Can a "medium" public sector job achieve £500 DB within 5 years ?

RNV

Thanks all for your very useful comments.

I will definitely sign up for Civil Service Jobs and try to understand what is realistic and whether the potential package  is more valuable than what I have here. NHS is prob. too specialised for a complete outsider to enter though. I will have a look there as well anyway. 

And I do realise I have a lot to weigh against.  I'm on ~ £90k (total base + other non-pensionable allowances) + 10%x base employer additional pension contribution + lots of other benefits (Life Insurance, Health cover etc etc). Plus occasional bonus ~10%, not guaranteed.

I really need a few weeks break from work to rationally think through the plan - unfortunately, this is easily said than done.    My predominant emotion at the moment is "had enough, don't want to work" - and I know this is irrational.  I may take an unpaid leave to sort my head out later in the year.

Re my number, ideally, in todays money,  it is around £25k gross before SP, then reducing to 10-15k to supplement the SP. I know I do not have enough .  However, my pension will not be the main family income but is to contribute about 1k net/month to family bills + my own spend money.   2 years of mortgage payments left. 

RNV

Andy_L said:

hyubh said:

savingholmes said:

Another option is local government which accrues at 1/49 a year. It has major disincentives to early withdrawal which you would need to look into.

The LGPS has similar, non-punitive actuarial reductions to its peer public sector schemes though...? A bigger issue is that the median salary amongst LGPS members is lower than what the OP is after.

The median salary amongst the entire public sector is " lower than what the OP is after" (unless you look at niche schemes that only have higher paid members) . I suspect that by "medium public sector job" they don't mean "average salary"  but possibly middle management (IE somewhere in the middle of the upper bit)

I meant "medium responsibility"/low stress job  to may be work longer (7-8 years vs high burn 4 years in my current position).   Prob unrealistic expectation. 

silvercue

No consolation, but I know exactly how you feel @RNV!

NedS

RNV said:

Andy_L said:

hyubh said:

savingholmes said:

Another option is local government which accrues at 1/49 a year. It has major disincentives to early withdrawal which you would need to look into.

The LGPS has similar, non-punitive actuarial reductions to its peer public sector schemes though...? A bigger issue is that the median salary amongst LGPS members is lower than what the OP is after.

The median salary amongst the entire public sector is " lower than what the OP is after" (unless you look at niche schemes that only have higher paid members) . I suspect that by "medium public sector job" they don't mean "average salary"  but possibly middle management (IE somewhere in the middle of the upper bit)

I meant "medium responsibility"/low stress job  to may be work longer (7-8 years vs high burn 4 years in my current position).   Prob unrealistic expectation. 

Stress is a mindset more related to you than the job, although sometimes it is easier to change jobs than to change mindsets.

Andy_L

Would dropping to part time in your current job be an option/solution?

GunJack

To get anywhere your current salary would mean entering at Senior Civil Service grades, at SCS1 (old Grade 4&5)... I think the possibility of entering at that grade is probably remote at best...just a thought. A London-based G6 tops out at £73k.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/onscivilservantgradesandsalarybands

r6mile

I am a London-based G6 and my FTE salary is £66.5k. Keep in mind that the salary ranges on CS jobs for anything up to Grade 6, are fictious for an external entrant - you will enter at the bottom of the band which at the vast majority of departments will be broadly where I am. However, you may eligible for certain specialist allowances if you have the right qualifications: in my department, a project manager at that level will get a non-pensionable allowance of £3k.

Counter-intuitively, the rule is different for Senior Civil Service Jobs (which by the way are by default now all advertised externally): if you enter as an internal entrant. you will start at the bottom which is £73k pretty much everywhere. If you enter as an external entrant, there is more room for negotiation and I think your salary can be matched up to a point.

Given your current salary and that I understand your expertise is in project management, my advice would be to look at G6 jobs. The overall package may not quite match what you get at the moment (no private healthcare), but it's not far off once you consider pension benefits, death in service (2 years pay), and generally flexible hours etc. You can also easily reduce your hours if you wanted (as I have done - I am on 0.8FTE myself now). I don't think there are many SCS jobs that will be project-management related, and you don't get specialist allowances anyway so the package for a G6 is actually relatively similar.

RNV

Thanks all. 

The more I read your examples the clearer it gets that "keep calm and carry on" with my current job is the shortest way to retirement. I definitely do not want a new career;  a senior role in a new area is unrealistic to aim for. 

I will definitely stay full time for next year and use as much as I can within the new 60k limit. Next year will reassess again.

Part time is possible but that will involve a frank conversation with the management that you either let me or I leave/retire. I cannot start that conversation yet.  

michaels

I negotiated top of band on joining at SEO so it is not written in stone that you enter at bottom of band.

Sarahspangles

RNV said:

NHS is prob. too specialised for a complete outsider to enter though. I will have a look there as well anyway.

This was my view pre-pandemic but actually there are lots of staff with a private or other public sector background.  There’s a very clear boundary around anything ‘clinical’ and the NHS is so complex many people only aim to understand ‘their own bit’ in detail.  If you’re interested in projects try a search on NHS Jobs for Band 8 and tick the Admin & Clerical staff group - all non clinical roles are in this group or Estates.  

I’m now in the last 5 to 10 years of my career, rather than part time I have taken breaks between contracts.  I just save up a float, and it’s a selling point for employers that I don’t have contracts back to back.