Civil Service career break query

[Tikitaka20]

I’m a current civil servant with 4 years’ service in my current department and hoping to do a career break in autumn next year to study and travel, but wondering if I might be able to do a career break after having hypothetically been in a role for 5 months-ish?

I’m also aiming to apply for Masters courses this year, to start in Sept/Oct 2027, and will probably hear by next March if I’ve been successful.

In an ideal world, I’m hoping to get an EOI (only available promotion opportunity in my department) in the next couple of months, get a permanent role early next year in my department at my promoted grade and have a career break from autumn 2027 to the start of Jan 2029 to do a Masters then go travelling for a few months.

If I apply successfully for the Masters and end up in a role at my promoted grade by May 2027, I’m wondering how likely is it I’ll be allowed to take a career break (given I’ll only have been in that role for 5 months by the end of September 2027).

I know my plans depend on a lot of unknowns, and I’m thinking long-term here, but I’m trying to get an initial plan together. I’d be interested to find out if anyone here has successfully applied for a career break after being in a role for 5 months?

You want a commitment to potentially return but without really giving much of one to the organisation yourself in the first place so I can’t see many managers being particularly interested. Given the cut backs at present they’ll be far more pleased to reduce the headcount.

In my experience, the career break to do a (related?) masters would be considered whatever your length of time in a role.

I am confused about the promotion plans. Would you only do the career break if you’d already got the promotion? If you’re in one of the departments currently on a recruitment/promotion pause, then expect a LOT of competition for promotions when things ca finally move again. Happens the same every time.

This is the Civil Service though, so it won’t matter what the managers think, it’ll come down to the policy in place.

OP - it varies between the different CS departments, so you need to check the policy where you work. I work for the CS, and our Career Break criteria is based on how long you’ve worked for the agency, not on how long you’ve been in a particular role,

Thanks so much for your posts, everyone.

Unfortunately the Masters I’d like to do can only be done full-time and is unrelated to my job.

I also realise approval is discretionary and that my career break will be unpaid and won’t guarantee me a role on my return.

I know the job market is terrible and is likely to remain that way for some time, and that my request to leave a few months into a role is going to be unwelcome. That’s what prompted my query here, because I’m trying to come up with a plan for it now.

I think the way I’ll approach it is: I apply for the Masters and see what happens. If I get into the Masters and my career break doesn’t get approved for the Masters and travelling, I decline the Masters and then request a career break a year later to go travelling. Another option is for me to apply for the Masters in autumn 2027 to do it in 2028-29 rather than in 2027-28 (if I apply successfully). Unfortunately it’s not possible for me to defer the Masters to another year if I apply successfully.

Our policy is the same - based on how long we’ve worked in our department, rather than how long we’ve been in a particular role. I’m just wary of starting a permanent role and then asking for a career break after only having been there for a few months - which I doubt my manager would be pleased with.

Just for context, a previous colleague I worked with was in their role for about 3 months before going on maternity leave. I realise it’s different to my situation though, because it’s maternity leave rather than a career break for studying/travelling.

Why can't you wait and go for promotion after the Masters and career break? I think it's cheeky to ask for one so soon into a new role, despite what the policy says officially.
Plus depending on how long the career break is they may not be able to hold the role open for you. A friend is on a 2 year career break from the civil service and she's been told that when she returns she will be in a redeployment pool for 6 months and if she doesn't find a role in that time, then she's out.

A CS career break doesn't guarantee you the same job on your return, it's only if a vacancy is available. You are put on the priority list for any jobs that come up at the same grade. So it is a bit of a risk, especially for a totally unrelated Masters.
I'd ask your HR dept about eligibility, they will know more than people on here. Just wanting to travel or study, when it's not connected to the job, may not qualify. Especially if they are looking to reduce headcount.

Recruitment will have taken the manager around three months to sort and if you then leave after five months they will be deeply unhappy to have to start again. You will barely have started adding value in the role before you leave them with another gap. Whether not it’s within policy, consider whether this is a reputation you want within your department.

In my dept EOIs are only for temporary promotion, can’t be made permanent without fair and open competition which EOIs aren’t. Do double check that.
your career break might be considered but they don’t have to hold a role for you and if you come back and there’s nothing suitable available you could be put on risk of redundancy.

Thanks very much, everyone.

Ultimately, promotion opportunities are more important to me right now than the Masters.

Given that, I think I’ll focus on promotion opportunities now and try and get a permanent role. And, rather than applying for the Masters now for a 2027 start if I’m successful, I’ll apply for the Masters next year, for a 2028 start if successful. I’m really hoping the jobs market improves in the next couple of years, so more CS jobs might become available.

@OneOfEachPlease EOIs are also temporary in my department, but they’re the only current promotion opportunity in my department so I’m applying for EOIs, but hope to be able to apply for permanent promotion opportunities as soon as they’re available again.