Financial Matters

[Marion W]

Originally posted on MSN Forum 12/05/2004
The other day, during a CS chat... the subject of what the agents get paid cropped up. Presumably they do all have to get paid.

Do you think some of that salary is deducted for board & lodging on Cloudbase? And , possibly, wear and tear to uniforms - plus additional deducations for crashed jets, SPVs or any other damage done to Government property... (you listening, Captain Scarlet?)
If so, do they come away with a tidy sum - or are they (like most of us) perpetually broke?
Marion W

[Carrie Captain Azure]

Well, interesting subject Marion!
It reminded me of James Bond...he got his salary but when on missions seemed to be able to call on any amount of money to fuel his intra-curricular activities ( ) whilst on a mission to save us from the bad guys...never knew British Intellegence had so much money...
I can't imagine anyone would do any job for no money..so yes, salary most definitely. Now I know zilch about the army..but don't they get paid whilst on duty? With uniforms thrown in..that includes the food too? They probably all have some sort of whizzo gizmo card thingy that they can use everytime they want food or stuff whilst on duty..and then when they're not..and they're still on Cloudbase..well maybe it's smart enough to charge it to their own bank accounts a bit like a debit card..
If they're smart enough..they probably do have enough to fuel those hobbies of theirs...models..expensive fashions...diving gear...plastic surgery...St Christopher medallions...

They never tell you that stuff for Stargate or Star Trek either.....
Carrie Captain Azure

[Captain Ruddy]

Ah, a question I think I can answer, at least from an accounting standpoint... <cracks knuckles>

(Keep in mind that I am not in the military, but I have audited expense reports for Federal government employees when it has been necessary in my line of work.)

If Spectrum is anything like the US military, all personnel would receive a base pay respective of their rank, plus additional allowances for overseas duty, hazardous duty (how much of Spectrum is NOT "hazardous duty"?) and living/moving allowances for personnel with families. They would of course have privileges at any of the base exchanges (i.e. Spectra-Mart, which is the equivalent of the PX/AAFES/NEX/NAAFI) around the world, and possibly reciprocal privileges with other countries' exchanges. Personnel and families would also be able to fly on space-available military transport as well.

The officers have to purchase their own uniforms, while the enlisted ranks would not. Any equipment issued, of course, would be government property and no one would have to pay for it unless they lose it (not in the line of duty, of course, just through carelessness). I think all meals are free of charge, though anything outside of the "three squares" would have to be purchased at the Exchange. I don't believe any money would change hands in the Cloudbase canteens; sandwiches, coffee, soft drinks etc. are probably available 24/7 like on board a naval ship.

I would assume senior staff, when ordered to report to a location, would report first to a Spectrum regional HQ (or the Cloudbase Bursar's Office if going directly to a remote location) to draw any cash in the local currency for expenses. They would have to account for said expenses when submitting the after-action review when their assignment is concluded. (Scarlet's report to the colonel in Manhunt would have been part of the AAR.) Then it would be up to Spectrum's internal auditors to verify the expenses against the receipts collected and determine that those expenses without receipts were "ordinary and necessary."

I would imagine some special exception is made in the case of Scarlet's uniforms, perhaps an additional allowance. Which is why I have joked that he'll probably get audited himself one day for excess duty expenses... (oh boy, where's that devil emoticon when you need it?!)

Like I said, I'm not 100% familiar with all of this, so if anyone has information to the contrary please feel free to add your comments.

Cheers!
CAPTAIN RUDDY

[Marion W]

Plastic Surgery??? Who's hobby is that? (Why do I always miss the interesting bits?)
We know Lt. Green's been saving up for his/her sex-change operation... taken him/her 30 odd years, mind you.

Captain Ruddy - that sounds just the ticket.... and Scarlet would be almost permanently broke if (as an Officer) he had to buy his own uniforms.... . No wonder he couldn't pay his gambling debts. Even allowing for inflation that never sounded like much to get done for... he could have got a bank loan, surely?
Marion W

[DocDenim]

all;

I've always wondered just exactly how they (whoever 'they' are) would handle Scarlet's life insurance policy and survivor benefits. Most Life Insurance is pretty simple - your heirs get to collect if you're dead.

Magenta could probably cook up one hell of a fraud scam and keep Scarlet rolling in payouts that would support his gambling debts ad infinitum......

Just a few larcenous thoughts!

Doc Denim

[Marion W]

Too right, Doc, the opportunities for larcinous goings on are legion. You can almost pity the poor admin officers trying to get their heads around matters.

Check out 'At the Board of Enquiry' by Keryn on Chris' website - it covers just such situations!
Marion W

[chrisbishop]

The following message has been sent to me by someone who is unable to post messages on the forum because using a computer at work. The person, however would like very much to share personal knowledge in view of this particular threat, and I must say, the information is very precised and interesting. The country of origin of this poster has been left out on purpose - but you know that person as the writer of "At the Board of Inquiry", a very funny post that you can find on the Spectrum Headquarters site, in the Fan Fiction section.

_________________


I have been following the discussion on Spectrum entitlements and thought you might like some info [...]. How it applies to Spectrum really depends on how you want to classify Cloudbase - ie as a ship instead of a base HQ. While a ship seems logical, Cloudbase has the kind of luxury features that you would expect from a ground base, and exemptions from charges on a ship would be available as compensation for (by civilian standards!) 'the hardships of being at sea'. I hope the notes re uniform below clarify my comment about Scarlet's uniform problems
in 'At the Board of Enquiry..'


LIVING IN SERVICE ACCOMMODATION

Many members who are not living with dependants are housed in living-in accommodation. 'Living in' means living in the mess. Living-in accommodation is commonly available to members without dependants and members who are separated from their dependants.

Contributions
If you are living in you will usually have to make a contribution towards the cost. The amount you have to pay depends on your rank and the quality of the living-in accommodation. If you share accommodation you will pay less.

Some members do not have to make a contribution. The people who do not pay include members who are separated from their dependants for Service reasons, members with dependants who have to temporarily live in for Service reasons, and submariners.

If you are living on a seagoing ship and you have living-in accommodation ashore, you will not have to pay a contribution after you have been away 21 days.

Utilities
If you live in the mess you will pay a weekly contribution for power, water, heating and cooling. Generally you are exempt if you do not have to pay living-in accommodation contributions, if you are in the field or if you are at sea.


MEALS

Contribution for meals
Any service member may eat meals in the mess. Usually a charge will be made. The charges are less than the cost of providing the meals.

Types of charges
If you eat regularly in the mess you can make a fortnightly payment (based on your rank), to cover your meal costs. If you only eat in the mess now and again you can choose to pay for each meal you eat.

Who is exempt?
Your fortnightly meal charge will stop if you are on leave for three days or more, if you are being paid travelling allowance, if you are away on a ship or if you are living under field conditions. You also will not be charged if you are living in without charge, except if you are doing your initial recruit training or are sharing living-in accommodation.

Meal allowance
Meal allowance may be paid to you so that you can buy a meal when service meals are not available. It is not paid when you are being paid for a meal in some other way (such as when you are paid travelling allowance or a meal is provided).

If you live in
If you live in you can be paid a meal allowance if you pay a contribution for meals at the mess, and Service reasons stop you from getting back there for meals. This might be because you were somewhere else on duty, or working extra duty. You can also be paid for lunches if you normally work in a capital city.


CLOTHING

Service personnel are issued with one free uniform (eg jacket, 2 prs trousers, pr shoes etc etc ? exact entitlement depends on occupation) on joining the service. Thereafter replacements are made a member's expense utilising the Uniform Maintenance Allowance.

Uniform maintenance allowance
Uniform maintenance allowance is paid fortnightly to help you buy the uniforms you need.

You can be paid uniform maintenance allowance if you are ranked Major General or below. The rate of allowance depends on your rank. It is not designed to cover laundry or dry cleaning costs. It also does not include costs for things like towels, brushes, pyjamas or underwear.

[Clya Brown]

When a friend of ours joined the Royal Air Force many years ago, he told us of his astonishment when entering his accommodation for the first time at discovering that the furnishings supplied by and at the expense of the RAF included a card table, but not a fridge. Upen querying this with his commanding officer, he was stiffly informed that a card table was supplied because officers play cards, but that a fridge wasn't considered necessary because officers eat fresh meat every day. Whether that analysis persists to this day I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me: I understand that military traditions are amazingly long-lived. You can imagine a scenario wherein a couple of hundred years after the Mysterons are finally vanquished, new Spectrum officers are supplied on their first day on Cloudbase with a fully-functioning X-ray camera and projected energy rifle, but are expected to buy their own personal handgun if they want one.

On a related point, there's a tale I once heard about a standing order by the American army for llama dung, because it was apparently needed for cleaning leather seats in military vehicles - and that that standing order was still in force at the height of World War II. Since sourcing the stuff was becoming difficult, some enterprising guy decided to try to find out why llama dung was considered so essential for cleaning leather seats, and after conducting some research into the matter eventually discovered that the tradition began during the Indian Mutiny when the British troops found they needed something with which to treat their saddles so that the horses didn't react badly to the smell of new leather - and they found that llama dung masked the smell. This tale may well be apocryphal, but I've found a reference to it at http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/1333/standard.htm for anyone who's interested. Presumably when Spectrum was created Colonel White would have taken the opportunity to wipe the "daft regulations" slate clean, so that'll be why Cloudbase isn't found paying regular visits to Peru every six months to collect its regular bag of llama dung to clean the Angels' cockpit seats!

[Marion]

I suspect that there is a certain amount of 'because it was always done like that' - on Cloudbase - although given that many of the agents are non-military personnel, I should imagine they treat those matters with a certain amount of bewilderment.... and I think the first time anyone tried to treat the Angel cockpit seats with Llama dung - they would find themselves buried head first in the supply....

[Maltray]

Originally posted on MSN Forum 12/05/2004
The other day, during a CS chat... the subject of what the agents get paid cropped up. Presumably they do all have to get paid.

Do you think some of that salary is deducted for board & lodging on Cloudbase? And , possibly, wear and tear to uniforms - plus additional deducations for crashed jets, SPVs or any other damage done to Government property... (you listening, Captain Scarlet?)
If so, do they come away with a tidy sum - or are they (like most of us) perpetually broke?

If it is that way Scarlet would get nothing, he's always crashing something SPV, SPJ or something or other and then there's his uniforms, cleaning and such after one of his 'deaths'. Then there's medical and such!

[Parker Gabriel]

Assuming Captain Scarlet would have to be dunned some sort of fee for all the uniforms his activities render unwearable, would Captain Blue's father be able--and this is assuming father and son have at last reconciled--to cover the difference from private funds, seeing how wealthy his family is?

After all, the Spectrum Organization IS a World Government agency, and as such, it WOULD depend on taxation of citizens for appropriations. But presumably, nothing in the regs would prohibit civilians from taking up the slack on their own hook where and if needed.

[Marion]

Speaking as a local Government employee in the UK, we have to declare anything given to us by a member of the public over the value of 10 pounds, and it then goes into the council funds - or you have to pay the commercial price for it - if it is an item.
Mr Svenson - should he feel inclined to bail Spectrum out - would probably have to hand his dosh over to the World Government with a polite note saying - would you be so kind as to use this against Captain Scarlet's clothing bill? and hope for the best.
Going on what we read about Mr Svenson snr in fanfic - there's nothing official known about him - he wouldn't even consider handing money over though!

[Parker Gabriel]

"Speaking as a local Government employee in the UK, we have to declare anything given to us by a member of the public over the value of 10 pounds, and it then goes into the council funds--or you have to pay the commercial price for it--if it is an item.
"Mr. Svenson, should he feel inclined to bail Spectrum out, would probably have to hand his dosh over to the World Government with a polite note saying, "Would you be so kind as to use this against Captain Scarlet's clothing bill?" and hope for the best.
"Going on what we read about Mr. Svenson SENIOR in fanfic--there's nothing official known about him--he wouldn't even CONSIDER handing money over, though!"

My original message assumed that father and son HAD reconciled at least somewhat, and judging by the novel A Symphony In Blue, they just may have.

[hazel]

There is no earthly reason why a civilian, regardless of personal wealth or relationship to any serving Spectrum member, would pay for another agent's uniform. Especially not John Svenson, as written (beautifully!) by Marion and Chris.

He might be reconciled to his son, but he's never going to be Spectrum's greatest fan, certainly not to the extent of personally helping to pay for its supplies.

[Marion]

I don't see why being reconciled with his son, would make him pay for another man's clothing bill? Besides, my point was - if you hand over money to a government organisation, you cannot specify what they do with it... if he gave it to Scarlet, Scarlet would have to declare it and it would go into the general money pot.
If Scarlet didn't declare the money, he'd be guilty of a crime and sacked - at best.