Civil service & part time working patterns

[Aeiou90]

Hi, I’m looking to return to work after 6 years out on mat leaves and caring for our 3 children. I’m interested in opportunities in the civil service. I see all of the job adverts say flexible working/part time/term time/condensed hours available..my question is could this be combined e.g. term time only AND part time, say for 18 months, by which time we won’t be paying so much on daytime childcare fees and our children will be old enough for me to return to a more ‘normal’ working pattern? At what point in an application process do you bring up flexible working options? I’ve been out of work for so long and things have obviously changed a lot with home-working, I’m not sure how to go about getting back to it. Thank you.

I know people in my team who do part time and part year (i.e. term time). What is available might depend on the department and the work you do, but you should be able to contact the vacancy holder for any job you are interested in and discuss the options. It would not disadvantage your application to do so.

Depends on the role and the needs of the team - as emsyj said above contact the vacancy holder to scope out the lay of the land on a “what if”
basis. Don’t be put off applying if they um and ah though - and then negotiate properly once you have been offered the role.

In the team I used to run I couldn’t have accommodated part year/part time - the team was just too small, too busy and the work landscape constantly changing because of the particular policy area too much to be able to accommodate someone not being there for large chunks of the year AND not there for half the week, but I would have come to an agreement on a request for part time all year round and given generous flexible hours to accommodate childcare.

However in the group of teams I’ve just started running, part year/part time would be much more feasible from the point of view of the business.

Thank you so much for your replies, it's so helpful. Much appreciated. I'll get applying.

In my department in civil service you can also ask for term time only working pattern. It doesn't cover all the school holidays but most of them.

Sorry to jump on this, but does anyone know how it works with remote working? Just as an example if I asked to work 3 days, would they let me work 1 day in office, and 2 at home? Umming and arring about applying for some but the office location is difficult to work around with childcare.

I’m currently hiring

I couldn’t accommodate termtime only - however very flexible with WFH even pre-COVID but more so now

@Justanticipating it depends on the dept and the role and to an extent the manager. As a hiring manager in the role I currently have I wouldn’t personally have an issue with 1 day in office 2 wfh. I’d say apply and negotiate when you have the role. Front line/customer facing roles will be the most inflexible generally, so read the JD carefully before applying. Also contact the vacancy holder and ask what that particular dept is doing re hybrid working - everyone is working it out at the moment, and they will tell you if the role requires more. Also don’t take it for granted you’ll be able to work just 3 days, that will depend on the role etc too.

[quote Doorhandleghost]@Justanticipating it depends on the dept and the role and to an extent the manager. As a hiring manager in the role I currently have I wouldn’t personally have an issue with 1 day in office 2 wfh. I’d say apply and negotiate when you have the role. Front line/customer facing roles will be the most inflexible generally, so read the JD carefully before applying. Also contact the vacancy holder and ask what that particular dept is doing re hybrid working - everyone is working it out at the moment, and they will tell you if the role requires more. Also don’t take it for granted you’ll be able to work just 3 days, that will depend on the role etc too.[/quote]
Great thank-you thats really helpful, ill keep an eye out :)