To wonder why the Civil Service is so worshipped?

[Babysonfire12345]

I definitely understand that the pension is one of the best out there.
However, flexi is offered elsewhere, WFH is offered elsewhere. I can't think of a single other benefit.
It's not even necessarily a 'job for life', there are redundancies. Pay is really low for AO-HEO grades for what is expected.
I don't see the appeal of it except for the pension, what am I missing?

DH would be made up if this happened, as he’s an avid Private Eye reader. It would definitely be his career highlight 🤣

The civil service pension is a defined benefit one (average salary) The accrual rate is 2.32%, which is the equivalent of 46.4% paid into a defined contribution scheme (using the LTA equivalent actuarial factor of 20)

@MsVisual is that right? The job adverts always around 28%:

Benefits
Alongside your salary of £30,676, Government Legal Department contributes £8,886 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.._
• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pensionn_ with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Pension is around 1/3 of career average salary. Based on nothing changing in 20yrs i’d get a lump sum of 200k if I take 100% tax free lump sum and around 18k per year. Or I could take less lump sum and more annual. I have 10yrs part time service there but back to full time now and hoping for another promotion before then. I have no clue what private sector pension is but I am happy with my CS one. If I died before then in service then my DC would get a lump sum death in service benefit (annual salary x 2)

If you are trying to compare to a Defined Contribution scheme then yes that is correct.

To make the maths simple, if you earn £100,000 you will receive a pension of £2,320 per year for each year that you work. So if you stay 10 years your pension will be £23,200

For a Defined Contribution scheme to pay £2,320 you would need a pot of £46,400 (if you assume a 5% drawdown rate)

This is slightly simplistic as it ignore inflation and the vagaries of the stock market. However it is a fair comparison.

@MsVisual thanks for explaining, it's a minefield to me. I just know I'm happy with it ha!

That's a very odd question OP. Are you Dominic Cummings?

I feel I have to interject here on the pension examples. The numbers earning over average wage are very small. Most are at EO grade on about 32k so a lifetime aged 20-60 on that grade would give more like 12k pension at 60

I believe average CS pensions are under 10k.

I don't think it's worshipped. However there are many varied interesting jobs. There are promotion opportunities. I've seen people from all backgrounds go from EO to DD or director. I think its difficult to find that elsewhere.

Lol at the idea that it's for people with no other options.
Tell that to the many people I work with who graduated from top unis and left prestigious employers to work in the CS - BBC, UNESCO, the V&A and other cultural institutions, think tanks, some of the best universities in the country etc. Or came through the graduate fast stream, which is really competitive to get into.
We definitely don't sit around twiddling our thumbs either, the work can be very demanding and if you're in the project delivery or policy space it's fast paced.
There's a huge range of jobs, departments and organisations within the CS. I work in a specialist role, am highly educated and definitely have other options, but the CS has been the best employer I've been at, for reasons others have already mentioned.

I work a 35 hour week and not a second more unless I feel like it. I earn 90k plus db pension (in Scotland). I do work I'm interested in and I don't have to bill clients or pander to morons (I don't think politicians are as bad as corporate clients before anyone says anything!)

I get 30 days annual leave plus 12 days public holidays. I work from home mostly. I don't have to go to after hours events and I just don't go to Christmas parties etc and nobody moans about me not being a team player. My colleagues are mostly nice and interesting people and very few of them are Ambitious in that exhausting linkedinny way.

It's a brilliant place to work ime.

It's quite hard to get into and the barriers don't always seem very logical so I think a lot of people are a bit bitter about it as an employer.

I think people assume this is a “safe” job but dh has been going through a restructuring process that has dragged on for 2 years! 2 years of uncertainty with lots of carrots, lies etc. it’s been really draining. Having worked in private sector, they’ve made it painful!

Well in the private sector he'd probably just have been let go. The redeployment pool is a big soft landing for most people.

I haven't found any. Admittedly, it was quite a quick scan, but if the boards are "full" of them, you'd have thought I'd find one or two.

He’s still likely to be let go but it wouldn’t have taken so long so he’d have received his redundancy pay and moved on.

It's a really good option if you find yourself in mid life in need of a decent job with a good pension. It's not ageist and there are plenty of opportunities once you manage to get in. That's why I think it comes up on Mumsnet fairly regularly

Why hasn't he applied for something else?

Maybe they just don't know how to do it.
The NHS was similar - merging of two trusts was a right cock up going through the pretence of interviewing, spending all the redundancy budget on the first round then bullying others so they left.

He’s still likely to be let go but it wouldn’t have taken so long so he’d have received his redundancy pay and moved on.

2 years! I've change jobs twice in that time in the CS, why doesn't he just apply for something else, something must have come up in 2 years?

Yes but they're also full of people trying to get other jobs. Tbf it's a popular option for parents with young kids as you can be part-time without the stigma that often goes with that.

Agree. Its a fairly safe job because in that 2 year process you can apply elsewhere in the civil service. In a private company that may not be so.

He has applied for a couple of things but if made redundant he’ll use the opportunity to go into consultancy work, but they keep saying redundancies will be next month so he waits for his pay out (which will be enough to live on for a year while he sets up - without the pay out we can’t pay the bills). It was supposed to be by summer 2023 then they wanted them for an extra year, July 2024 they started the consultation but it was such a shit show it was moved to September, then November and now it’s actually happening it’s still a shit show and unions are rightly unhappy by lack of transparency. It’s a whole organisation restructuring not just his team with hundreds being made redundant and all recruitment internally has been on hold for a year.

Worship really? When I was a Civil Servant I tried to avoid telling people what I did as most people think what a bunch of skivers we are/ were and how unfair it is for their taxes to be paying our "gold plated" pensions.
On a personal level I went the direct entry route in after university. I loved working in the field where I knew I was making a difference but less so when I got promoted and dragged into head office where everyone seemed to be overpromoted for what they actually achieved. T&Cs were pretty good though, we were doing 9 day fortnights and 1 day a week working from home in the late 90s, but I was very happy to take a career break then eventually leave to move abroad. Never had any desire to go back on my return. I'm one of those "gold plated" pensioners now.

He’s quite specialist and most jobs include commuting to London, which he doesn’t want to do (we don’t live anywhere near and relocating isn’t an option due to dc and my own job). He has applied for a few but there isn’t much at all - I’m in the similar field but not government and have been looking too as I’m bored.