MAS

Tim Over Whelmed

Well-known member

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Jul 24, 2007

10,183

Arundel

• Dec 15, 2014

• #1

Anyone else catch the news on BBC5Live, the agency set up to help with debt advice, The Money Advisory Service (MAS), appears to have spent £60,000,000 running it's website and a further £50,000,000 on advertising. Now call me a cynic but wouldn't £110,000,000 plus staffing and administration costs have gone a awfully long way to helping these people in the first place without lining the pockets of some quango boss?

 

jgmcdee

New member

Mar 25, 2012

931

• Dec 15, 2014

• #2

Sorry £60mm running a website?

 

B

BigGully

Well-known member

Sep 8, 2006

7,139

• Dec 15, 2014

• #3

Tim Over Whelmed said:

Anyone else catch the news on BBC5Live, the agency set up to help with debt advice, The Money Advisory Service (MAS), appears to have spent £60,000,000 running it's website and a further £50,000,000 on advertising. Now call me a cynic but wouldn't £110,000,000 plus staffing and administration costs have gone a awfully long way to helping these people in the first place without lining the pockets of some quango boss?

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Seems too many 000's to me.

 

Tim Over Whelmed

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Jul 24, 2007

10,183

Arundel

• Dec 15, 2014

• Thread starter
• #4

BigGully said:

Seems too many 000's to me.

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That's what I thought, but, apparently, that's the figure. There are calls for a public inquiry, and there needs to be, some of that is my money!

 

M

MattBackHome

Well-known member

Jul 7, 2003

11,719

• Dec 15, 2014

• #5

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...t-slash-jobs-to-reduce-costs-says-review.html

The total budget is £81m. No mention here of what's being spent on web, but surely it can't be 3/4 of total?

 

C

Cian

Well-known member

Jul 16, 2003

14,262

Dublin, Ireland

• Dec 15, 2014

• #6

I don't see how their ad campaigns can have cost that either - few very cheap ads generally being played in cheap airtime; some outdoor and print is all I've seen. Even over a few years that's a major advertising spend.

 

kevo

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Mar 8, 2008

9,091

• Dec 15, 2014

• #7

And they've previously been criticised for basically being completely useless.

 

Tim Over Whelmed

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Jul 24, 2007

10,183

Arundel

• Dec 15, 2014

• Thread starter
• #8

Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert, spoke about costs outside of their normal budget and gave the figures above. I'll re-listen tonight. Either way it's a huge amount of money in administration of a service designed to support those with NO money!

 

B

BigGully

Well-known member

Sep 8, 2006

7,139

• Dec 15, 2014

• #9

Tim Over Whelmed said:

That's what I thought, but, apparently, that's the figure. There are calls for a public inquiry, and there needs to be, some of that is my money!

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Jeeeez, can only assume vested interest, you watch chairman and directors having a stake in newly set up advertising and website companies !!

 

Tim Over Whelmed

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Jul 24, 2007

10,183

Arundel

• Dec 15, 2014

• Thread starter
• #10

kevo said:

And they've previously been criticised for basically being completely useless.

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To be fair, I'd say that criticism is unfair to those that are completely useless, this goes way beyond that.

 

FamilyGuy

Well-known member

Jul 8, 2003

2,381

Crawley

• Dec 15, 2014

• #11

They've also recently refurbished their offices to a very high standard - and at a not inconsequential cost!

 

beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius

Jul 21, 2003

35,287

• Dec 15, 2014

• #12

jgmcdee said:

Sorry £60mm running a website?

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of course not, but consultants and many, many managers working on a project do add up. this is what we pay our taxes on, this is why there is so much rump that can be cut.

 

Tim Over Whelmed

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Jul 24, 2007

10,183

Arundel

• Dec 15, 2014

• Thread starter
• #13

beorhthelm said:

of course not, but consultants and many, many managers working on a project do add up. this is what we pay our taxes on, this is why there is so much rump that can be cut.

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Agreed, there 650 odd MPs and thousands of Civil Servants, they all have Brothers, Sisters, In-Laws, Mums and Dads all of whom need to set up their own companies, ensuring the spouses get shares to spread the love

 

M

MattBackHome

Well-known member

Jul 7, 2003

11,719

• Dec 15, 2014

• #14

beorhthelm said:

of course not, but consultants and many, many managers working on a project do add up. this is what we pay our taxes on, this is why there is so much rump that can be cut.

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I doubt they add up to £60m in this case.

 

maltaseagull

Well-known member

Feb 25, 2009

12,985

Zabbar- Malta

• Dec 15, 2014

• #15

MattBackHome said:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...t-slash-jobs-to-reduce-costs-says-review.html

The total budget is £81m. No mention here of what's being spent on web, but surely it can't be 3/4 of total?

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That is classic.