pay pay pay

[kevin wooldridge]

When many county field units were set up they encapsulated all of the roles I outlined. My point was where do you draw the line between so called 'subsidy' and a directly funded position?. My experience of UK archaeology including working for many LA units is that I cannot remember any occasion on which the field team element of a unit made a loss. It was the non-field sections of units, 'the overheads' where imaginative accounting was required to balance the books. And as I said previously your question is slightly off the point because legally a local authority cannot post a loss. What you describe as a subsidy or 'top-up' has to be within the allowable range of authority spending otherwise it cannot be legal. Whether that equates to fair competition is another matter. I have recently seen the same suggestion levelled at council run care homes enjoying 'subsidy' at the expense of private facilities. Personally I am not a great fan of the competition for the sake of competition idiocy so naturally my opinion is biased. I would like to pass you over to Unit of 1 who has a view much more in line with the tone of your question.....