I have worked for HMRC for the last 21 years, I first started out in the Customer Service Group, so hopefully I'll be able to answer 😁
wfh - 2 days at home and 3 in the office
This is quite new to the Civil Service and the guidance is still being understood.
Strictly speaking everyone should attend the office 60% of their working days.
This is on a month to month basis, so like. PP said, one week you could work from home more and the next week you could go into the office more. As long as overall you have done 60% of your days in the office, your good.
You could apply based on your circumstances, to change the % of time you need to attend the office. This is called a reasonable adjustments.
For example, I have colleagues who are carers to children/parents and have carers passports.
One has an agreement to attend the office 1 day per week, the other 2 days per week
I also applied and have been approved to be a contractual homeworker, this means I work from home all the time. I only need to attend the office very occasionally, maybe once or twice a year. This is because I have a disability that is a protected characteristic.
It is possible to have a discussion with your manager to see if your % of time in the office can be changed. BUT, this is not guaranteed.
what’s it like for booking annual leave during school holidays ?
what type of break do you get at Christmas ?
In Customer Service Group, depending on which team you are in, booking annual leave for Peak periods, such as Easter, half terms, Christmas can be a bit of a nightmare.
You can book to have annual leave for school holidays, but whether you get what you want is up for debate.
A lot of parents, who can afford it, either go part time or part year.
Part year is often known as "term time"
What this means is you only work the term time and do not work the school holidays- however this means you don't get paid for the times you do not work during the school holidays. Your salary is pro-rated and reduced.
Some parents who work part year (term time) sometimes only take Easter and Christmas off and work the half terms/summer holidays.
You don't have to do this, but it's options for you to consider.
The other thing to know to the Alternative Working Pattern or the Flexibility Working Pattern.
For example there is the "5 over 4"
What this means is you still work your full time hours per week, but you work all your hours over 4 days, instead of 5 days.
This does mean you work an extra 1 hour 45 mins per day, but the benefit is you only work 4 days per week.
I have been doing the "10 over 9"
What this means is I work full time, but I fit my hours in over 9 days and I have the 10th day off.
I work and extra 30 - 45 mins per day and I have a set every other Friday off.
Basically it means, every other week, I have a lovely long 3 day weekend.
My salary isn't affected because I still work full time.
You have to apply for this, but again something for you to consider
what’s flexi time ?
The best thing about the Civil Service 🙂
You have essentially got it right.
There I'd a 'flexi sheet' where you record what hours you have worked every day.
If you have worked more than your usual hours you are now in credit with your flexi and can use that time to take time off.
Just like annual leave, you still need to book time off, but instead of using your annual.leave, you can use your flexi hours you have in credit
It's a great thing to have.
In some private sectors your sort of expected to come in early or work late and you are not paid or given the time back,. We'll, not so in the CS 😁
(You can also go into debit with your flexi, but I would recommend not to do this).
I used to have the 'old style contract' where we have full flexi and could come and go as I pleased. As long as overall I worked my hours, I could pick and choose when I did them. Ah, those were the days.
Every Friday we used to pop to the pub for lunch and then not come back.
Anyway, this is quite a long post and hopefully its answered your questions.