Why does everyone say that the civil service is low-paid?

[YourPoisedFinch]

friend in big 4 audit-- 32k to 50k in 3 years
friend in civil service, as a statistician --- 33k to 55k in 3 years on fast stream

you will stay in the Travelodge next to the dual carriageway and eat dinner in the shitty chain pub next door because that's all the T&S allowance covers.

I think it's more that the locations where people have to visit are often remote and only have the choice of one or two hotels, rather than actually being forced to stay in the worse hotel because the T&S allowance is poor. There are often multiple choices of hotel in the policy so I've been able to stay in a Premier Inn, if it's convenient to the site I've visited, but yes there are times when I'vehave to stay in a ropey Traveldodgy, but it isn't that bad.

Yep. Pay for AAs and AOs sits at around 23k to 23.5k. Their pay rise every year just about keeps them in touch with NMW.

I was 😱 when the couple I know both working for CS said they have to work on a Saturday!! A Saturday!?!

Surely it's just Monday to Friday in any kind of office/admin role?

No wonder the couple keep going on about how amazing the pension is, to deflect from how bad the salary is😬

Who do you think answers the phone at 7 pm on a Tuesday or 2 pm on a Saturday when the HMRC helpline is open?

True, fair point. But their particle part of CS is usually Monday to Friday so I suppose over the years the service needs have had to change. Initially it was only Monday to Friday. No late working either.

Do you get time and a half?

Didn't realise it was as low as that. No wonder the couple I know have not managed to move to a detached property. Obviously not paid enough in their roles with the CS.

In my experience - no one 😬

Or CMS.

Too busy having flexi time 🤣

Op you need to remember most of the civil service are low paid as most on G3 or G4 and we've had hardly any pay increase over the past 15 years.

The best way to get on in the CS is to move around (sometimes called Z-Pathing)

Agreed, I came in at SEO, moved to a diff org 18 months later to G7 and 18 months later I took up a G6 post in a diff org. Lots of people aren't keen to move around.

you will stay in the Travelodge next to the dual carriageway and eat dinner in the shitty chain pub next door because that's all the T&S allowance covers.

Depends where you go surely, I travelled a lot in my last job and nearly always managed the Hilton in city centres across the UK. Used to love those trips, felt like a spa break getting a break from the kids 😂

Hahahahaha. They really don’t.

I’m a G7 in a technical role and would be earning far more in the private sector. I work in the civil service because I find it meaningful, not for the money.

James Bond was military. He was a Naval Commander, which currently pays between £88 - 102k 😁

DH Grandfather was in the civil service but at the sort of level that meant he got seating at the Queens coronation though not in the actual service. MIL was a young teenager at the time and remembers sitting close to the entrance to the Abbey in a special seating area. I just looked and 0.5% of civil servants earn over 100k, I guess he would have been at that sort of level.

My retired neighbour was a civil servant, she worked for HMRC and is not having an easy retirement money wise.

@HainaultViaNewburyPark

I’m private sector, and my company pays 25% of my salary into my pension.

Well the way people speak about public sector would have those of us working in it that no such perk exists in the private sector! Everyone seems very resentful of public sector pensions. What they don't understand is that 27% of a low end salary isn't actually going to result in a huge pension 🤷🏻‍♀️

Oh I stand corrected. Good knowledge!

ah now Reddit says a g7 civil servant!

DH got a job in the Civil Service earning about £50k. Great salary in the noughties. Twenty years later he was on about £55k and it didn't look quite so good, particularly for how skilled and experienced he is. Now he earns about £65k having had a promotion but I'm on £96k working for a small private sector organisation, and I think his job is much more full on, with greater responsibility than mine.

with pensions , the civil service pays more... i was on 32k at big 4, 6% pension, a heo in london is on 35k plus 28% pension

Yes but you were only 2 years in and hadn’t got your professional qualifications. 10 years experience in the civil service pay won’t keep up with the equivalent private sector. You’d have a huge amount more earning potential in the big 4. That doesn’t mean everyone who works there will achieve that, but the potential is there for those who make it. The civil service has a lot less earning potential and opportunities, but yes the pension is good. There are lots of jobs in between the two though, it’s not just the Big 4 to consider.

ah now Reddit says a g7 civil servant!

Yeah I'd assume he'd be a civil servant working for MI6?

Private sector could mean anything from the corner shop to a huge multinational corporation. Some people will be on NMW, others will be making literal millions.

So you were a 1st year Analyst?

At 2nd year you would have been on £38k. 3rd year £44k. And so on.

I disagree. Maybe depending on the department but 2/3rds of the FS G7s I work with cannot spell, let alone do their job. They are usually 25-27 year olds, who never worked in the real world, are rubbish line managers and just have zero skills other than saying nothing in a lot of words - they will not survive a day in the private sector. I had to train my G7, 2 weeks after starting my first HEO role in the CS, because all they cared about was holidays, and didn’t know basic process after 4 years in. I came in with 10 years industry and academic experience and ultimately said G7 was demoted and transferred to another team within 6 months, and I got promoted a grade while also filling their job (unpaid). The CS can be utterly shit for experienced, highly skilled staff, who like me gets stuck in a grade because of freezes and unfortunate timing, while utterly incompetent staff coasts and gets £20-£30k more..

The good ones, quit the programme because they either get to G6/7 earlier or go private after a year.. If I wasn’t pregnant and living in disadvantaged area with limited options I would be looking to move on, too - pronto. All solid staff seems to take the voluntary redundancy and we are now stuck with the leftovers who can’t get anything done..