AIBU to consider this job (£6k pay cut)

I think you are right to try to leave, the ideal for you is a situation where you are happy in your work. The 6k pay cut will be hard, but not as hard as struggling in a job where you are unhappy.

People take pay cuts all the time, I've done it repeatedly in my working life, in order to secure better long term opportunities. I've always just said 'career development' in response to that question - that I think the work will be more interesting, time for a new challenge or a different environment.

You are absolutely right to move jobs. The situation you’re describing could make you ill. I’ve done a lot of interviews recently and none have asked about health, however there was an occupational health assessment once appointed, which may lead to questions. Reasons for moving is easier, as long as you say something vaguely plausible I’ve not noticed anyone labouring over this question.

There will be many opportunities to progress in the public sector , the £6k thing is a small price to pay for a fresh start away from that abuse.

A £6k cut in salary will only be a drop of £4k net, so perhaps not as bad as you fear, OP. And public sector pensions are still better than most private sector schemes.

Plus you will get decent holiday and sick pay entitlement, good annual leave and probably flexitime as well.

But best of all, you will be out of the toxic environment you're currently in, and by the sound of it that will be priceless.

Are you sure that it is 6k? We are public sector and negotiate up the band for experience.

I took a pay cut to move from private to public sector. It was 100% worthwhile. I have more annual leave, flexi time and flexi days. Currently sat in bed watching Netflix on a flexi day 🤣

In most industries public sector work is difficult to escape. I would hold out for a better job.

Totally negotiate the pay, we employ (public sector) people on a similar scale and would quite happily go half way up this scale if you have experience. If you are moving from the NHS do you not move over on your current pay point?

If the band is 30-38k why are you assuming the salary for this job is 30k or the bottom?

For health reasons I now work from home and have managed to build it up almost to full-time again.

My salary more than halved, and for a couple of years I was totally dependent on benefits. I currently earn £20K a year less than I was earning when I was employed outside the home but I am so much happier and now that the work from home is a lot more settled and I have some steady clients what I can earn is likely to increase. One of the reasons I collapsed was to do with bullying (not in my most recent outside-the-home job, but the one before that. Which was not NHS but an up-its-own-bum Russell Group university with a narcissist for a boss and a vile witch as the next senior manager. There were nice normal people but not in the management for my part of the department. When I left they split my workload between 3 people. It took over 18 months before I felt safe enough to allow it to take its toll). Anyway.

If you're already within the NHS you should move over on the same spine point as long as you haven't had a break in NHS service; sometimes they''ll even offer you the next spine point up (used to happen automatically but not any more). If you're outside the NHS, especially if it's public sector, you might find they take your experience into account. I'd be inclined to negotiate that if and when they offer you the job. When I moved from the MoD to the NHS as my experience was directly relevant and very comparable they put me on the middle of the scale. The manager will usually have some discretion here.

And something else to remember is that the NHS is one of the very few places left where experience and assumed increasing competence in a role is rewarded by an annual pay rise within the scale, which also gets reviewed and usually increased (albeit slightly) each year. So even if you start on the bottom of the scale, or the middle, in a year's time you'll be on the next spine point up. Have a look at www.nhsemployers.org/pay-pensions-and-reward/agenda-for-change/pay-scales/annual - I'm guessing from what you've said it's probably a Band 6 you're applying for so that will give you an idea. (I came into the NHS after my MoD stint on the middle of that scale.)

Why is E&D important? Well, apart from the fact it's now embedded in the legislation, one of the main principles of the NHS is that everyone is treated equally and fairly, as far as possible (or they should be).This doesn't always mean treating people exactly the same, it means treating people fairly.

The NHS is the single biggest employer in the UK (it's the 2nd biggest in the world), and it's relatively representative of wider society so, again, making sure that it continues to represent that society is important; for workforce planning it's also important since despite what the Tories would have us believe, there are not enough UK trained healthcare professionals so the NHS has to recruit in other countries outside the tiny little pool of those who are left; the healthcare professional workforce is also ageing; so that patients will feel welcome E&D are important (since ultimately the role of the NHS is actually patient care). Maybe have a look at www.england.nhs.uk/about/equality/equality-hub/edc/, there are some great buzzwords in there. ;)

The NHS is not perfect, but overall my experience of it (15 years plus, eek!) was that it really does its best to make people feel welcome no matter what their age, background, ethnicity, gender preference, disability or political persuasion. Every now and then you get examples of bullying and they really are the bad eggs.

Your clues to the questions they're likely to ask you at interview are in the person spec and on their website - what sort of questions would they ask to give you the opportunity to show how your skills and experience fit their needs? This is assuming they're using the competency or values based approach and not the ludicrous "what would you do if a spaceship landed in your back garden" and "how many uses can you find for a paperclip" approach that was so popular about 25 years ago. There'll almost certainly be a question about communication skills and there'll almost certainly be a question about conflict resolution.

Most (non-doctor) NHS interviews would take more or less the following format, assuming there isn't a test or task first (if there is, they really should have told you in advance. So for a typist it might be a typing test, or for the records department, data input, for instance.)

1. Tell us about yourself. This is where you can sum up your experience and explain why you'd like to work at that organisation/in that role.

@thelonelyones I've just read your comment about salary - you could phrase it along the lines of "when you have made your decision, will previous work experience be taken into account with regards to the pay scale/spine point?"

I'm sure someone will be able to phrase it much more elegantly than that though. Also bear in mind that the NHS still has one of the best public pensions in the UK, even under the new scheme (as I had a gap I ended up having a bit of both), and there are all kinds of discounts you get at shops and other places that they won't tell you about at the interview. In one city I lived in we even got half price fares on the buses, though that was a city where the hospital is still very highly regarded.

Again, fingers crossed.

agree with pp's, especially cannycat; sickness should't be discussed at interview that should be down to occupational health to check your fitness for work; disciplinary also shouldn't come up at interview, it might be down to HR and references. Good luck.

Look at a book.... Women don't ask....

Its an old book but interesting - covering exactly this sort of negotiation....

You're assuming you'd go in on the lowest point... Look at the transferable skills you have related to the job... And NEGOTIATE!

I came into NHS some years ago from a related field and negotiated as above and went in at the top spinal point.... You have to be sure of your own worth thiugh and sell yourself!

I have just accepted a new job, also going from private to public sector. The new job was offering me a set salary, I said sorry I am looking for something more - they instantly bumped it up by £2500.

You dont ask - you dont get

Re salary...in my opinion, you wait to see if they offer you the job and then negotiate with HR.
I definitely wouldn't mention salary expectations at the interview stage.

Have a look at www.jobs.nhs.uk/advice/interview_manage.html and www.graduate-jobs.com/scheme/nhs/interview and literally just pop "nhs interview questions" into Google - but with over 1.5 million people working for the NHS in England alone, there are as many variants as there are vacancies!

Your best bet really is to study the person spec and try and work out what questions you might ask someone if you wanted to know if they were a good fit for the job.

Also have a look at the BBC and the NHS websites themselves - the BBC will give you good background on some of the issues of the day, as another popular question is what major issues do you think the NHS is likely to face in the next 3/5/10 years.

Depending on your particular part of the country, this might be integrated care, or the introduction of new electronic records systems; another big issue right now is the NHS Long Term Plan (though don't worry if you miss it, there'll be another one along in a minute - I used to sometimes think there must be entire departments devoted to just churning out reports and forms and devising acronyms).

Links are www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-46524257 and www.england.nhs.uk to get you started.

I've to deliver a 5 min presentation on why E&D is important in the NHS.

What is E&D?

The question is whether you want it OP. Your experience and skills will speak for themselves. If you want it, then your enthusiasm will/should shine through.

Interestingly I've been semi in your place - leaving a job during a disciplinary (references weren't an issue as they gave a tombstone reference). Talk about keenness for new challenge, aspects of the role you want apply yourself to/develop.

Be honest(ish) if they ask about sickness. If it were me, I'd try and make it out to be isolated incidents, not a long saga of related events. If offered the job and the disciplinary was on my record, I'd then offer to provide full(ish) details.

I always think if you don't try you won't know, and it's good interview experience.

Good luck to you {flowers]

Equality and Diversity.