I don’t work for the HO or civil service, but I can tell you that everything in civil service works at glacial speed. Everything is slow

I had a final stage interview last Monday - an informal chat - was told they were discussing the outcome Monday afternoon. I still haven’t heard back and the portal says “interview booked” - well I’ve had a final stage informal chat since then as well as the main interview!

it’s beyond frustrating but it’s also just the way the CS works…

Broadly, Flexi time allows you to choose your working hours in a day, for instance you might want to work 8-4 rather than 9-5. But it depends on the role and demands of the work/business need, which it set by team. We have some roles in my department that don't have flexi time at all because they are customer facing call centre roles.

Then there is the ability to accrue flexi time and take it back later, so you might work an hour extra a day and take a day off in lieu. Again that depends on business needs - if there's not the work, you can't accrue the time twiddling your thumbs. Probably one of the most abused policies in the civil service... Similarly you can go into debit and work the time back within certain limits.

It varies slightly by department as to core hours and how much you can be in credit/debit, but that's the bones of it.

Recruitment takes as long as it takes! I'd contact them for an update.

@MsJobHunter My recruitment took 10.5 months from filling the application to starting my job.
Application: mid august 2021
IV: Sept 2021
Placed on the reserve list: end of oct 2021
Conditional job offer: mid jan 2022
Background checks in: second half of March 2022
Background checks results: mid May 2022
Formal job offer: beginning of June 2022
Commenced: July 2022

Flexi: there are two kinds of flexi. Flexi hours can be taken during probation, flexi-time (as in, you need a specific time off the same day every week, for example for uni or childcare) can be arranged after you pass probation (6 months).

As another poster already said, different teams have different stipulations, for example mine has core working hours (which you must do every day) and for the rest you can take flexi hours. This is because some roles have tasks that cannot be interrupted (for example, interviews), so if you work more hours that day you can take them off on another day as long as you are in during the core working hours. Some roles also have mandatory working hours over the weekend (rota).

Is this the civil service for tea time at 5 so to speak ?
That said, all the best

In my branch of CS, flexitime is part of the contractual agreement, so any misuse of the flexi system can be gross misconduct and lead to dismissal (so not so "abused" as stated upthread).

you can accrue up to 22 hours in any flexi-period (4 weeks). No limit on how long you keep the 22 hours in your balance. If you accrue over 22 hours in a flexi-period you need line manager approval to carry the residual over to the next period (otherwise the system chops the excess automatically). It's a sign you aren't managing your time well, extenuating circumstances aside.