New to Public service query

Donal27

Hi I have received a job offer with local authority for librarian position (grade 6), I am new entrant to public service. I was told would be placed at 1st point of scale, I have not signed a contract yet and asked HR is it open for negotiation, as with experience thought I could move up a few increments, they replied that they are limited by circulars. Is this the case or is it worth pursuing, it was not stated on the advertisement that new entrants had to start at beginning of scale? I'm already down a couple of days holiday if I move, wages are a bit better than I'm on a moment but not much. Also trying to figure out the whole public pension thing, not sure what contribution I automatically have to make, I currently have a pension do I bring that with me, or do I leave that as is.

Any info would be greatly appreciated

fg1406

You can try but may not get anywhere. Administration staff in wider public sector do not qualify for incremental credit outside of the public sector, therefore I imagine the same applies to librarians. Medical staff are the only ones who I've seen get private sector work credited for increments. I can't comment on wider public sector. That said I've seen the "name your price" game being played at the highest ends of the scale, where they are trying to fill top level managerial vacancies.

AndrewJRenko

If you are coming from outside the public sector, they probably won't negotiate on starting position. I'm very surprised if this wasn't covered in the initial recruitment details. It is a standard clause.

You won't bring your existing pension with you, and indeed, it is probably a good idea not to have all your pension eggs in one basket.