AIBU to take a £10k pay cut to join the civil service

[DizzyIzzy2022]

Does anyone have any experience in working within a grade 7 role within the civil service? I've been offered a lawyer role, but a £10k pay cut to current role.

Thanks!

But your pension will be 1/3 so worth it. I’m a CS and here for the pension

You may be better off in real terms when you factor in pension. Are you comfortable that You'll adapt to the culture? Private sector to CS may be a huge shock.

I work closely with two govt depts and my org has some CS tendencies and it's pretty wild how slowly things move, how little accountability there is.

Which department of the civil service? It's not homogenous. Different departments have different expectations of different grades.

As per PP, look at the full package - salary, benefits, holiday, etc.

I did exactly this, in law too. I had a career change so don’t work in law anymore but the civil service was the best law job I ever had! Go for it!

The hours can be long, but nowhere near as bad as private practice, and that depends on the department you’re advising anyway. I found on the whole people to be nicer and the workplace culture to be much better.

I was going to the say the same thing about pensions. I’d make the change I think.

I struggled with the culture more. Nobody in the private sector ever told me ‘I’m not doing that because it’s not in my job description’. There was a notorious department where we worked full of people like that. So lazy too. There just want an attitude of working together for a common goal at all. No efficiency. Incredibly frustrating.

Do it @DizzyIzzy2022
My Dd2 went from the private sector to work at CS and the pensions , Flexi time , maternity leave, pension and sick leave far out weigh the decrease in salary .

Look at the whole package, holidays, sick pay as well as pensions. And generally the flexibility is great. My mum is very ill and having been allowed a few days off I am now working doing what I can sitting beside her and others have been fab about swopping bits of workload around so I'm not having to physically attend much.

Look at the whole package not just the headline salary.
Calculate a value for the increased pension, the better sick leave terms (and maternity leave if that might be in your future) and any differences in Annual Leave entitlement. Once you have accounted properly for all those I suspect the CS job is actually a better package.

My key concern would be the threat of redundancy, or at least severely diminished working conditions, in 3.5 to 4 years time if Reform win the election. But as long as you keep up your connections in the private sector and are confident you’ll be able to pivot back in the future, then I’m sure it would be a great experience for a few years.

And the pension is good, but remember that you can’t access it until state pension age.

I'm a CS lawyer and left private practice 7 years ago for a pay cut. Pension and much better working conditions mean it's absolutely been worth it.

Is it the same role as you do now or a different one? As everyone else has said the pension will be good with the CS. What is it that’s making you consider the role?

Thanks everyone for the great advice.

I work for a private company owned by a local authority so am used to public sector working but without the benefits.

The department is UKHSA if that makes any difference. Usually with interviews you get a feel for the role but the interview was so much like an exam I didn't really get a sense

A colleague of mine did a secondment at a government body and was impressed how dynamic and fast moving it was - so not all public sector bodies are created equal - it will depend on where you are going.

I would happily work for the government legal service for a bit. You don't have to stay forever if it doesn't suit you (or if Reform get in and sack everyone) and it will always look good on the CV. I'd go for it, wherever you go, you will work with very bright people. Congratulations on being offered the role - it's not easy to get one!

I’ve recently moved to civil service and found the same. It’s such an odd culture. Everything moves so slowly and discussions just go round in circles because nobody will commit to making a decision. Lower grades particularly are very entitled and won’t do more than they have to, very quick to pass the buck. I’m not stretched at all in my role and there’s no scope for progression because nobody leaves until they retire where I am!

My DH worked in the CS for years, in many departments, and was very happy. It’s by far the most organised and efficient of all the public sectors, to his view (and he’s worked in a few). The full package of holidays, pensions, flexibility etc was great.

He moved on (to another public sector) because he found promotion too slow and laborious, with an insane amount of competition per role. But he misses the efficiency and says there’s far less bullshit than other public sectors.

Not true. I'm taking mine at 60 albeit reduced.

It's called actuarial reduction, and is a calculation anyone can look at on the CS pensions website.

Be mindful with the pension talk, yes, it IS very good but it's defined benefit so the 28% contribution is fairly meaningless - it won't grow like a private pension can (but won't drop either).

it's pretty wild how slowly things move, how little accountability there is
Sums it up in my experience really. As does the comment about the weird work culture.

It's extremely easy to shine in my CS organisation by turning up and doing your job.
Working conditions & flexibility are excellent.

Following. I'm interested too but nervous incase more big cuts are on the horizon
I am also curious what career progression is like?

(Not got my eye on one right now but saw a job recently and nearly applied and am now pondering it if I see another one that interests me)

Assuming you earn a decent salary then a 10k paycut for a massive pension and not really have any work stress seems worthwhile to me!

Why would there be no work stress? Surely some legal roles in the civil service are really stressful just in different ways from private practice?

I've never meet a stressed civil servant. They virtually never get sacked so don't really have to worry about what happens as a consequence of their work. Most of them seem a little bored if anything, turn up, do the minimum, leave, holding out to retirement.

I am not a lawyer but I am a CS and I work very closely with the lawyers in our dept. One thing to check with UKHSA is about promotion opportunities. In some depts, all the lawyers are basically the same grade and it can be hard to get promoted. Other parts of govt have a more traditional structure with eg. lawyers, seniors, heads of etc. So a bit more opportunity to move up. Not all depts have their own legal teams as lots use GLD (government legal department) so im not hugely familiar with who has which structure.

If you are thinking about having DC in the future (or you already have them), the CS is excellent for flexibility and for me, being able to shape my own hours and working week to fit around my two small DC has been hugely worth it.

I've always worked in private sector and have had plenty of people tell me they won't do things as it's not their job description, or other excuses and laziness. You find lazy useless people anywhere, not just in one sector