Radio silence from new employer, freaking out.

[notmycatagain]

I work for a local authority and have been now for 12 years.

I was offered a new job (different local authority) 3 weeks ago. They rang me, I accepted the offer on the phone. I then emailed them officially to accept and suggest a start date, which they replied and agreed to. I needed to give 12 weeks notice, so the start date is in December.

My current manager asked me for a formal resignation letter, so that she can start the recruitment process, so I sent it in.

I now realise after doing some reading that I shouldn’t have resigned before signing my new contract. This is the first time I have changed jobs and I just trusted my manager and wanted to be helpful. I should have thought it through. Anyway, I know I was stupid but what’s done is done.

It’s been three weeks now and I haven’t had anything formal through from my new employer. No written job offer, no contract. Meanwhile my current job has been advertised, closing date next week and interviews in October.

I am freaking out! I have emailed my line manager in my new local authority last Tuesday - no response. Then I rang him on Thursday and left a message asking him to call me back - no response yet.

I don’t want to be a nuisance, and I know my start date is a long way away, and I know my new manager is very busy… but it is stressful knowing that my current has been advertised, meanwhile nothing is official for the new one.

How normal is this for a local authority? Is three weeks+ a normal time to wait for a contract? Do I need to panic? Should I do anything else at this point? Help!

Is there a HR team you can contact? They usually produce the letters.

I think you’re being a wee but OTT. It’s post school hols when everyone not bound by school hols goes away. Depends what part of local authority but the new school year starting etc, they could be busy.

Give new authority HR a ring and ask for your contract and written confirmation etc.

I would be the same as you - could you contact HR at your new LA and speak to them?

Hmmm. Have you had to do anything formal? References? ID checks? Was the application through an application hub? Did they say how long it would be before you got a formal offer letter on the phone? This time of year can be very busy for public sector recruitment as they’re onboarding all the newly qualified staff so I wouldn’t worry too much. I’m currently changing NHS trust and have similar radio silence. Do you have any contact details for your new boss? Maybe get in touch with them if you can. I do understand why you’re worried but in general public sector jobs are very strict about offering/withdrawing job offers. I imagine they’re just being slow.

Thanks. It’s my new boss that I have been trying to contact. I will probably give him to the end of the week to get back to me and then call HR next week if I still haven’t heard anything.
I haven’t had to do any checks yet, they said on the phone that they would contact my referees, so that is something that would take time I guess. Although my current line manager would have replied very quickly I’m sure - she’s very efficient.

I will need a DBS for the role and this process hasn’t started yet either (I do have one for my current job, there will be no problem with it, except I know it can sometimes take a while.)

I now realise after doing some reading that I shouldn’t have resigned before signing my new contract.

You don't actually need to sign a contract right now, and many local authorities don't issue the statement of written particulars (which is what almost everyone calls "the contract" and isn't) untiol close to or even on the day of starting. Even if you didn't work for a local authority, "signing a contract" sounds very firm - it isn't. If the employer were to withdraw, at best you might be paid some notice pay.

However because it is a local authority to local authority move, your entire continuous service is preserved, so you actually do have a lot more protection that most people in this situation would. Assuming that this was a confirmed offer and not a conditional one.

Ah - cross posted and it looks like you only have a conditional offer. Broadly I wouldn't worry about it, but you should always wait until the offer in unconditional (although obviously that will delay you being able to set a start date). Again, given it is LA to LA it's unlikley to be a problem, but they definitely wouldn't issue an unconditional offer until all the boxes have been ticked.

Thank you, it is reassuring to know that the delay isn’t necessarily a sign there is a problem (at 2am I was awake imagining that the funding for my job has been pulled…)
By ‘all boxes ticked’ does that include the DBS?
Would it be a good idea for me to ring HR to find out how far the process has gone, or could that be seen as meddling?

I think you’re panicking unnecessarily. Our LA HR department is so shit, contracts often don’t turn up until after people have started!

@notmycatagain it would normally be DBS (which is currently taking 5-6 weeks anyway, at least in the South East…), references, right to work checks, ID checks and checks for any relevant qualifications/registrations they’ve asked for. It’s a right pain tbh.

i have resigned several times before having a contract, and I work in HR. I've always seen it as a hold up to agreeing a start date. I have worked for my current employer for many years now and this is standard across all departments I have worked in.

Come to think of it actually, I don’t think I got my contract for my current job until the week before I started.
If something happened with the budget or the employer had a change heart for whatever reason at the last minute, that could leave me without a job, so really it just comes down to trust at this point?

Hopefully it’s not that common for local authorities to withdraw job offers.

Thanks, that’s a relief.

I’m a bit worried about the DBS taking a long time. If I leave my current job before I’m able to start the next one, I guess it could affect my Local Authority continuous service?

Actually it’s LA that usually do make sure that all paperwork is completed before start date and as pp has said, the DBS can take some time, so as advised I would give HR a call promptly and see if the Manager has actually sent through the hiring paperwork.

I’m waiting for a DBS for a voluntary role - the charity applied in June and they checked yesterday and apparently it’s at stage 4 of 5. So I would definitely look into getting that moving asap.

I've never had a contract prior to starting a new role - usually get them on the first day!

The DBS depends on the LA - in some situations you can start but may have restricted duties. I have known people to get their DBS through months after starting, so whether it is a problem or not depends on circumstances.

Given you have already agreed a start date and handed in your notice based on that, and we have several weeks to play with, I don't think you need to worry about a gap in service, but if you get closer to the starting date it is something to take up with them.

Hopefully it’s not that common for local authorities to withdraw job offers.
It's not common because there are so many hoops to go through to get to this stage. And rare at this time of year too.