Employers’ contribution is 27%.
Your pension will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire.
We offer 25 days annual leave (rising, over 5 years, to 30 days) for full time new entrants to the Civil Service and those Civil Servants on modernised terms and conditions. Existing Civil Servants on pre-modernised terms will retain these.
Bank Holiday You receive 8 public holidays a year together with an additional day in May to mark the King’s Birthday.
We work in a hybrid way, so we spend two to three days each and every week in an office and work the rest of the time from home. Working in this way helps us to balance our work and home lives and supports our policy of flexible working.
We offer you the opportunity to be recognised for your work through and end of year Performance Award. We also have a Staff Recognition Scheme, and in-year awards to reward exemplary work.
DgC also have their own Annual Staff Awards.
In DgC we are encouraged to have a minimum of thirty hours of learning and development each year. Not all of this will be formal learning, but we do believe that you should have access to a wide range of learning and development opportunities to support you in your current and future roles.
We offer access to learning and development with world class providers, and our comprehensive curriculum offers a mix of different types of learning including management and leadership, diversity and inclusion, and your professional development as a Procurement specialist.
In Defra we pay for you to study for your CIPS qualifications, and we give you time off to study. You will be working with colleagues who can help you with your studies and you will feel well supported.
There is a Civil Service Profession for Procurement Specialists to help you hone your skills, establish a network of support external to Defra and access a huge range of professional development.
Some employees will find themselves able to convert onto an apprenticeship programme to gain nationally recognised qualifications through a programme of training and work experience. We are particularly keen to support staff who want to us this route to gain management and leadership qualifications.
Mentoring is an effective means of developing your career, boosting your confidence and empowering both the mentor and mentee. You will have the opportunity to voluntarily engage and work confidentially with a mentor or coach. We are also able to provide accredited external coaches on a case by case basis.
We offer interest-free loans towards the cost of a bike and a Cycle to Work Scheme. This means we loan you a bike for your commute as a tax-free benefit.
We offer interest-free season ticket loans, to you when you have more than three months’ service.
You will have access to our discount scheme which offers savings at hundreds of top retailers potentially saving you hundreds of pounds each year.
We are registered with the Give as You Earn scheme which enables you to make regular deductions directly from your salary in support of a chosen charity. This is simple and tax efficient.
When you start you will be invited to our Newcomers Group to help you meet new people, and you will be allocated a buddy to help you settle in.
All new employees will have a corporate and DgC induction. This will help you to find out exactly what it means to be a civil servant and what is expected of you. Throughout the induction journey you will find out what we do, how we do it, and what our relationships are with the people we serve. In addition, all new and returning employees will also receive a departmental induction..
The Mental Health Network offers support, information and raises awareness of mental health issues. Employee Assistance Programme is a free and confidential 24/7 telephone advice service available to our staff.
Our Occupational Health Service (OHS) provides a range of support services to help with the way you feel at work.
Within Defra group Commercial at SEO grade only there is now a Specialist Pay Lead or Market Supplement. The SPL is capability based and staff can receive up to a £6k non-consolidated supplement on top of base SEO pay (or start of the scale) following assessment of skills and experience against set criteria. The allowance is paid at two levels. Level 1 is up to £3k and level 2 is up to £6k. To be eligible for level 1 colleagues need to be fully proficient in their role independently delivering procurement projects and following all the policies and procedures etc. Level 2 required CIPS level 5 plus mastery of the SEO role. Defra policy remains that new starters commence at the pay scale base rate.
