Civil service vs NGPB

firsttimebuyer_99

Hello,

I hope this is being posted in the right place, and I hope it is not too specific a question for these forums - I am desperately hoping that someone will know something and be able to help me!

I am currently a civil servant in a large government department, and have been offered a new job, on promotion, to a public body. I don't want to name the public body specifically, but it is a large non-governmental public body, which I understand is the alternative name for a quango.

I have been told that the organisation supports civil service pensions, and I may be able to transfer under my current scheme. However, I would no longer be a civil servant.

Would I be mad to take this? I am in two minds about it, and am starting to feel that everyone in the public sector is in a precarious situation at the moment?

Thanks for any advice...

KME91

If I an honest, my advice to you at the moment would be to stay put. I work for a non departmental public body, and i know of colleagues in other ndpb's who found out on the news on monday that their entire company was being closed. There are cuts happening across the civil and public services, but you will probably be safer in a large department where there are many people around you willing to take voluntary redundancy or retirement, than in a small quango which then could be cut with the flourish of George Osbourne's pen.....

one thing you must check if you do take the job, would be if your length of service would be recognised for redundancy purposes. If not, you won't get any redundancy if the chop does come your way after you move.

If you're in a union talk to your union rep about length of service recognition, they should be able to help.

firsttimebuyer_99

Hey, thanks so much for your response! I totally understand where you are coming from, and these are the issues I have been grappling with since the job offer! I have now had it confirmed that my pension can carry over, so I will be showing as my 'proper' 7/8 years continuous service, for both pension and compensation (redundancy etc) purposes. I still can't help but think that since the organisation offers CS pensions, and is covered by the PCS union, that employee rights would be comparable to those of civil servants?? May well be trying to persuade myself here, as the extra money is very attractive!!! Can I ask - does the organisation you work for offer CS pensions?
Thanks again!

jimbms

Either way it doesn't look too good, one one hand they are about to dump quango's, on the other the civil service looks like it will be decimated. Have you considered emigration?

KME91

We are part of the civil service pension scheme and part of the civil service compensation scheme. We have a better pay structure than the department i was moved out of, and better terms on things like holiday and flexible working. but we are now significantly more at risk of being cut, made redundant or merged into yet another department.

if you know the ndpb you're thinking of moving to has PCS union representation, get in touch with the pcs chair or secretary and ask them if they have any idea what the future is for the organisation, they should at least know whether the outlook is bleak or diastrous! they should also be able to show you a copy of the terms and conditions for the ndpb, so you can compare. if you want to pm me the dept you're in and the one you're thinking about moving to i might be able to help you more (i'm branch chair for our pcs branch)