A new job listing for a ministerial private office role at the Department for Education is telling applicants they will not be paid for up to 10 weeks after they start work should they be successful. In contrast to the Tories’ manifesto pledge to ensure workers have the right to request a “more predictable contract” with reasonable protections…

The job listing blames the huge delay on a new HR system, meaning they are

“unable to add new joiners to payroll for several weeks. Therefore, if you are recruited to the department in late March/April please be aware that you will not receive your pay until the end of May.”

The last time a department had a pay error like this, it made headlines when their staff’s union set up a food bank inside the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy building.

The departmental cock-up – inappropriately mentioned under the job listing’s ‘benefits’ section – means any hire within the next couple of weeks could be waiting up to 70 days without pay. This example shows how pathetically unimaginative the Civil Service is, a handful of new hires, yet they can’t figure a way to pay them on payday. Total lack of imagination and “can do” thinking. Meanwhile, over at the Foreign Office, they are freely splashing out on butlers…