To ask about civil service working hours and progression?

[notsallyrooney]

Thinking about a CS job at SEO level - don’t want to say much as outing but wonder if any civil servants can help me with the following:

• What is a “full time” contract? I’ve seen “42 hours including lunch breaks” but that’s not helping me as I don’t know how long a lunch break?! Current employer full time = 36.5hrs (not including lunches)

• How do you move up within the band? So SEO starts at about 37k which is maybe 2k more than my current salary (where I’m at the top of my grade and have a progression point and am now stuck forever 😂 as I work in HE where nobody ever leaves!)

I’m just not sure if the switch is worth it at the moment if I won’t be able to move up (more than whatever the yearly % rise is?) Especially when I consider the fact that my annual leave is currently 43 days and would go down to 34 days (25+bank hol+kings birthday). I know I could balance out the drop in leave by taking parental leave and potentially buying some more, but both of those options would mean I wouldn’t really be earning any extra in the CS job which I had hoped to do..

Any advice much appreciated. Sorry for posting in aibu for traffic!

Ah thanks, I hadn’t realised this at all - I thought the pay range is what I’d move up through (that’s how it works with my current employer.)

It really depends where you are, I work in Scotland with devolved benefits at SEO level, we are contracted to 37 hours per week but this is dropping to 35 hours in oct 2025 with no drop in pay, you also go up pay points each year and are on your max with 4 years. I previously worked for DWP where the pay progression was awful and the role was gar more intense! Flexi and pension are deffo selling points

Sorry that should have said oct 2024

Current employer contribution is 21% which isn’t quite as good as that but also not so much worse.. seems to me like I would not really be better off by making the move. (And could be a lot of stress for barely any more money!)

Well this sounds amazing but sadly not in Scotland! It’s not in London either and I’m in a more remote part of the country without that many large employers..

I don't know why they still advertise it as a range because it is misleading, unless someone was already on the higher band when they removed the increments. Possibly because you can argue your way into being appointed at above the minimum?

Which is why, originally, they sought to reduce the pay ranges - men tend to be more assertive in arguing a higher starting point, and that advantage was then sealed in to their whole career - they moved to a higher point on promotion (because nobody waited till they hit the top of the pay range before trying for promotion) and then retired on a higher pension because it was linked to their final salary.

The big advantage of the Civil Service is being able to move around departments fairly easily, you can have a very varied and interesting career. But in terms of pay and almost everything else, it is nowhere near what it was in the days when one of the stated aims was to be a "good employer".

Rising through pay range can depend on role - eg DDAT scale which has proficiency based uplifts reviewed every year or so - and I went in halfway up the scale.

Oh here I was completely discounting it - it is a DD&T role within a gov department. Does that make a difference then?

I’ve actually just left but yes, I think it does make a difference

Within each grade eg SEO, on the DDAT pay framework there are 3 levels and three bands within each. You will initially be graded as either Developing, Advanced or Proficient, and each one adds a flat amount to your base pay.

Each job role, eg Business Analyst or Data Engineer will have a long list of skills and you are graded against each annually. Hopefully you will go up at least a step each year. So by the time I left I was at the top of the SEO scale.
There’s potentially also a non pensionable retention allowance.

Oh thank you, this is really interesting. Maybe still worth considering then. (Might not even get the job!!!)

Have you gone to private sector now? Is that a CS red flag I should be bearing in mind?!

@tonybennscat the implementation of the Sadat pay differs between departments too; we have four bands but only a few DDAT roles are currently covered by the process.

@notsallyrooney I retired!

Others have answered but - the contract assumes 1 hour lunch breaks. There’s some reason it has to be phrased like that.

You can’t move up in the bands. Not in any dept I know of. The bands are there to allow for people moving from other departments that pay more (so you don’t lose salary) or for people who’ve been there for ages since a time when you could move ip

Ahh, living the dream - enjoy your massive CS pension 😁

Don't compare percentage employer contributions as it has no bearing on the amount of pension you'll receive. CS pension is a career average pension where you receive a certain amount for each year you contribute, part of which can be given up for a lump sum. That's what you need to compare.

As for the other T&Cs it very much depends, the CS is varied and there are many jobs that bear no resemblance to any sort of stereotypical 'civil servant' roles.

But if you'd receive minimal pay rise for a lot fewer holidays, it doesn't seem worth the move right now.

@Tellmemore16 sorry to hijack this thread but I was wondering if Scotland they are enforcing the 60 percent mandate?
Ive been offered a role however was offered the role just prior to that mandate and believe it'd be two days in the office

Also have a job offer private sector which geniuely is working from home 4 days a week so it's a big factor