What's it like to work in the civil service?

[DarDeDisco]

I'm curious as to what it's like to work in the civil service.

I'm going to be upfront and say I don't mean any admin or back office roles. I mean stuff that's directly related to policy

Are you serious? That sounds like the most thankless task imaginable.

You'll have seen how the recent budget and associated policies like removal of winter fuel allowance for some pensioners were received by a large part of the population and the media?

Plus as @MollyButton says, recruitment is very challenging at the moment due to the pressure to reduce costs. And what this means in practice for people on the ground is that people leave and are not replaced, either because a replacement is not authorised by the powers that be, or that there aren't any suitable applicants if the vacancy is advertised - because pay is usually poor when comparing like with like roles - many admin staff will need a pay rise in April to bring them up to the new NMW, graduate trainees aren't that far above, qualified professionals earn less than equivalent private sector roles and no, the pension doesn't make up for it, especially for people in their 20/30/40s who need to pay their bills.

My experience is similar to @MinistryofMom .I'm not in a policy role though.
Easy to shine in CS when you've come from a private sector background and I'm not some dynamic erudite person. I joined a few years back after a long career break (due to kids). I'm eternally grateful that cs could see past the fact that I'd been a sahm. Very secure job but the glass ceiling exists.

@DarDeDisco If you are an economist have you considered a regulator? They employ a lot of economists (obviously!). For many terms and conditions tend to be better than the civil service and less hierarchical (although some still have pay grades and conditions linked to the CS). The work is interesting and you are less constrained by politics.

I’m in an ALB in an ops role, and would say my experience is similar to what @MinistryofMom , @SydneyCarton and @Dyslexiateacherpost88 have written. I joined in 2021 so don’t know what it was like before Covid but I come from a private sector background and have found the pace of work slow and the ways of working (siloed, poor communication between teams, ancient systems that aren’t fit for purpose) absolutely tedious. I’m not even sure there’s an appetite for change - certainly in my team suggestions for improvements are often met with “but we’ve always done it that way” by people who’ve worked in the organisation for 20+ years and have no idea how things have moved on outside the CS.

I also get frustrated that we are at the mercy of our sponsoring department, which seems to be entirely staffed by Fast Streamers who have no experience of actually delivering that policy, so it’s often unworkable in practice.

But the pension is the best I’ve had, the job is fairly secure and I like my colleagues a great deal, so it could be worse. Nothing else out there that really appeals at the moment.

I’ve been a government economist for 17 years. It has given me a really fulfilling career, doing a variety of roles. It’s interesting and totally possible to set the barometer of how exciting you want your career to be once you have the core skill set. I’ve moved around a fair bit and found a job which works really well for me in terms of work life balance, and also doing something interesting but which adds value for the UK. It is not always easy. It is sometimes frustrating to have no right of reply when being attacked. But I’d recommend it without hesitation.

There are lots of other policy areas that I'd like to work on.

I don't think I'd enjoy the work in regulation at all unfortunately.

Can I clarify what you believe policy to be and what you see yourself doing? I ask as you’re a private sector economist with political ideals seeking to support Ministers in delivering their objectives but I can’t see where you actually think you’d be best suited to work in.

@DarDeDisco regulation is more interesting than it sounds, honest!

There is a lot of traditional policy work - eg writing consultations and regulations. But there is also monitoring and stakeholder management, research, public affairs, enforcement investigations etc... there is a lot of consumer protection work as well as traditional price control stuff.

@LondonPapa I assume as a government Economist I'd be conducting various impact assessments and cost benefit analysis?

I'd want to do stuff either in energy, environment or transport.

The civil service is very varied so it's hard to comment generally. But my experience is that the work is very interesting, rewarding, hours can be long but less so than private sector (most of my team do about 50-55 hours a week), pay is extremely low given the responsibility, pension is great. Points of frustration include that misrepresentation of civil servants in the press (and by the bloody prime minister) and the complexity of competing priorities meaning that things are necessarily imperfect.

In terms of the roles to apply for, aim as high as you dare, as it can be easier to come in at a higher grade from outside than to be promoted internally. Do bear in mind that a lot of departments currently have recruitment freezes.

If you decide to go for it, it's worth spending some time really understanding the recruitment process and how to be successful at interview as it can be quite inflexible.

(Would also add that some of your posts make it sound as if you'd be happier as a SPAD or at a think tank, so do consider roles like this as well. There is a less clear career path and a bit more need for networking to get anywhere though.)

The civil service never has enough economists as they're so often tempted away by the better salary/faster pace in the private sector. So I don't think the job cuts would be an issue here.

I find working in policy fascinating but you do have to get used to a pace which is either annoyingly slow or ridiculously fast. And it can be annoying to be an analyst because Ministers often don't engage with complexity (whether that's statistical complexity or other types).

I have worked on some high profile policies and led teams that have worked on high profile policies. I enjoy it. It can be manic and interesting and frustrating and exciting and boring.

A lot depends on who you work with.