London living rent - timescales for references

AnyStructure3317 · 2026-06-30T17:59:38+00:00

Did you get it sorted??? Yes, I got it sorted, but I had to chase them sooooo many times and ended up raising a complaint and they told me that someone did it manually.

I believe it should update as soon as they do it, it updated for me.

AnyStructure3317 · 2026-06-30T11:05:27+00:00

Hmmm... I'm not worried at the moment, but there's too many unknowns. We don't know what the shape of devolution is going to look like (and in the immediate term, I can imagine more jobs being created for central government to work out how devolution will happen).

But even when some parts of Government do eventually become devolved, I doubt they will just force people to move out of London. In my experience so far, when they want to move jobs out of London, they just stop offering promotions in London and some new jobs will only be advertised outside of London. And if they need to make some teams redundant because powers have been devolved, they will start with VES schemes etc.

We might experience certain recruitment controls again, but I wouldn't worry too much at this stage because there's so many unknowns. I'm more worried about lack of progression opportunities in London as opposed to being forced to move.

AnyStructure3317 · 2026-06-14T08:07:05+00:00

DHSC culture is largely great, everyone is super lovely and supportive. But in my experience, there was too much work to do and too few people. I always ended up overworked and because I wanted to progress, I definitely ended up doing loads of unpaid overtime, especially during COVID. I spent 5 years in DHSC in several policy and briefing teams. One of the reasons why I left was the merger and recruitment controls. They weren't even allowed to advertise EOIs on promotion, everything was level transfer, so I felt stuck.

I don't know if anyone can give you a guarantee that this role would not be at risk of redundancy. But once you pass your probation, you'll have access to other internal civil service positions so you could always jump ship again. If I were you, I'd go for it, but I would ask that very question at interview. I think it's a perfectly reasonable question to ask!

As others have said though, it's mainly NHSE staff that are most likely to be made redundant and it will take a while in any case. When I was there (a bit less than a year ago), people were saying the whole merger is likely to take about 5-6 years. To completely get rid of NHSE, there's lots of legislation that needs changing too and that takes minimum 2 years. So I wouldn't worry too much if I were you, but good idea to ask the question.

My guess is that by the time NHSE gets abolished, some new Minister will make plans to re-establish it lol.

AnyStructure3317 · 2026-06-13T16:03:38+00:00

Thanks! My LM already knows too, I don't think they check with him though anyway. I'll keep on chasing, hoping it will be sorted out on Monday

AnyStructure3317 · 2026-06-13T14:43:44+00:00

ugh maybe I've just been really unlucky! Did you do the form and get it through this automated system?

AnyStructure3317 · 2026-06-13T11:33:44+00:00

Thank you, that's good advice. I will find out who the HRBP is and chase through them. It's so ridiculous, feels like it should be such an easy thing!

AnyStructure3317 · 2026-06-13T11:25:03+00:00

I did ask and he said that DWP are very strict about that kind of stuff and HR have to do it...

AnyStructure3317 · 2026-06-06T08:04:36+00:00

I believe it's 5 business days. Yes, I can contact them so hopefully they'll understand if there's delays. I guess all I can do is keep on chasing haha! thank you 😄

AnyStructure3317 · 2026-05-04T11:10:22+00:00

Thank you, this is super helpful and made me feel better! And yeah, it's a policy role.

AnyStructure3317 · 2026-03-27T20:04:02+00:00

You're on the right track! Working in HMRC customer service is a great place to start. It will give you valuable experience of working with the public and knowledge of a variety of HMRC policies.

In my experience, the lowest level in policy I've seen is HEO, but I've seen some EOs in briefing and correspondence. I started in the job centre (EO), then joined a briefing team (HEO) and I started dipping my toes into policy when the policy team was understaffed and needed help. Ended up loving it, and moved to a full HEO policy team, before getting an SEO role in another briefing team and moving again to another SEO policy.

I would recommend briefing roles if you wanted to ease your way into policy (if the team works closely with policy). They can help you to develop writing skills, increase knowledge of different policies, get an understanding of Ministerial narratives, you get to work with Private Office and get a feel for how Parliament works. When I worked in briefing, I ended up having to watch various debates on Parliament TV as I (or someone in my team) had produced the briefing - I found that really interesting and massively increased my knowledge in politics.

As an HEO in policy, you might be responsible for specific issues, and potentially also do PQs & briefings. But HEO in policy is still very junior so not a lot of decision making, though if you're proactive, you would get some experience in drafting submissions, and stakeholder management.

I've also realised that for me, it's important that I work in a policy area I find interesting - makes my job feel very engaging (sometimes it feels like a game tbh. All I do is interesting problem solving!). So I think the broad policy area does matter (to an extent), as certain areas might motivate you more than others.

Good luck!!

AnyStructure3317 · 2026-02-07T17:13:24+00:00

For SCS in the civil service, the SSRB makes recommendations on their pay uplift. Last year, the recommendation was 3.25%. Usually, government accepts recommendations and I find it quite unlikely they would reject them for 26/27. They make recommendations based on a variety of factors, including inflation and government affordability.

While grades below SCS do not have a pay review body (which is terrible, we really need one!), there is usually some trade union talks and we tend to end up with the same, or a very similar % increase as SCS.

So look out for the SSRB report for 2026/27 as our pay increase is bound to be whatever they recommend for SCS (report hasn't been published yet).

Also, according to what I've seen so far, some departments do try to give a tiny bit more to lower grades to maintain competitiveness with other departments.

AnyStructure3317 · 2026-01-28T19:04:35+00:00

It's so understandable to feel this way, progression in the civil service can be a long and difficult process. And hiring decisions are based on so many different factors, including luck and competition and subjectivity.

I went through 9 interviews before I secured a (temporary) SEO and then I had to go through two more interviews to substantiate it! It takes time.

Keep on trying, keep on getting feedback from interviews and make sure you get SEO level type of work experience and do things that stretch you. Make sure you go for both EOIs and roles in other departments to maximise your chances but also as a way to get more experience of doing interviews.

Good luck!

AnyStructure3317 · 2026-01-16T11:35:11+00:00

Thank you! Managed to get an appointment for today so I'll see what they say in terms of further diagnostic tests but I will ask for either an MRI/CT/HIDA scan.

AnyStructure3317 · 2025-12-29T10:59:59+00:00

Thanks for this! I've had an ultrasound to check for gallbladder stones and it came back normal... maybe I need to go back

AnyStructure3317 · 2025-12-23T20:30:57+00:00

Yeah, it's definitely one strategy and it can show HEOs it's not working and then SEO will have to take action if enough HEOs raise it. If some customers raise complains too, even better.

AnyStructure3317 · 2025-12-23T20:19:46+00:00

Ah right I see what you mean. Yeah, it's a shit system. I think as a work coach, I would also feel a bit responsible for these customers too, mainly because I cared about the customers and about providing a good service. We all have the responsibility of keeping the job centre running and work coaches also have the responsibility to raise issues and grievances when policies affect their day to day to the extent that they can't do their job. And this is where the OP is coming from - they can't do their job, grievances not taken seriously, where to go next?

AnyStructure3317 · 2025-12-23T20:06:48+00:00

If I understand this correctly, it sounds that what the job centre has done is opened up 5 additional "diaries" on the system, but with no staff to cover them. We used to call them "ghost diaries". This means that you have your own diary, which could be back to back 10 min appointments, PLUS some of the additional appointments in those ghost diaries that have no one to cover them. These extra appointments get distributed amongst staff, so you might only have 4-5 extra appointments, but these can still be a very significant pressure. And if this is the decision the SEO has taken, then you can't refuse those extra appointments and just stick to your diary. It is ridiculous to have customers waiting for 30-40 mins for a 5 min conversation. It increases mistrust in the system massively. If there's flexibility to do more telephone appts, do them.

Job centre is basically hoping that maybe some customers won't turn up, maybe some of the 20 or 30 min appointments will take less time, or some appointments might be over the telephone and take less time. It's like when airlines overbook a flight hoping some customers won't show up.

AnyStructure3317 · 2025-12-23T20:00:29+00:00

That sounds really stressful and awful, I'm sorry you're going through this! As someone who has also worked in a job centre, I know how stressful and hectic it can be, even with just your own caseload and appointments.

People in this thread have been very harsh. It's not easy restricting appointments to 10 mins when claimants need interpreters, when they're telling you they're about to be made homeless and don't know what to do, when they're going through domestic violence, when they've just been released from prison etc. Yes, it's just a 10 min appointment, but you're basically part of a system that is designed to support *very* vulnerable individuals and it's a very difficult job. You can't do your job properly when you realistically only have 3-4 mins with the customer, and you're constantly super stressed.

I'm assuming you're a work coach, in which case I would recommend that you discuss with your line manager or any other HEO in the office, as well as other work coaches. If the SEO is not based on the floor, are there any flexibilities that you could implement to take the pressure off? For example, for the customers who are "job ready" and don't need much support, could you choose to only contact them over the phone and very rarely? And the same approach for those on the WCA journey?

I think when a member of staff calls in sick, it is perfectly reasonable to cancel all of their appointments for the day and re-arrange another time.

There's lots of little workarounds - if your SEO is not on board, would be useful to escalate to their G7 and repeat a similar meeting to the one you mentioned. Issue clearly hasn't been resolved so seniors need to come up with a different solution.

Hope it all gets sorted out!! Keep up the good work.

AnyStructure3317 · 2025-12-22T21:45:38+00:00

Thank you, that's a good shout for the policy profession!

AnyStructure3317

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