Council Vs private sector wwyd?

thetope

I need some assistance from the collective wisdom of the local board. I applied (on a whim) for a local council job which came up a few months ago. I was unsuccessful but shortlisted on the reserve list. They have now contacted me to say a position has come up. It is a SO2 level role (not quite sure where that falls in the heirarchy of things). I work in the private sector in a fairly niche discipline and have been at the company I work for since I graduated (10+ years). I am generally happy there (occasionally it's a bit stressful, but generally it's not) and have a good degree of flexibilty in my hours - it is a good company to work for and I like my colleagues. The only downside is that i have a 40 mile commute each way which takes over an hour each way and often more in heavy traffic. The council job is around 6-8k pa less salary, but is 10 miles from home, about 15 mins in the car - I could even cycle it (exercise is largely absent from my life atm due to long commute and small children). I know very little about the public sector, all I hear are bad things such as lots of people taking stress leave. Holidays would be the same, though would increase another 5 days after 5 years whereas they wouldn't where i currently work. A big attraction is that the employer pension contributions are much much better in the public sector. For the same money I could drop to a 4 day week in my current role... but long term is the council a better bet, would my salary quickly rise? (private sector salary rise has averaged around 1% per year over past 10 years, there were several years during the recession when it didn't rise at all but now we are through it things have picked up a bit and i can probably expect to go up £500-1000 per year.) I just don't know what to do! Where I currently live I don't know anyone locally. Having a local(ish) job might give me the opportunity to have a social life near home too. I'm in such a dilemma... can anyone who works in a council tell me whether they are (generally speaking) pleasant places to work or no better than anywhere else.

bingo_bango

The pay remit is still 1% and is likely to be for at least another few years. The rise you will get will be on the salary point you are on (you'll go in at point 32) and has averaged £281 per year over the last 2 years. Expect that to be the amount you will get in the council. If you don't promote to the next grade, then max you can earn is about £1500 higher than starting salary (based on the current figures).

I don't work in local Government so I can't answer about working there specifically, but I am public sector:

Ignore the press scare stories about stress leave. The public sector tends to be no worse than the private sector in a lot of cases. That story doesn't sell papers though, and the private sector don't have to publish their stats.

The pension isn't as good as you think (hasn't been for years). Make sure you know what the terms are before agreeing anything.

Is is worth just trying it anyway? You'll have a better quality of life in terms of time at home etc, and it sounds as if you are young enough to be able to get back into the private sector should you decide it's not for you.

Good luck with whatever you decide, but ultimately nobody on here can tell you the answer.

guiriman

I'm in a similar position (good job, longish commute, small kids) and have considered public sector roles several times over the last 3-4 years. Every time I come back to the same conclusion: I can live with the salary drop, but the job descriptions just sound too boring compared with working in a 'real' business environment. Even though I'd have more time at home I think being in a job that didn't challenge me would negatively affect my frame of mind and that would spill over into the home. So I'm waiting for the right private role, will give it another year and see

daveyjp

Does the Council offer flexi leave? With small children this can be invaluable as it could mean an extra 1-2 days leave a month if you put the hours in.

sandraann

The councils all operate quite differently and their cultures can be very strange to a newcomer so I'd try and talk to someone within the specific council, don't assume that they all operate in the same way. S02 is a junior management scale, I'd check out whether you're likely to be travelling much as travelling expenses can be quite good and would reduce the shortfall you mention. I'd be cautious about whether it's a funded post as some of the funding streams could become precarious with brexit.