Had a provisional offer from Home Office, job cuts? Any civil servants here?

[Floatyunicorn]

Hi

I applied for an AO position with the Home Office a few months ago, interview weeks ago and then suddenly talks in news about cuts to civil servant jobs etc, so i thought oh thats why i havent heard, they must have froze the recruitment until things are more clear.

On Monday, i received a provisional offer for the job and they want me to accept or decline by the beginning of next week.
I firstly applied as I was drawn in by hybrid working, the office nearest to me is 2 trains away so with 2 young children im not able to do this 5 days a week due to childcare but would be able to do it for 2 days a week.
I currently work in a part time job, which while there is no room for progression or even extra hours at the minute, is a stable and secure job.
I have requested a discussion on the feedback page to speak to somebody as everything so far has been done online.

I suppose what im asking is,
Am i right to be worried taking employment with them now?
And is hybrid working staying around or is there a chance they will stop this aswell?

Many thanks

I don’t work for them but a friend does.

They cut staff. Couldn’t cope and had to take on more. Is your contract permanent ?

They were WFH full time, then had to go in one day, if you are full time they are up to three days in the office. Overtime cannot be done from home. Hybrid working can be taken away if that’s what managers decide.

I know another friend works for HMRC and they have to go in one day a week but they are HEO level.

I worked for the civil service for two years many moons ago. I did not enjoy it. They move you around without warning and there was no communication though I am sure it varies from Dept to Dept.

Hello OP, Civil Servant here. The 'cuts' announced last week seem pretty vague and nobody seems very clear on what it will mean at the moment. But it's pretty rare to have compulsory redundancies in the CS, more likely they will be more careful in how many they recruit, not replace people who leave, some may take voluntary redundancies etc. I also think any huge changes will take a while to implement. But CS is historically pretty secure even now, and in my team it just means having to make a very strong business case for anyone we want to recruit.

Re: hybrid working, there's more pressure now for people to be in the office at least part of the time (2 days a week FT where I am) but doesn't seem to be any indication that we will be moving back to full time in the office - hybrid seems to be here to stay.

If the role suits you I'd take it - congrats!

It is more likely there will be recruitment reduction and numbers reduced gradually by natural wastage (retirement, not replacing leavers, restructure, fewer contractors etc). Ds joined cs recently and the reality is that very few are going in even two days a week so far, so although hybrid may not be a long term plan, it will take a while for this to change.