Civil Service offer

[MrsArchchancellorRidcully]

I've had an offer of employment in the civil service (yay) for a grade SEO. the salary is lower than I can manage on and I've told them so. They've come back asking me what salary I would I be ok with and they will ask finance to see if the offer can be improved. Given the salary range for the grade is approx £39-46k what would you say is realistic and probable? They've offered 39 which is too low.

Thanks have zero experience of the civil service.

It's actually really difficult to negotiate civil service salaries. Obviously they've said they'll try so give it your best shot but normally the starting salary is bottom of the advertised range and they won't budge

What is your current salary? Generally they’ll ask that on the application so ask them to match it?

I believe the civil service quote themselves as saying all roles begin at the bottom of the band on most if not all of their job adverts.

There appears to some movement for you. YAY. it is difficult to say how much to ask for since it will depend upon your current experience.

Jobs do not offer based upon your out goings but upon what you are worth to them. With your counter offer state why you think you should be more than minium. Do you bring x years experience or knowledge of y which is over and above what was asked for in the advert?

When you say you can't manage on the salary, do you mean just at the bottom of the band, i.e. £39k? I doubt they'd move you up more than one point on the scale, maybe 2 if you're very lucky.

Ex-civil service HR here. The scale is shown as an existing civil servant could get the job and they transfer across on same salary or uplift on promotion. For non-CS it’s called higher starting pay and usually you have to get permission to offer it before advertising, one for finance and also to be fair to all potential applicants, as some may have applied if they knew there was pay higher than starting rate otherwise the recruiting department risk breaching the CS commissioners rules on open and fair competition.
They might be able to give you more than start rate but it’s not simple

@BungleandGeorge

What is your current salary? Generally they’ll ask that on the application so ask them to match it?

I was made redundant in the summary and was on approx 50k. So an £11k drop isn't realistic for me. Thanks for the comments all.

It's rare to have a higher starting salary in my experience but if you evidence what you were on before then they may be able to increase it.

What's the likelihood of progression? As G7 roles would pay £50k but it depends what role it is - going into policy at G7 is very difficult but if you're an accountant or lawyer then much easier to move up on your previous experience.

It does depend on the department. They all implement the rules differently in my experience. Sine are very strict.

You could ask for up to £3k more in our department and be able to secure that, and for specialist roles (finance/digital/commercial) possibly even more.

It’s definitely worth a go.

But I also agree with pp who said you might find there’s lots of opportunities to move up to the next band grade 7 which would start at about £50k. It might not take you that long to move up.

Don't forget that CS salaries can be frozen or have minimal increases for years so although they are relatively secure jobs don't expect big bonuses or significant pay rises no matter how well you are performing. The only way to get a significant uplift is by getting promotion.

It varies by department, some do join or the bottom take it or leave it, some might negotiate to a point for the right candidate but generally that’s for hard to recruit/retain skills rather than for generic posts. Usually I’ve seen “up to £1000 more for the right candidate”, and they certainly aren’t in the habit of putting new entrants straight to the top of the pay scale.

Just curious - did you apply for an SEO post knowing the salary range? It’s usually v clear on the job ad whether there is room for negotiation, starting from a default position of no.

If you have no job (as it seems from your post) I would take it - presumably £39k is better than zero - and keep looking for G7 roles, which will be more in the salary range you want. Once you’re in, there are more opportunities as often there is a wider range of vacancies only available “across govt”.

Be aware tho that, as a PP has alluded to, going in at G7 can be a baptism of fire unless you have the skills/knowledge requires already from private sector experience - you tend to get a chance to learn the job at SEO/HEO but at G7 we expect bum on seat get on with it.