To be fed up of working for the Home Office?

[Geraldinefox]

Constant protestors outside the building.
With the tragic events in Southport, some rioters have decided what happened is our fault and now we have security guards stationed outside our offices.

Constantly slated in the news.

As an aside the pay is not that good for what we do. I'm an AO and they're frequently giving us EO level decisions and allowing us to make them.
Emails every day with new procedures we need to follow.

The pension is good, though I'm told it's not what it used to be. I've had a private sector job offer for significantly more pay, it's shifts but a 2 on 4 off pattern.

Very tempted to take it but apparently leaving isn't the done thing here. Most people here seem to be here for life and I'm worried I'd be making a big mistake? But ATM I don't feel safe there.

I'm on a fairly low income, and the only benefit I see is the pension, which I know is an important one.
However, if I were to take on a higher-paying role then I'd still be making larger contributions.

Many other roles now do offer WFH and Flexi.

Sorry you’re in this position. I’m also a civil servant, but in a different department. How would you feel about moving to a different department? That might give you higher pay and more flexibility e.g. WFH and flexi time. It sounds like you don’t want to give up all the benefits of the Civil Service (although, as you say, there are not perhaps enough to justify seating, and aren’t as generous as they used to be).

Sorry about the typos in my post above! When I mentioned ‘to justify seating’ in my post, I meant ‘to justify staying’!

Seek another job, use the decisions you have been asked to make as a positive in your applications.

Good luck.

I’m also a civil servant, different department though. I’ve got to be honest, I don’t think the civil service is what it used to be (I.e a job for life). Life is too short to work in a job that makes you unhappy, if you feel the other job will be a better fit I’d say go for it!

As PP said, maybe look at civil service jobs and see if they are any jobs in different departments.

YANBU, but it sounds like you don’t understand the pension at all - the contributions aren’t directly comparable.

It's a tough gig isn't OP, I don't tell people where I work anymore, cant be doing with the comments it attracts.
The pension is still very good, far better than my private sector one was, but if you've found a job elsewhere (and your still young!) then don't be afraid to take it.
It's not easy to find another CS job right now due to the recruitment freeze and the department cuts Starmers announced.

If you don’t like where you’re working, then change it. The civil service advertise transfers.

We've been blocked from applying for secondments due to current workloads, only way to move is to find and apply for a permenant role and go through the whole recruitment process.

What actually is the pension? Is it really financially worth it compared to another role? Absolutely worth doing the numbers over the other job and comparing properly what the overall value of both roles is.

Also, you can’t put a price on your mental health and happiness - are you prepared to be miserable at work til retirement?!

I'm on my second stint in the civil service. First was 10 years, left as had a young family. Dh has done 30 years. I returned a year ago to the same overall department but a different location to my first one. And a different role (much better as now a manager). I've also had a short stint elsewhere before my current job.

My feeling is civil service can still be a job for life if you're happy with job security. If you're not happy with your wage then look private.

All jobs IME ask you to work over your current grade. Civil service is not unique in this but it does seem to add weight when going for promotion with the success profiles - you can more easily demonstrate your strengths

I am a CS (fairly recently joined from local authority) and although there are pluses (for me mainly the flexi time) I don’t think it’s great. The pay really is bad. I’m shocked at the number of full time staff claiming universal credit (figures from the union)

Oops. Posted accidentally.

Success profiles have been great for promotions, levelling up in the CS whereas my experience in the private sector was much more 'if your face fits'. I've been a part of recruitment in both private and civil service.

But, if you are unhappy in your work then I always think it's time to start looking elsewhere. If the grass isn't greener, there are always CS jobs going if you want to return.

I do not regret my return one bit. I have a job I love, in a lovely scenic area. I might feel that same as you if I were working inner London home office right now.

This, you can’t just ask to be transferred anymore, it hasn’t worked like that for decades.

If I were you, OP, I’d make a list of all the pros and cons you can think of for your current role and the role you’ve been offered.

As the two roles are very different (private sector v public sector, higher pay for private sector role v lower pay but more general benefits for CS job), I think you should think about which of those benefits are most important to you right now.

Try to think what might also be important to you in the next few years - e.g in 2-5 years - but I would focus more on what’s important to you now, as you can always come back to the CS in future if you want to, and I think having a mix of CS/public sector and private sector experience will be beneficial for you.

I’d suggest going right down to the tiniest detail in your pros and cons list - right down to start and finish time for jobs, what your colleagues/team/line manager are like (although of course I know you don’t really know this yet for the role you’ve been offered) and what your commute will be like for both jobs.

We can help you if you like. Good luck.

Funny you should say that. My friend's son works for them as a temp and is dying (not literally)to get a permanent post there, he loves it and the pension is so much better than the private sector ( although I'm not sure how).

Just goes to show, it's horses for courses.

The pension is better because it’s defined contribution, which means you get a guaranteed amount based on pay and length of service. The employer (the government in this case) has to make sure there’s enough money to pay your guaranteed pension. Currently the employer’s contribution rate for the civil service scheme is just under 29%.

The vast majority of private sector schemes are defined contribution. This means that yours and your employer’s contributions are invested and you end up with a pot of money at the end. The amount very much depends how much is paid in and how the investments perform. Usually employer contribution rates to pensions like these are much lower, and you bear all the investment risk (if investments go down shortly before retirement nobody is going to make up that difference for you).

It’s therefore really important to include the pension value in your considerations. Having said that, there’s no point spending a long time being miserable in a job just to get a better pension when you retire. Just be aware of the pension differences and the sorts of amounts that you would need to contribute to a private sector pension to try and get a similar amount that the civil service pension would provide.