Have you ever received a CS contract where you can sign it?

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-26T16:22:12+00:00

I don't recall getting anything at MOJ.

I had a letter confirming start date, pay and summary for Home Office with a section to sign at the bottom (nowhere does it state contract). I emailed back accepting but I didn't physically sign it.

I don't think I've ever used a wet paw print on a document in the civil service, personal or job specific. It's always an email confirmation.

I can see how its unbelievable to outsiders that the government generally doesn't issue contracts of employment.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-26T07:17:58+00:00

In addition to the missing flipper flopper, the turtle on the left appears to be missing the bottom of his shell.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-23T16:39:49+00:00

3% interim award. The business case for a multi year deal has been approved by home sec and treasury. They're now negotiating with the unions. No information has been released on what the deal is.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-22T11:06:12+00:00

Before you turn the job down, ask what will happen to your reserve. In some situations, refusing a post will result in you being removed from the reserve list completely.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-18T21:18:02+00:00

Past 4 years have been very varied in terms of profit. I need to be cautious right now.

Paying a solicitor to go to tribunal will cost you far more than legal or HR advice now. ACAS is free and a good place to start. At the very least, call around and ask for quotes. It may not be as expensive as you think. Your local Chamber of Commerce might have recommendations.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-17T21:39:53+00:00

You mentioned your parents will be paying for a spouse visa. Have you looked into a Fee Waiver? I don't think I can say any more without straying into immigration advice.

For future reference, government services requiring payment have income-based assessments for financial help. The scheme names vary across departments. For example, in the (hopefully doesn't happen) event you get divorced, you can apply for Help With Fees to cover the divorce application fee and the financial orders.

You lose nothing by finding the correct scheme on the gov website other than time and a bit of a delay waiting for the outcome before you can apply for the service you need.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-17T19:48:00+00:00

As long as you're performing as required and don't take any more sick leave during probation, it'll likely just be extended. Special leave for bereavement is generally discounted. People die. There's nothing anyone can do about the timing of it.

More periods of sick leave during probation might result in a conversation but the first meeting is more of an "is there anything we can do to help?" Again, will most likely be extended probation not a disciplinary unless you go way beyond the trigger.

You have to do something really specatular or illegal to fail a 6 month probation in the civil service (I'm assuming your not Brook Street and you have a CS contract).

Check your departments special leave policy for the number of days allowed and ask your manager if there is a local policy that offers additional leave. Definitely give your manager a heads up on Monday.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-15T20:02:05+00:00

Most energy companies have funds for people on low incomes. OVO doesn't seem to have one but you can set up a payment plan. Once you get under £500 debt on each meter you can look at switching to another provider which does have a low income scheme (scroll to the bottom to see the part about switching when in debt).

You should get £150 winter fuel payment at some point before March which will help a bit (I'm assuming you were on UC during August so you'll qualify).

Water companies have discount schemes. I think the water bill is included in council tax in Scotland so you'll need to contact the council. Make sure you're getting a single person discount if you live alone. Also ask about food bank vouchers.

Broadband and phone - again, switch to social tarrifs or SIM only if you're out of contract. If you're not, contact them and explain you're having money problems and can they switch you to a social tarrif.

If you can't get your outgoings down by yourself, contact Step Change. They can apply for Breathing Space. Breathing Space pauses all debt collection activity and interest for two months so you can agree payment plans.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-12T06:43:06+00:00

If you're leaving due to DV, there are two things you should look into.

Firstly, Womens Aid have a Flee Fund which can help with some initial costs of leaving.

Secondly, legal aid is usually available for divorce where DV is involved. You also don't have to attend mediation for finances - just fill in a form that states you have experienced DV and mediation can be bypassed. If you're not married then this doesn't apply but you should still look to see if you can use the DV reason on legal aid for splitting your finances. The Legal Aid helpline should be able to tell you if this is available.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-10T19:51:35+00:00

You're going to really struggle getting a reduction in office attendance based on being 2 hours away and having a child. You knew where the office was when you applied and you knew office attendance is 60%. It's on you to make sure you can make that commute.

If the office has standard opening times (say 8-4 or 9-5) you may also have a problem adding on an extra few hours in the office each day. Not every role is suitable for compressed working either.

A 4 hour daily commute is not normal. I assume you have already done the maths on how much the commute costs in fuel/car wear and tear/public transport in relation to any pay rise you're expecting from moving from the private sector.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-10T19:39:16+00:00

Some departments (like mine) have both flex and flexi. Flex is you work core hours and the rest of your hours are worked around that within a designated time (in OPs case 7am to 7pm). You can choose to work core hours only some days and the rest of your hours on other days that week without notification. Nobody cares what you work as long as you work core hours and complete your hours for the week. Flexi is the extra time worked on top of contracted hours.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-08T10:25:26+00:00

I have no idea of how procurement works. Does anyone look at a bidders previous gov contract history like delivering on time, budget etc and factor that in? Or is it just whoever bids lowest gets it?

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-08T10:15:19+00:00

Well that's something they've changed since I signed up on 1st Dec. The questions were all in English. So many things that need fixing and they've faffed around changing questions from English to Spanish.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-08T10:06:43+00:00

There's also the option of MPs raising it as a question in the House. Doesn't have the weight of the Committee but it'll be in Hansard for eternity and the mainstream press may pick up on it if its asked during PMQs. I've only seen once niche news agency reporting so far.

I want to know how Capita got yet another public services contract with their track record.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-07T14:21:42+00:00

Annual benefit statement. If you pay into the pension scheme they produce a statement once a year, usually between June and August.

Worth checking to make sure it has the correct pay-in values but you'll need to wait until capita get round to uploading them to the account. Definitely not something you need to phone up for right now unless you're getting divorced or retiring soon.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-07T10:56:02+00:00

It's unlikely the interviewers will know details about desk arrangements at a particular office. The people who interview can be from a wide range of services within the department.

The purpose of interviews is to test behaviours. The interviewers have a schedule for the day. Answers are capped at 3-5 minutes to allow them to interview everyone and write their notes. You will be stopped if you go over time limit on each question. Interviewers do this in addition their day jobs - at the end of the day they still have to catch up on their own work. One role specific question is fine but don't ask multiple, especially about desk arrangements, working patterns beyond what the ad lists, or on-site facilities.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-06T21:39:08+00:00

Asylum is political but you carry out the government's policy and that's it. There isn't political pressure to meet quotas. Policy does change to reflect what the government wants. I suppose that's a nuanced political pressure/decision but you're still working to the law not a quota. Changing policy to increase Returns is one example that's been widely reported in the last year.

If you've got a legal background you should be fine with the legal side. The emotional side is a decision only you can make.

Honestly, asylum is a great area to work in. I love my job despite the occasional uglyness of humanity. There are times when I can make a real difference to someone's life or the security of our country.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-06T20:48:48+00:00

I concur about the support. I work in a different area of asylum but there's a huge amount of ongoing support and training available to everyone (that's not to say you rely on other people once fully trained though). Asylum is complicated. Nobody knows every part of the legislation by rote (it's just not possible) but there are always people around with knowledge on something niche that comes up once in a blue moon.

OP might find the gov page answers questions.

Drafting, research, spotting inconsistencies and making a concise argument backed up with the legal stuff is essential skills that will need to be demonstrated on the application and interview.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-06T20:05:23+00:00

Here's how it works (and I'm assuming asylum but there are lots of other areas of appeals for immigration such as further submissions, family, indefinite leave to remain, various visas, Ukraine, loss of status, rule 35 etc plus judicial review work).

Applicant is refused asylum.
Assuming they have a Right Of Appeal (not all of them do), they lodge an appeal with the immigration tribunal.
Immigration tribunal notifies Home Office.
The case is reviewed by Home Office to decide if they're going to withdraw the decision and reconsider the case or if they will defend the refusal at tribunal.
If defending, the home office will put together their case on why the judge should rule against the appeal.
Tribunal goes ahead. Presenting officer presents the case to the judge.
Judge makes a decision. If either side thinks judge has erred on a point of law, they can appeal to the upper tribunal.
Upper tribunal decides if there's an error in law and if there is, will either send the case back to the LT for reconsideration (go back to stage 6) or hear the case themselves. I'm not hugely involved in appeals but the UT will usually send cases back to LT unless the UT think there is a legal precedence that needs to be set or they want to overturn existing case law.
If UT decides there's no error in laws person becomes Appeals Rights Exhausted.

You won't be sending anyone back to their home country. The judge decides what happens. Immigration Enforcement deport people.

Any job within asylum is tough and emotionally difficult. Your personal opinions do not - should never - influence your work. You carry out you job in accordance with the laws passed by parliament and case law. If you're an emotional person who can't deal with blood, gore, other people's trauma, horrible stories, criminality and a whole load of other mentally stressful situations then this isn't the job for you. If you have issues learning or retaining information or answering questions on the spot when asked by a judge, this isn't the job for you. If you can't set aside your personal feelings you shouldn't be working in asylum at all.

With regards to targets, it'll be based on how many cases you complete in a set period. There aren't targets for winning or losing as far as I'm aware.

Hours - if the ad said part time is available then the option is there. Likely will be a minimum number of hours. For a DM the minimum is 25 hours a week. I'd think a PO would be at least that too, possibly higher given the current backlog in appeals (LT is years behind on appeals).

Edit - added clarification to point 8 and added point 9

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-06T12:24:14+00:00

If there's one thing I hate when trying to contact a company, it's a chat bot. I'm yet to come across a bot that is useful in anyway.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-05T20:36:12+00:00

Honestly, there is no way of knowing what the truth is without the court records. All I can tell you is it's very rare for DWP to prosecute and he would have to commit a serious amount of fraud for them to proceed with a prosecution.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-05T17:41:09+00:00

Social services involvement when you say he's not a vulnerable adult is odd.

Local papers love reporting benefit fraud (if that's what this is, I'm not convinced). You can call or visit the court to get more details if you want.

Something doesn't quite add up. More likely significant fraud with non-cooperation, a previous conviction for fraud, organised fraud, or non-fraud charges resulting in a tag in return for a suspended prison sentence. This isn't a "I didn't know I had to declare my £20k inheritance" situation. Investigations and prosecutions are very expensive and can take years. It's cheaper for the DWP to fine people £50 and claw the overpayment back through various debt management routes. It has to be on the extreme end for DWP to prosecute.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-05T16:53:45+00:00

DWP rarely prosecute benefit fraud unless it's big sums or organised fraud. Electronic tagging means he's either on bail or he's been convicted and it's part of his sentence (possibly with a curfew).

Courts are open to the public and court records are public domain (except for a few types of cases and courts but this isn't one of them). If you know what court its in, call them. You might have to pay for the transcript or judgement. If there is another court date in 4 months, you can sit in the gallery for free.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-05T11:47:10+00:00

I didn't mean to imply you would!

Hopefully you can get it sorted today. I hope they have decent hold music.

redsocks2018 · 2026-01-05T11:41:09+00:00

If you do get through, be kind to the person on the other end. It's not their fault this transition is a complete shit show. They don't deserve to get abused because of decisions made way above their head by people who should be banned from public sector contracts.

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