WHEN we go into a shop and buy something, there is a trading standards department at Cornwall county council that will ensure we get a fair deal. When our house catches fire, or we are trapped in a crashed car, the fire brigade will be there. When we are elderly and in need of a home-help, or a safety device for our shower, social services will be there. Everyday our children go to schools, travel on school transport, and are safe.

We get married in register offices; we foster and adopt children; we cross roads, travel on roads, use pelican crossings, read books, get information and so on.

All these things, and many more, are provided efficiently, courteously and professionally by the staff of Cornwall county council. Considering the number of people who live in Cornwall, and the number of transactions which the council undertakes for you, and on your behalf each day, there are few mistakes.

It is not a perfect organisation, but it is a proud, responsive and thorough organisation. Most of all, Cornwall county council is an organisation which is keen to learn, and it therefore approaches problems and mistakes in a positive way.

What would life be like in Cornwall if all those services, provided to a very high standard, day in, day out, by ordinary (and sometimes extraordinary) people were not there - it doesn't bear thinking about, does it?

Recently the council has carried out a full review of the pay and employment structures of the organisation. About 11,000 posts have been reviewed. The review has been done to comply with a national agreement between the government and all the public service trade unions. About 70% of the council's workforce have benefited from this review. For many others, nothing has changed. Women are now paid at the same rate as men throughout the council. Low paid workers, such as cleaners, groundsmen, road workers, home helps and schools caterers have all become part of a single pay structure.

Those people in the council whose review has led to a reduction in pay have their pay protected for appropriate periods so that they do not actually lose money - at worst, for most staff in this position, they will not see their pay increase for about three years. By 2007 about 3% of the council's staff will need pay protection. They will get it.

Part-time staff have, for the first time, achieved equal treatment as employees with full-time colleagues. The review was divided into two parts. One part affected senior managers. The pay structure for the senior management is set at the average for local government nationally. The chief executive did not have a £40,000 pay rise. If we want good services then we must be competitive. We work hard at developing Cornish talent wherever we can, but we also have to pay them at a going rate. If you were in business, what would you do?

The other part of the review affected all other staff. The whole review leaves the council with a single pay and grading structure which enables everybody to understand their position in the whole organisation. It has inevitably been a mechanical process, and some outcomes are open to question. All employees have had the right to appeal; 8.5% have taken up that right.

Cornwall county council has a strategic role to play in the life and economy of Cornwall. If we want Cornwall to be a good place to live, with a clean and beautiful environment, caring and safe communities and with a vibrant, modern economy, and if we want all that set side by side with traditional values of fairness, courtesy, professionalism and care, then we have to face the fact that we get what we pay for - and what we get is what we tend to take for granted - all those services. The people who work for Cornwall county council are Cornwall's foremost community asset. The council strives to be a good employer, and to go "that extra mile" for its staff. The results mean that we, Cornish citizens, workers and visitors, can afford to hardly even notice they're there.

Bert Biscoe, corporate support executive, Cornwall county council