, or their documentation goes astray. I have managed to get one Pay Statement sent to my home address, the rest have been sent to Whale Island and Victory Building! I also knew which legal threats to make, and how to make them. 22 years, leaving as a POWriter helps no end when the bull!!!! starts flying! I also worked on PAS (and the PRP debacle), so I understand perfectly well how the projects hold together, and the shortcuts that are made. JPAC had a help reference number, with my mobile and home number on, and have not even managed to call back. Heidi didn't even bother logging a call. That puts her on the same playing ground as "Hello, this is Everest Double Glazing" as far as I am concerned.

Servicepeople going outside are clearly entitled to "get stroppy" when the help desk staff are unable to access records that are on their system (I know, I've seen the receipt notes and printouts for the data transaction forwarding my details), and also to be told that nothing is being paid "because you have been paid already" is rude, incompetent, and something that we would not have to put up with outside of wearing a uniform. Which is now something I no longer have to put up with, and the relevant departments will be receiving letters accordingly.

I don't particularly care how competent Heidi was during the 4 week rollout - competence is a system which pays people the right amount, at the right time. JPA is clearly somewhere outside that description, unless you prefix it with "partially".

I don't particularly care how competent Heidi was during the 4 week rollout - competence is a system which pays people the right amount, at the right time. JPA is clearly somewhere outside that description, unless you prefix it with "partially".




Well said that man, if it was up to me I would sack the JPA board!!!

Call me a cynic, but who directed you I wonder?

Sgt RAF HR specialist. :ok:

Cea/bsa?
 

Does anyone know when the Continuity Of Education Allowance (CEA - was BSA) is due to be paid for the forthcoming (Spring) Term?
STH

I believe that a second pay run was done :ok: last wednesday to go into Bank on or just after 31 Dec 06.

Let's face it, it won't be any of the "IT experts" on the JPA team. They can barely find the "I/O" switch on the front of their DII machines without a feasibility study, 25 consultants and a JNCO to actually push the damn thing in for them.