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Is Cost-cutting worth nothing? - Dorset evening echo

Little could be more damaging to the improvement of public services in the UK than the annoucement of job losses at the Land Registry in the week when we are told that bankers are back on bonuses. Having spent 40 years in conveyancing, I know that the Registry is a fine organisation. From a low point some years ago, it has re-invented itself. Fees were cut annually for more than a decade. Promptness has been improved to the point that those dealing with it could only complain about a lack of time to draw breath. Customer satisfaction percentages have reached the dizzy heights of the high 1990s. Major innovations such as the ending of paper deeds were introduced seamlessly. But while it has ben improving the way that it provides certainnty and clarity for property owners, the financial services industry has undermined it by doinng the opposite - trading polluted titles. It is this that has caused the property transfer industry to contract and has brought crisis to the Registry. The Government needs to work with its staff to implement efficiency. Sending the message that successes in efficiency in the public sector does not warrant the protection given to those failing in private organisations is counterproductive in the strictest sense of the word. How can any postal worker now trust that he or she will be treated fairly in return for co-operating over the introduction of service improvements?

Author John Harvey

“Jane Doe” on the Times website.

Have you ever bought/sold or mortgaged a house? If yes, it has passed through Land Registry hands and has helped you to do that faster and cheaper. I have had many dealings with Land Registry staff and have found them to be one of the most efficient organisations I have ever dealt with. I was sorry to hear the news today.

Please do not rejoice in the reduced numbers simply because these people are civil servants and therefore not subject to 'the real world'. That is simply not fair as they have a long record of exceeding customer service targets, and the staff work hard. They really do. Is that not what we ALL want from the civil service?

Instead, please do focus your attention on the sad news that a (previously) really incredibly successful self-financing government department has been brought to its knees through no fault of its own. There are no winners here. Not the staff, not customers,and not the economy either. But these days, its all about which political party can show who is the hardest - your average civil servant (who does not earn a massive amount) can only watch as this political pantomime plays out.

In years to come, I think we might regret not truly valuing the things that actually worked, whether in the public or private sector.