Following Guido’s story yesterday, a Department for Education (DfE) spin-doctor calls to explain they will most certainly be paying new recruits accurately and on time. Their explanation as to how they came to advertise a job which would, for administrative convenience, be unpaid for 10 weeks was that “it was an idea which should not have gone ahead”. Obviously.

The wording on the job ad in question has changed. The DfE is moving to a new HR system with processes, they now say, in place to make sure any new starters will actually be paid accurately when they begin their new contracts. Which they didn’t seem so keen on doing before Guido highlighted the job advert…

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…