Hmrc job offer

[Rangotango]

Anyone here work in the hmrc offices? Ive been offered a HEO job as frontline manager but im currently on mat leave (interviewed v. Long time ago last march and on a waiting list for roles to come up).
My current job is very close to home, very flexible as in I do my own rota working opposite shifts to husband (no childcare costs) i can comfortably work 30 hrs a week with 3 young children. Downside is its all weekend working and i dont feel satisfied mentally.
This Hmrc job is slightly higher salary, works out about 2k more a year rising to almost 7k more, but is an hour commute each way and i dont know what the working hours are. Ive emailed the team and they are being vague as to how the hours are worked. Pros are that its a safe job, good pension. Cons, a forever commute and leaving a safe job for the unknown. Also, my baby is 9 weeks old.
Anyone here work for hmrc? Any insight onto frontline manager roles or rotas would be so helpful. My gut is telling me to stay put where i am, for the sake of my kids. Just feel like i might regret turning it down as it's the best job ive ever been offered and i might not be in a position like this again? I have a 9 week old too, so hormones are making this a hard decision.

personally I wouldn’t even consider giving up what you have at the moment for what you describe. No childcare costs, no commute, can make up your own rota - you certainly won’t be able to do that in HMRC! A friend of mine worked for them in a similar role and flat refuses to consider any job in the whole of HMRC based on his experience - describes it as being “just a number”. I certainly wouldn’t leave your job for the new one without them telling you exactly how the hours are worked either - you’d probably get a nasty surprise when you started.

Re the salary, you’ll start at the bottom and your 2k will probably all be lost on commute and childcare, and then some. You won’t progress up the pay scales automatically either so the rising by 7k is a bit of a red herring.

There are other, more flexible jobs in the Civil Service - the dept. I work in is very flexible and much more family friendly. I get what you’re saying about not feeling mentally satisfied, but you’ve got time, if you want to change jobs into Civil Service later on while your kids are a bit older you certainly can.

Thanks so much isleepinahedgefund, really appreciate your response. Good to hear from someone working within, everything ive read is how they're family friendly and flexible hours but i guess not to the extent that I am already. My husband works shifts which make your average office job impossible at the moment unless he moves departments so my current job is ideal.
Thanks, i think i just needed to hear some advice from someone who is impartial to my situation.

Just came on to say the same - you start at the bottom and you stay there. I'm not sure what the point of the upper end of the scale is tbh. I've been in my role for seven years and am still on the bottom of the pay scale. I consider myself well paid but that does grate.

The pay scale only really applies when you're getting promoted - for instance I've just applied for a job on promotion and my current salary is in the middle of the new pay scale - I'd get an uplift of up to 10%, which would take me to the top of the new pay scale (where I would remain for the next 49 years!!!!). However if I applied for a lateral move into the new department, I'm already above the pay scale maximum for jobs at my current grade so I'd stay on my current salary for the rest of eternity.

Interesting. The bottom of the next grade for me is 10k more. How are you on the middle of your pay scale - how did you get there on the first place

I've worked there about 11 years, before everyone got bought out of the increments. Also my pay rises were protected for the first three years during the pay freeze because I was training. I got moved up two increments two years in a row after I completed training,because they were standardising increment dates. Then I've had the 1% increases, so now I'm nearly at the top of the pay scale.

My current pay is in the middle of the grade above me in the new department I've applied to.

If it's 10k uplift to the next grade for you, I'm guessing it's EO to HEO? There tends to be quite a difference in pay scales there, and then it gets smaller - I'm HEO moving to SEO.

I used to work for HMRC and would never go back. It is also right that you stay on the bottom of the pay scale forever. They removed time served pay progression years ago.

The plus is once your in the civil service it's easier to move around it.

Grade 7 to grade 6

there is a website called www.glassdoor.co.uk/Award/Best-Places-to-Work-UK-LST_KQ0,22.htm you can look up company & check what workers there say

Isleepinahedgefund... can I jump into this thread to ask your advice/opinion please? What are the chances of getting a job at HEO level if I have never worked for the civil service before? Probably impossible to answer I know...

Presumably you will have the key skills required for that jobs you're applying for, so go for it. It's just like applying for any other job in that respect.

Happy to help if you need guidance on navigating the Civil Service recruitment process!

The whole process applying for a HEO role was easy. I had banked scores for verbal reasoning and numerical tests, coincidentally I now have new banked scores of 98 and 99% better than others, then somehow I managed to get a score of 99% in the situational Judgement for the role i applied for. Very odd as I has flunked one for a lower grade role, getting 14%.. This role i applied for on a whim as the results were banked and it was just the SJT to do again. The interview was easy, very relaxed and lovely interviewers. I've let the offer expire now, if the children get older I can always try again. But the convenience of my current job is too hard to turn down with 3 little ones! Be prepared for a very long wait after interview though, mine was a month to find out. May - November waiting for an offer.

This thread has been very helpful, thank you hedge fund for your advice. After a crazy week I’m going to try and have a go at applying for something this week. The whole process just seems so much more daunting than previous jobs I’ve applied for.

Hi Isleepinahedgefund... I wonder if you have any thoughts.... if you have a large amount of time out of the workforce due to having children is that a bad thing in the civil service? When I look at job applications it asks you to list your job history but there seems to be nowhere to add that the reason you didn’t work between x and x was due to ... Will they therefore wonder what on earth I’d been up to during that time? I’ve worked continually for around 9 years but before that I’ve got little to talk of due to having children.
I also don’t see anywhere to add in qualifications. I hoped to show that in these past years I’ve studied a lot, as well as worked full time but there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to add all of that and I’m not sure that I can weave all of that into the competencies. Thanks for any advice!