This is not, quite obviously, what Nick Clegg actually says but it is the inevitable outcome of what he does say. He notes, quite rightly, that the public services in some parts of the country have problems in recruiting the necessary staff and also that in other parts of the country they don't. The trick to solving this problem is a variance in the total compensation given to those working in different parts of the country. This is an obviously good solution--for it is entirely true that living standards vary, as do the costs of a certain standard of living, across said country.
Sadly of course he's still not got it quite right but then this is Nick Clegg we're talking about:
Teachers working in deprived areas should be offered subsidised housing as a way to tackle geographical disparities between schools, a new report has recommended.
The report found that poorer schools were far less likely to have specialist teachers and were more likely to employ less experienced staff.
No, it's not the newspaper misreporting, this is indeed what is being suggested:
Schools in disadvantaged areas should have access to a fund for
providing incentives to teachers that make housing more affordable.
This should be run as a trial and the findings used to inform whether
such schemes can be expanded in the future.
The failure here is to fail to understand that deprived areas are, by definition, cheaper areas. So, at the same national pay rate a teacher in a poorer or more deprived area can already afford more housing than the national average at that same wage. Not grasping this sort of simplicity is rather common for Mr. Clegg and his acolytes.
However, note the larger point being made. Certain areas find it more difficult, using those national pay scales, to attract the teachers they need and or want. The answer being given is therefore that--through subsidies to be sure--total compensation should be changed for those areas having that trouble. Or, as we might put it, national pay scales mean difficulty in recruiting in some areas, to solve this let us abolish national pay scales.
The solution to the problem in Nick Clegg's analysis is therefore obvious, abolish national pay scales for public sector workers. The only problem with this is that despite it flowing precisely and exactly from Clegg's analysis he'd never agree to it. Odd that, really.
