Civil service

[pixienewbie]

I'm not sure what to do.
I left teaching after 10+ years in the summer and applied for lots of jobs outside of education with not much luck.
I ended up taking a part time job in a pastoral role in a College which is fine and the bonus is I’m still term time only as I’m a single mum with two young kids.
But I’ve just been offered a job in the civil service that I was a reserve for. It’s in learning and development and the will put me through CIPD training for the role which I’m very interested in, but it’s not term time only. I feel there is much more progression in this role (none in the College job) but it is very much an entry level role.
I’m debating whether the flexibility of the civil service is better than term time only but I have minimal family support to cover school holidays. Also, is civil service as flexible as people say it is?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Civil Service, based on my son's account as an HEO in the Home Office, can be flexible but is often so intransigent that they're courting direct discrimination. Seems to be a mix of policy in the department and the whims of individual managers.

How old are your kids?

Did the vacancy you applied for specify whether the role is 100% office or that there might be hybrid/home working as a possibility.

@Bromptotoo my children are 2 and 4 and the little one goes to round the year childcare so it would only be a worry for the older one who has just started reception.

It did say hybrid working on the advert. I'm just waiting for a call back from the recruitment team so I can ask far too many questions.
Thanks for responding,

We have people in our dept on term time only contracts but they werent advertised as such. They were negotiated as part of a flexible working request. As far as i am aware, its still relatively rare across govt but theres no harm in asking as if you are in a dept with people doing it, then they might be more open it.

The other thing to bear in mind is the parental leave allowance - its unpaid, but i think its up to 4weeks a year? So covers a good chunk of summer holidays as long as you budget for it throughout the year. Ive never used it though so worth checking the details in case i made a mistake in the above.

Unpaid parental leave is up to 4 weeks per year per child, max 18 weeks per child until they turn 18.

https://www.gov.uk/parental-leave/entitlement

Getting your foot in the door with a civil service role - especially one that will fund qualifications - is so valuable. Once you're in, you can apply to move departments etc. Much more long term potential than your college role.

So I'd look hard at how you can make it work - unpaid parental leave, annual leave, flexitime, flexible working, holiday clubs, tax free childcare, etc etc.

Civil service holidays are quite generous. You can also take some unpaid leave to cover holidays. It does have a decent pension and I know that might seem many years off but really do consider that too. I'd take the job and negotiate flexible working over school holidays. My DH worked for CS and can work 4 long days and have one full day off if he wants too. Just bank additional hours you work when they are busy for TOIL.

All these posts are really reassuring so thanks! I think I'm definitely keen to try the civil service job just to see something out of education. Now I have to get over the awkwardness of handing my notice in after a month

Not to burst your bubble but security clearances can take around 3months depending on the level you need and you are advised not to hand in your notice until it has come back as clear. So it might not be quite so awkward in the end.

@AnotherNC22 of course! Fab. That could work well.

I’ve applied for a cs job that’s advertised as full time/part time. I’m wanting part time, does anyone know what part time hours they offer? I’d preferably like to do 16-18 hours per week.
tia

It can depend on the department but I could choose anything from 16 hours, I do 24 over 3 days

Oh, my son has just gone down to 16 hours though as he's at uni and it wasn't an issue

I worked term time only as a Civil Servant, the Civil Service is the most family friendly job I have ever done, I was never refused any changes to working time I applied for there.

My hope is to work part time and term time to work around my son so that’s good to hear. I’ve got to get the job first though! Thanks

I didn't ask for term time but a lot of our team do , including both our new supervisors so depending on the department team time only could be fine

@pixienewbie how did it go? They rang me friday to go over what hrs i would want! Im doing 21over 3 days and they were happy with that x