Civil Service job switch - Mark Time? 3 August 2022 at 7:04PM in Employment, jobseeking & training 1 reply 161 views

Martin_o03

Hello all, 

I'm looking for some advice regarding a job offer I received today. I currently work within the civil service and have been offered a new job in the Foreign Office. The new role is in an area of politics that I have been desperate to move to for a very long time, I feel it would be a much more interesting role and it also involves moving location which would also be a benefit to me.

The negative is that it would mean taking a 3k pay cut. I'm aware of a "mark time" policy within the civil service which means when an individual moves to a new post and his current basic pay exceeds the maximum of the pay range of the new role, HMRC honours the salary to prevent an immediate drop in pay, this is time limited for 2 years.

I am of course going to email to check if this will be the case but I would be interested to know if anyone has any experience of mark time pay. Does it depend on the department or should this occur automatically if you are moving to a new role and in this situation?

Thank you 

Andy_L

Each individual department will have its own policy


"If you transfer to a department as a level transfer, your basic pay, which excludes specialist pay or allowances,

location allowances, unsocial hours payments and so on, will normally stay the same. However, if your current basic

pay is below the minimum of the new department’s pay range, the new department will place you on their minimum

basic pay for their grade.

If following a level transfer your basic pay is above the maximum of the new department’s pay range, the new

department will put you on their maximum basic pay for your grade and the new departments mark time pay policy will

determine whether the amount above the maximum pay range will be lost or paid on a mark time basis" 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/999624/OGD-Transfers-A-Step-by-Step-Guide-for-Employees-v2.1-2021-1.pdf