Civil Service Working Hours Advice

[MotherofCats22]

Hello

firstly, apologies to add to the many civil service threads already!

I accepted a job within the CS at the start of the year and the clearance is slowly but surely going through. I have already had a chat with my future line manager to discuss working hours and flexibility and they have said its pretty much up to me (within reason ofcourse)

i have worked part time before and i am currently in a full time role with no flexibility. I have two young children, one in nursery and the other starting school in September. Full time is not working for us as a family, i keep being late for pick up from nursery and my youngest has not adjusted well to the nursery environment so i would like to work part time….

i think going from private to the public sector is going to be quite a change and im not used to the flexibility that the CS can offer so i am interested to hear what other working parents do to fit working around their children?

im currently considering doing 32 hours across 4 days so starting at 8 and finishing at 4.30 (inc 30 mins lunch) however i am one of those people who is given too much choice i just dont know what to decide!!

Any advice & tips is very much appreciated!

thank you

@NellWilsonsWhiteHair thats what i am trying to work out, the flexi working to suit my young children but also to build on my career, it seems like a delicate balance.

i dont really mind having to go into the office providing i have that flexibility for childcare!

I’m not civil service, but I’ve just started a new job and I’ve gone for 28 hours over 4 days. 2 days a week I do 8.30-5 with 30 mins lunch break and two days I do 8.30-3 which means I can do pick up on those two days (fortunate to be working from home and school finishes at 3.15) plus the after school activities they take up the evenings!

@ArnoldBee very good point thank you, i think if i can have a day off in the week that will suit me indefinitely unless something drastic changes! Im not considering term time only, we have alot of really good holiday clubs in our area and with the help of family we can manage with the holidays, it is a good thing to bear in mind though thank you!

@Artwodeetoo so with flexi and not having formalised hours does this mean that outside of core hours you can do a few hours in the evening / over a weekend to achieve the contracted hours? If you have core hours in your department, what are they?

@PineappleSun thank you for explaining, that helps makes sense of what the LM was saying when telling me about the timesheets. Good luck with your return to work & going part time!

@RAINSh0wers this is what im thinking, as children get older they may want to do the activities after school and if my budget allows id love to be able to let them do clubs so being around would be nice! Seems like you have a nice balance of work/home. If you dont mind me asking, do your child(ren) go to ASC the other two days or do you have alternative childcare? Thanks

@MotherofCats22 one is still in nursery so she’s there until I finish. The older one goes to after school club/grandparents collect. But when they’re both at school in sept, they’ll do after school club and we won’t use grandparents as it’s too far for them to come for just an hour or two.
In the morning nursery starts at 8, and DH does the school run. If he’s away/in the office I use breakfast club.

At the moment I spend my day off with my little one but in September I’ll have it to myself, can’t wait!

I worked 18 hours term time only, 3 days a week, no need for a lunch break, started at 7.15 finished at 13.15 until I got divorced & then started at 9.00 after dropping ds off & finished at 15.00 to pick up. I also got annual leave & caring days.

When I worked in the CS we had flexitime - you could work any 16 hours in the day that you chose. Only half joking. We were expected to work loads of unpaid overtime. It depends very much on the department and the role.

Core hours in my department are 10-12 and 2-4. But in many teams you'd need to be pretty comfortable to stick your neck out and say "actually I can't make that regular 9am meeting" or whatever.

I'm full time but like a pp I regularly work over my contracted hours - sometimes a lot, sometimes a little. It does depend a lot on role and grade though IME.

We have people do all kinds of hours, 30hrs over 4 days is very popular. We also have staff do term time only which works for some people. We also work hybrid so 40% of contracted hours. We have staff who take a late lunch and collect kids and then do another hour or two.

No-one in my team does unpaid overtime, nor are they expected to work extra hours even though we have large volumes of work. As the team leader that’s not something I’d ever expect from staff of that grade

@Darbs76 thank you for this, what you have said is similar to what my future LM said, it didnt seem like there was any expectation to do overtime and work outside of contracted hours. I think 30 hours is what ill do, the balance seems just right

Hello all. Is it's common for people to work term time only?

And do they have a good hybrid working model?