Civil service job offer unsuitable for childcare.

[Asvan]

Hi

I just need some advice please. I'm looking to get back into work as my youngest starts school this September. I applied for an admin assistant role in the civil service and I got the job! I applied for this role as it was advertised as part time/flexible.

They called me on Friday to say the hours of work would be two full days and a half day. However, this isn't suitable for me as I have three kids under the age of 11. I have no help with childcare and my husband works away a lot so I need to be available for the kids.

In an ideal world I wouldn't mind working a few hours each day while the kids are at school as the job is only 18 hours a week. Is this something that I could negotiate? Also I would prefer to only work term time and maybe even be allowed to work from home some days. I feel like I'm asking for so much but I'd rather be honest from the beginning instead of wasting everyone's time.

Has anyone been in a similar position? And what's the best way to proceed. I have to let them know by Monday if I want to take the job. I dont want to come across as unflexible or unreasonable.

I was going to suggest parental leave but I see a PP already did. You get 4 weeks a year so combined with annual leave that's the school holidays very nearly covered.

It would be unusual not to get at least one day a week WFH too, unless it's a customer facing role.

So that's 2/3 sorted without any negotiation needed!

@ivfdreaming I only did it with one child! But yes some took advantage as in still keeping the pattern even though their kids had long since left home!

We had a whole management group of term time part time workers, the group just shut down for school holidays. They did sweep up work for the whole office & bulk jobs that could be timed to be done during term time. There was about 40 staff, some went back to full time as their kids grew up & left school, others carried on doing a 38 week contract. You get annual leave, bank holiday time & care leave, I got 6 weeks equivalent in hours annual leave & the equivelent of 10.5 days bank Holidays pro rata & 4 weeks care leave paid. At AA level as long as their is enough cover most managers don't mind you using your leave & flexi as you want. The pay isn't brilliant but better than a lot of jobs, the pension if you get the years in is good. Which department is it for? I was in HMRC for 27 years.

I work for the civil service. Definitely take this job. You will not find a more flexible employer. Grow with the job, sort childcare out, and find hours to suit as you progress. Sometimes you have to invest in some additional family co-ordination that might be difficult but the pay back will be massive. Having recently moved from the private sector into the public sector I finally have a job where you get payed for the hours you do with no expectations of all the extra hours that ultimately take your hourly rate down. I work hard of course for the hours I do, but the focus on wellbeing is huge. It does disappoint me that hiring managers assume part time workers are PITA, if anything they are more committed due to valuing the flexibility.

I was going to suggest parental leave but I see a PP already did. You get 4 weeks a year so combined with annual leave that's the school holidays very nearly covered

Do remember that parental leave can be postponed by the employer when there is genuine business need. And not having everyone off at the same time is a genuine need. So if you find it's a take turns system for whose leave is approved during peak holiday weeks, you'll need a plan for childcare as well.

And do remember that even though your DH is often away and cannot be hands-on during those times, he is still a parent and should be fully engaged in planning what is needed for the family to thrive

How did it go, did they consider your request?

btw your dh can also take parental leave to cover holidays

Civil service usually allow flexi time, so you can do your 18hrs over the week as long as you meet your targets but 6 weeks off for holidays!?! Not a hope in hell! If you need those sort of hours then you need to be working in an educational setting. Try applying for teaching assistant, you'll get the same holidays as your kids but will be expected to attend inset days.

OP flexible working requires both parties to be reasonable. If they want 2.5 days and you want to work 18 hours propose you do 3 x 6 hour days, e.g. 07:30 to 13:30 or 08:00 to 14:00. This would allow you to pick the children up for school but require breakfast club/childminder in the morning. This is also a very common working pattern for parents, to increase hours as your children get older you can either work longer days or add further 6 hour days. 5 x 6 hours = 30 hours.

With regard to TTW, ask but be prepared for them to say no.

With regard to WFH ask if this is possible. Depending on the work most will allow some WFH.

Once you are in post you can apply for unpaid parental leave ( probably wait till next summer) www.gov.uk/parental-leave/entitlement. This would enable you to take a mixture of leave and unpaid parental leave to cover holidays. Be prepared to use some childcare/children’s clubs during the holidays.