Do you regret not going into the public sector earlier in your career?
Posted by No-Software-544@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 59 comments
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Yes, the pay isn't great compared to the private sector — but you actually know you're going to get paid, your pension is solid, and job security is almost guaranteed.
I'm looking at the NHS specifically. There are roles that don't involve any patient contact at all, porters, admin, clerical..
that seem genuinely stable and low-stress compared to a lot of private sector jobs where you're constantly worried about layoffs or the company going under.
Did you make the switch? Was it worth the pay cut? Or do you think the grass is just greener from the outside?
DiskBytes@reddit
And annual pay rises, regardless of performance.
JamesTiberious@reddit
Usually below inflation and below private sector rises.
Essentially if you choose to work in the NHS, you can expect your wages to take a 10-20% nose dive over the course of 10-15 years.
DiskBytes@reddit
Always well above private sector pay rises and recently we have seen inflation busting pay rises, all paid for by the private sector who are incredibly lucky if they even get a rise.
JamesTiberious@reddit
Consistently below private sector pay rises. The very very occasional pay rise that’s higher than inflation (for just that given year) is completely negated by the majority of years of sub-inflation pay rises or freezes.
DiskBytes@reddit
So again, getting higher pay rises than the private sector. Many in the private sector haven't had a rise in many years at all whilst the public sector get rises with no links to performance what so ever.
JamesTiberious@reddit
Go google the statistics, as it seems you don’t believe me. Private sector wages have kept up with inflation much better than public sector.
You say people haven’t had a rise in years - that sounds like perhaps you’ve been taken for a ride by your employer and abused. That is not really representative.
DiskBytes@reddit
No they haven't. Many haven't had a pay rise, where as the public sector always get them.
AirlineSevere7456@reddit
The few times I've applied for a public sector job, the application process is a nightmare and too long winded and you never hear anything for weeks at a time.
No-Software-544@reddit (OP)
Nightmare like?
No-Problem-1354@reddit
I worked in the public sector for almost 12 years. Honestly thought I would be with them until retirement. A stable job in every sense and meaning and then one day out the blue I found out I was at risk of redundancy and a few weeks later I was made redundant and unemployed for the first time in my adult life.
Careless_Soup_109@reddit
That's the problem- you get comfy, then they pull the rug.
It's not like you sweated at McDonald's , and got made redundant - you'd just go and work at KFC.
No, it's like you did nothing.... And now you have to do something. It's not an easy transition!
BeatsAndBeer@reddit
Wouldn’t bank on that job security. A lot of cuts have been made in the last few years, public finances are struggling esp in the NHS, and a lot of roles are contracted out to private companies. I went from private to civil service and had to go through a redundancy process recently.
Careless_Soup_109@reddit
Having faced redundancy while in the NHS, in a low-paying role, I concur.
And that was before AI , which is going to decimate most low-skill relatively cush admin jobs that remain.
The best job security is what you create for yourself - not what society might temporarily create for you.
BenjiTheSausage@reddit
Yeah, public worker here, we had cuts with more to come
hhfugrr3@reddit
Yeah, my gf has left two NHS jobs when the threat of redundancies were made. Several of her colleagues have been made redundant during her career.
ternymal_velocity@reddit
Worked in the NHS for a year. The capability of the people around me was abysmal. Management useless. The pace was that of an asthmatic ant with some heavy shopping. A dire, dire organisation to work in if you actually want to do stuff.
OutlawDan86@reddit
Such an under-appreciated comment! I've only just read this but, "the pace of an asthmatic ant with some heavy shopping," would be apt to describe how I found the pace at 3 UK Civil Service employers and a council.
joshii87@reddit
My Dad was recently in hospital for nearly a month and the ward looked like something out of a John Pilger documentary.
LongHairDontCare1994@reddit
Spent the last 14 years in Local Government, with it being the only sector I've ever worked in. I have some thoughts...
1) It's almost impossible to get fired for being bad at your job. The amount of hoops that need to be jumped through before that is considered (performance plans, training, redeployment options etc) is beyond dumb.
2) To follow from the first point, some of the members of staff are beyond incompetent. Critical thinking just doesn't exist, and the sheet amount of unwillingness to adapt from "legacy" staff is a joke. I've ran training courses on IT systems with staff who simply didn't want to listen to a word I would say, who'd then run off to their manager saying it's "too complex".
3) Progression has nothing to do with merit or skill and everything to do with personal relationships. I feel like this is well known, but it's arguably worse than people realise. The amount of couples / families who occupy management positions in the same service is too frequent for it to be chance, and I've seen first hand examples of people being coached on how to do well in interviews by the interviewers so that they can justify giving them the jobs.
4) Specifically for Local Govermnent, Councillors are treated like dieties by most of the upper level management. I've seen people reprimanded for referring to a Councillor by their first name, or for refusing Councillors access to information that they have no legal right to. There's also the issue of impartiality, which just doesn't exist in a lot of Local Authorities. If a party has had control for long enough, those working relationships with officers give them incentives to try and keep that party in office. Nothing is too much for them.
There are positives, I go to the office twice a month, get a decent deal on a salary sacrifice car and have very low pressure compared to those in the private sector working in my area (IT Ops), but it's hard to work everyday, knowing that the people of my town pay my wage, and see so little productivity and drive.
TSC-99@reddit
I regret going into it 😆
yawstoopid@reddit
Never. The pension is great but that assumes you make it to pension age. I while love to work in the public sector but the salary doesn't give you life. I could not in any good faith recommend anyone doing it because you just can't get by on a low salary these days. It's doing a service to your country at the cost of disservice to yourself.
Major_Bag_8720@reddit
Did you know that public sector pensions are a completely unfunded government liability?
SgtBukkakeMan@reddit
LGPS is funded.
Major_Bag_8720@reddit
Ok, that’s true. Not the case for teachers, NHS staff etc however.
Dense_Appearance_298@reddit
The median annual pay across full time employees is higher in the public sector than private sector
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economic-evidence-to-the-pay-review-bodies-2026-27-pay-round/economic-evidence-to-the-pay-review-bodies-2026-27-pay-round
^(chapter) 3, public and private sector remuneration, see figure H (screenshot below)
OutlawDan86@reddit
Wholeheartedly agree with you. I’ve known too many people not make it to anywhere near pension age.
Additionally, these days with cost of living, it stands to reason you‘ll have to be on a decent wage for your pension to be sufficient for you to live comfortably when you retire, even in the public sector; many jobs within it don’t pay that well. Had a look on Civil Service Jobs for Executive Officer jobs based where I was working when I last worked in the Civil Service in 2017. Forget it! I’ve seen some with an advertised starting salary of £26,694. It’s pathetic! I was earning more than that in what was, to all intents and purposes, a bottom of the rung job at a private sector company in 2018.
Ok_Economist7901@reddit
I work in the NHS (clinical) and career progression is appalling. Many of the non clinical posts need prior experience despite being called entry level. My oldest son went for an IT position, was unsuccessful but put on a waiting list as ‘he was exactly what they wanted’’. Inference was that there’d be a job vacancy in a few weeks due to a promotion, no need for another interview. 2 months later he received an email saying funding had been cut and the wait list had been scrapped.
My jaded opinion of the whole institution is that the loudest gobbiest individuals get the jobs/promotions and there is a lot of nepotism going on.
Catmom-101@reddit
Let me tell you a little bit about the reality of working for the NHS as it currently is..
I studied for 3 years, did 2300 hours of unpaid labour and a full time degree, dealt with NHS hierarchy, stress and burnout, did 12.5 hour shifts including nights, weekends and bank holidays and work that was constantly physically and emotionally exhausting to finally qualify as a Midwife last year with no jobs to go to because of the current state of the NHS and the funding it receives.
I’m currently working for the NHS in a band 2 role, it’s very low pay, physically and emotionally demanding, it’s long hours- working night shifts into day shifts and day shifts into night shifts so you’re barely functioning day to day, regularly missing family time and events, barely get treated like human beings from management. The pension isn’t what it used to be and is no better than most private companies. There’s crazy high levels of staff burnout and most people are completely disillusioned. Yes, once you secure the job you probably won’t be let go but there is no progression, you don’t get ‘promotions’ like in private sector so you’ll probably be on roughly the same money for the rest of your life.
My partner works in the private sector, he works from home mostly, he has work life balance, he gets paid more than I could ever dream of (even as a Midwife), he gets a yearly bonus, there’s regular check ins with his manager and his company seems to actually care about him as a person, he’s not treated with annoyance and scepticism when he calls in sick from work, there’s scope for progression and even little things like work social events that are paid for or expenses paid if he needs to go anywhere. His pension and the maternity/ paternity pay are way better than NHS.
I think the grass is always greener and it probably is for me too, I’m sure there are pro’s and con’s to both sectors.
However, working for the NHS is not what it used to be, trust me I thought the same things as you but things have changed so much over the past couple of years and I think some of the points you made in this post show you should do a lot more research into what some of these roles entail because I think you may get a bit of a shock (like saying that you would have no patient contact at all as a porter).
I guess it’s about what’s important to you and everyone’s different but those little things really add up and in my opinion you spend so much time at work it’s so important to be happy and feel valued there. I really wanted to work for the NHS, I worked so hard and was desperate to do a job that makes a difference but after years of this, I now just want a job that treats me fairly. And in my opinion, the private sector is the only way forward for that.
Adventurous-Idea1473@reddit
low stress?? and the job security thing is a myth especially with LGR coming...
cgknight1@reddit
On this pay issue - depending on the skill base you have, the pay is better than the private sector and the overall package is better. My brother is a binmen - he was TUPE'd to a private company and his terms and conditions are far superior to others.
Suspicious-Papaya-52@reddit
Not quite the same, but I worked for local government. School and a college. Great pension, reasonably secure, generous sick leave, but no progression and little in the way of pay rises. Everyone was stuck in their ways and there was more apparent workplace bullying too.
I miss the pension (would give me the chance to retire early) and the enhanced sick leave but thats it.
OldLondon@reddit
Am contracting in the public sector and they literally couldn’t pay me enough to make me go permanent. Forgetting the stupid bureaucracy, bitter people, people resistant to change the salary they offered me topped out at slightly less than half than what I’d get in the private sector in a perm role and at the top pay scale possible it’s still less than I could get in the private sector. Ain’t no pension worth that.
MathematicianSea563@reddit
I work for the NHS, most departments are short staffed .
I also know of several people who have lost their posts, especially after Covid as their jobs, such as vaccination centres etc became redundant.
On the upside, the trust I work for have a policy that in the event of losing your post through structural changes, they are obliged to offer you a post on the same banding.
No-Software-544@reddit (OP)
Thats great!
RBisoldandtired@reddit
Having worked a lot in civil service recently and private for most of my life I can honestly say the lack of accountability in the public sector is a massive issue.
Shit at your job and causing more work for others and issues for the public? Oh well.
A terrible manager affecting colleagues and public? Oh well
A terrible manager found to be bullying? Sideways promotion.
So whilst there are positives, there are also huge huge negatives.
There’s also a massive ego problem within the public sector amongst middle management and people of a certain age range.
Serious-Top9613@reddit
I tried to get into the NHS as admin. I have previous admin experience, but was rejected because the experience doesn’t include having already used their systems, and they want 2+ years for a job that pays £24k/yr. Even as receptionist at my local GP surgery. I also refuse to apply for civil service, as they want to perform 3 behavioural tests during the interview process. I’ve done psychometric tests and been rejected after those before. My applications have always been rejected before interview, so I’ve given up.
OutlawDan86@reddit
Snap! I wasn’t good enough to be employed by my former university either but their rivals employed me.
Re Civil Service, the way it recruits is alien to many people. I don‘t blame you or anyone for not applying. It’s a ballache of a process compared to how many other organisations recruit even for low paying roles. They take too long too.
The language used to describe the “behaviours” you‘re assessed on wouldn’t be interpreted in the same way people who haven’t worked in the Civil Service would understand. It’s gobbledygook. One of the behaviours back when I was a Civil Servant was, “managing a quality service,“ and I believe it still is. Your average external job applicant will, quite understandably, think that means you need to give examples of when you’ve been a manager of some sort of service. The joke is though if you take it to mean what most people in everyday life think it means, it doesn’t resemble what you’d be doing day-to-day in many of the roles where you’d be assessed based on that behaviour. My job didn’t. I wasn’t “managing” a service at all but anyone applying for it was assessed on that behaviour.
Extra-Sound-1714@reddit
You are wrong about job security. I worked in a local authority years ago until my whole large team was made redundant. Services have been cut so much.
OutlawDan86@reddit
I regret the time I spent working in the public sector earlier in my career. I worked for 3 UK Civil Service employers and a local council in my 20s up to my early 30s. Having worked in the private sector for the majority of this decade, I would struggle to return to the public sector. The pace is glacial compared to what I'm used to now. All 4 employers were the sort that had meetings about meetings.
I could have been earning more money, which would have put me in a better position to buy my own property. Additionally while working for the local council, I was on a fixed term contract because of "funding," and this seemed to be rife across the council. Quick stupid story about that too. They got pissy with me when I left at the end of the contract having not heard a jot about renewal, which was why I started looking for a new job. The contract was due to end on March 31st. I told them in the 2nd week of March I had a new job to go to and the berks tried insisting I needed to give them a month's notice! No mate, I leave at the end of the month when the contract expires. Apparently they'd forgotten to tell me about the contract was going to be extended 🙄.
Kieran293@reddit
I agree with you here. I’ve been lucky to spend my career in engineering consultancy (so private and public clients) and now in a developer (so only liaising with the public bodies). The whole time, I’ve never understood or seen how/why someone would want to spend a lot of time in a council. Public sector can vary, so working for a body like National Highways can actually be great - salaries are decent, perks are good and the projects are cool. However even then, projects move so much slower and like you said, you’ll have meetings about meetings, lots of risk avoidance etc.
OutlawDan86@reddit
Plenty of risk avoidance. I think my impatience, particularly at work, largely stems from what on reflection was a lot of, “down time,” while working at that council. We used to have an all team meeting every Tuesday morning and that was 2 hours minimum written off. It was similar at the Civil Service employers.
i-am-a-passenger@reddit
I tried, but it was just way too boring for me. Everything took forever, way too many incompetent people knowing they had job security. Could never go back, not for me.
TheCockenspieler@reddit
Joined the railway after private sector finance straight out of uni and have never looked back. Initial salary was way below market and I'm sure I earn a lot less than people in London, but the work/life balance is outstanding and I clear 6 figures with overtime now at 30.
290Richy@reddit
Public sector here, annual pay rises and flexi-time is also golden. I was actually on £3K a year more in the private sector but I wasn't happy. Flexi-time in the private sector is a rarity these days, you end up using all your annual leave for silly things like appointments etc.
Based on my current salary, if I weren't to get anymore pay rises until I retired, I'll get approximately £30K a year from that pension alone before you consider any state pension.
If you're someone who doesn't like the newest cars, newest phones etc. you can live comfortably in a basic admin role in the public sector but the other perks outweigh the low initial salary for me.
No-Software-544@reddit (OP)
How was the exam? Did you have to study a lot?
290Richy@reddit
Nah, I didn't study. The job description was a load of fancy words.
Basic knowledge in Excel, which I have.
Had to write a reply to a complaint email from a customer. (this was fiction but reflective of real ones).
I knew nothing about the sector, so I explained how I was new to the team, apologised for the issue and ended it with that fact I was liaising with the relevant people to find a solution.
I'm guessing they liked the thinking outside the box and not just someone walking in pretending to know their sector/procedures, I was honest to the customer but said I would get back to them.
No-Software-544@reddit (OP)
It dosn´t sound complicated compared to other countries tbf. Well done, you were clever.
hunsnet457@reddit
I’m currently applying for public sector jobs.
I don’t particularly regret not going into it earlier because if it wasn’t for private jobs being outsourced, I wouldn’t have fallen into a very skilled job at an outsourcing company.
But god am I tired. Working at lightspeed for a shit wage with no benefits at all, constantly trying to work for the next opportunity or to move on because someone else got it, always having to be in the ball when it comes to my own rights, redundancies or job losses never out of sight.
At this point I don’t care if the wage is worse than what i’d be paid private, I just want to be able to sit and breathe…
nibor@reddit
no but I spent the first 10 years of my post uni career in public sector. I'd had 10 years of experience part time in retail and office while studying so had some experience to draw on but due to luck and timing was able to get a junior dev role in a part of public sector that was considered extremely hard to get into and it was just better than I could have expected.
it was low paid and the benefits seem bad, and I was eventually made redundant but those 10 years set me up well for the next 16 years and counting.
I did not appreciate it at the time but over 10 years I made £24k contributions to a DB pension which is likely to be the best investment I will ever make as its its current value to me is around £360k and will start paying out in 9 years.
I don;t think I would want to go back now but I am glad I did it.
EvilTaffyapple@reddit
My wife has worked in the public sector for the past 17 years and regrets it. She keeps trying to find an off-ramp to better, higher-paying roles but struggles to find anything.
KerryKinkajou@reddit
The thing is that most of these jobs you've mentioned are NHS band, essentially minimum wage. There's little room for progression and many are fixed term contracts which don't provide job security. Many of these roles can be stressful and do still involve patient contact, e.g. porters transferring patients between wards. It's very difficult to break into NHS work without NHS experience, you almost have to start from the bottom no matter what, which might not be feasible for someone with a mortgage and a family.
AJMurphy_1986@reddit
I've tried numerous times.
Applying for jobs well below my current pay and experience level.
Cant find the magic combination of words to even get an interview.
No-Software-544@reddit (OP)
There is always health-care or porter Jobs going on... At NHS.
Or do volunteering at the hospital
AJMurphy_1986@reddit
Thats further below my pay/experience then I can really afford to drop
Mikey463@reddit
Yes I wouldn't automatically think job security. Job cuts do happen in the NHS when they are not patient facing like in admin. It does happen.
No_Brain6753@reddit
They are also happening now for patient facing employees. Something I’ve never seen before. Times are changing.
Luton_Enjoyer@reddit
I tried to get into the public sector many times. My job applications are always rejected.
Major-Credit-2442@reddit
This definitely isn’t an ad trying to get people to apply for jobs in the nhs, is it?
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