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We are delighted that you are exploring a career with HMRC.

Please find below a summary of HMRC’s main terms and conditions.

This document provides an overview of selected key topics and not a comprehensive statement of all HMRC’s contractual terms and conditions of employment. Should you be successful with your application, we will provide you with a contract of employment including the full statement of our contractual terms and conditions.

For a reminder of the main duties of the role and salary details, please refer to the specific job advert you are interested in.

As a candidate for a role, it is your responsibility to make yourself aware of the terms and conditions that will be in place when you join HMRC. As part of the recruitment process, you will have the opportunity to ask questions about our terms and conditions. The contact point for this is our recruitment team, their details can be found within the job advert.

It’s important to note that HMRC’s terms and conditions are fixed for all employees and cannot be waived or altered by the hiring manager or any other manager.

Main terms of employment

Continuity of service

Previous qualifying service accrued as a civil servant will be preserved if there is no break in service exceeding 28 days between leaving the previous civil service employer and starting employment with HMRC.

Probation period

If you’re joining or re-joining HMRC, the probation period you’ve already served within the Civil Service as a civil servant, will normally count towards the probation period in your new job, unless you’ve had a break in service as defined by HMRC’s Continuity of Service rules.

If you’re joining or re-joining HMRC with prior service as a civil servant, you won’t normally have to serve a probation period, or a probation period of less than 6 months may be appropriate, if we have records that demonstrate you’ve either:

• transferred to HMRC directly from another government department or recognised Government agency, and a 6-month probation period has already been successfully completed as a civil servant
• worked in any part of the Civil Service (or a recognised non-departmental public body) for more than 52 weeks during the last 5 years as a civil servant, and a 6-month probationary period has already been successfully completed as a civil servant.

Your HMRC manager will confirm what your period of probation will be.

Annual leave

Previous qualifying service in another Government Department (OGD) or Crown Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPB) will count when calculating your annual leave allowance providing that your previous service was continuous with your HMRC service. Your anniversary date for your qualifying service will be confirmed when you join HMRC.

Any leave accrued with a previous department before joining HMRC cannot be carried forward into HMRC, we won’t pay compensation for unused annual leave.

Sickness absence and pay

Previous qualifying service will count when calculating your sick pay entitlement providing continuity of service is preserved.

Pay arrangements on transfer for existing civil servants

HMRC will pay you from the first day in the post and your previous (exporting) department will pay you until the date of transfer. If your first day in HMRC falls on a Monday, your previous department should pay you up to the Sunday to ensure continuous service is maintained.

You are advised not to start your new role in HMRC until the payroll transfer is confirmed and HMRC have confirmed that you will be paid.

Basic pay

1.HMRC has 2 pay range locations for each grade: London and national. Each grade’s pay range has a minimum and maximum rate, without any ‘spine points’.

2.We do not pay a separate London weighting allowance. If you join an HMRC London office and are currently receiving a London Weighting Allowance, we will consolidate this. The sections below explain how we will do this.

3.Specialist payments and allowances are not transferable to HMRC and will not be paid on transfer. If you are on a specialist pay range due to your role in your current department, your pay will be adjusted to the equivalent generalist pay range position for your location in your current department.

Level moves within the same pay area

Your HMRC basic pay will be aligned to HMRC’s pay range for your grade, using the following steps:

• Step 1: if your current basic pay is below HMRC’s pay range minimum, your basic pay will be uplifted to the pay range minimum for your grade
• Step 2: if your current basic pay is within HMRC’s pay range for your grade, this will transfer across
• Step 3: if your current basic pay is above HMRC’s pay range maximum, your basic pay will be capped at HMRC’s pay range maximum for your grade, the balance (this is the difference between your current basic pay and HMRC’s pay range maximum) will not be payable

Level moves to a HMRC London office and currently paid London weighting

If your current department pays you a London weighting allowance, the annual value of your London weighting allowance will be consolidated with your basic pay up to HMRC’s pay range maximum for your grade.  

Your basic pay will be aligned to HMRC’s pay range for your grade, using the following steps:

• Step 1: if your current basic pay, plus London Weighting allowance is below HMRC’s pay range minimum, your basic pay will be uplifted to the pay range minimum for your grade
• Step 2: if your current basic pay, plus London Weighting allowance is within HMRC’s pay range (up to the maximum), this will be transferred across
• Step 3: if your current basic pay (within HMRC’s pay range), plus London weighting allowance exceeds HMRCs pay range maximum, your basic pay will be capped at HMRCs maximum, and the excess will be paid as a temporary mark time payment for a maximum of 2 years (see example 1 below)
• Step 4: if your current basic pay is already above HMRC’s pay range maximum, it will be capped at HMRC’s pay range maximum for your grade.  The difference between your current basic pay and HMRC’s pay range maximum will not be payable.  Your current London Weighting allowance will be paid as a temporary mark-time payment for a maximum of 2 years.

The following examples show how this will work. These examples are purely illustrative based on HMRC’s 2023 pay ranges.

Example 1: Higher Officer basic pay (£41,900) plus London Weighting Allowance (£1,050). On transfer, current basic pay is within HMRC’s HO London pay range and below HMRC’s maximum (£42,898). The London Weighting allowance is then added to salary £41,900 + £1,050 = £42,950 and salary is capped at the HMRC maximum. The difference £42,950 – £42,898 = £52 per year, will be paid in addition to basic pay as a mark time payment for a time limited period. See mark time

Example 2 Higher Officer basic pay (£44,000) plus London Weighting Allowance (£1,050). On transfer, current basic pay is outside HMRC’s HO London pay range and above HMRC’s maximum (42,898) and is capped. The difference £44,000 - £42,898 = £1,102, is not payable on transfer. The London Weighting allowance is then added to the capped salary £42,898 + £1,050 = £43,948. The £1,050 will be paid as a mark-time payment for up to 2 years.  

Mark time

Mark time arrangements in HMRC are subject to a two-year time limit from the date the mark time payment commences. 

During this two-year time limit, your mark time payment will not increase. It will, reduce if your basic pay increases for example, through a pay award, your basic pay being uplifted to HMRCs pay range minimum or your basic pay increasing following a promotion. Your mark time payment will stop any time during the two-year time limit if the payment has been fully eroded by your basic pay increases.  If the mark time payment hasn’t been eroded before the end of 2 years, the payment will stop on the two-year anniversary.

This example explains how this works

Example 3: pay award reducing mark time.

Ben is an Officer grade, and his basic pay is the Officer grade maximum, and he receives an annual mark time payment of £900. The Officer grade maximum is increased by £1,000 and he receives a pay award increase of £1,000. Ben’s mark time payment is now fully eroded by the pay award increase and will now cease.

Transfer between pay areas (London and national)

If your move to HMRC involves a change in pay location into or out of the HMRC London pay area, your basic pay in your current department will be transferred across to the equivalent

HMRC pay range for that location. Your pay will then be moved to the equivalent pay rate for the new location. Please see the section on equivalent position calculation to understand how this works.

Some departments have offices where the national and London pay boundaries do not align to those defined by HMRC’s. This means that your office in your current department may be classified as London but is regarded as national within HMRC, which may impact on your pay as shown in the following example. 

Where this applies, your basic pay will be transferred to HMRC’s London range before moving across to the equivalent position on HMRC’s national pay range.

If you are moving from a London area within your current department to a national area in HMRC, there is a possibility of a decrease in pay.

Equivalent position calculation

The equivalent position calculation is used when moving between National and London pay ranges.  It maintains the relative position of your basic pay in the pay range, on transfer to the new pay area.

Equivalent Position Formula:

((A/B) x C) + D = new basic pay on move

Where:

A = new pay range maximum minus new pay range minimum

B = old pay range maximum minus old pay range minimum

C = current basic pay minus old pay range minimum

D = new pay range minimum

Specialist pay 

If you are on a specialist pay range due to your role in your current department, your pay will be adjusted to the equivalent generalist pay range position for your location in your current department using the equivalent position calculation

Promotion moves to HMRC

Your current basic pay will be moved across to the equivalent pre-promotion HMRC grade pay range. If your pre-promotion salary exceeds HMRC’s pay range maximum, your pay will be capped at our maximum. You will then receive the better of:

• an uplift of 10% of this basic pay, capped at the HMRC pay range maximum
• the minimum of HMRC’s pay range for the grade you have been promoted to

You should note that your pay on promotion may be less than 10%, if for example you are currently paid from a higher specialist pay range which is higher than HMRC’s pay ranges which are generalist. This is because basic pay will be capped at HMRC’s pay range maximum.

Pay award

HMRC’s pay award is normally paid from 1 June.  The following information confirms which department’s pay award you will receive, based on when you transfer to HMRC, your current department’s pay award settlement date and whether there is a link between your department’s pay award and the performance management year. If you are successful in applying for a HMRC role, your exporting department will be your current department and your importing department will be HMRC.

Your date of transfer to HMRC.ÌýÌý

Before the 31 December:

• more than 3 months before the end of the performance year and before settlement date - HMRC’s pay award will be applied
• less than 3 months before the end of the performance year and before the settlement date - HMRC’s pay award will be applied
• after the performance year but before the settlement date - you will receive the award of your exporting department
• on settlement date - you will receive the award of your exporting department
• after settlement date - no award to be paid as already received for year

Between the 31 December and 31 March:

• more than 3 months before the end of the performance year and before settlement date - HMRC’s pay award will be applied
• less than 3 months before the end of the performance year and before the settlement date - HMRC’s pay award will be applied
• after the performance year but before the settlement date - HMRC’s pay award will be applied
• on settlement date - you will receive the award of your exporting department
• after settlement date - no award to be paid as already received for year

Between 1 April and 31 May:

• more than 3 months before the end of the performance year and before settlement date - HMRC’s pay award will be applied
• less than 3 months before the end of the performance year and before the settlement date - HMRC’s pay award will be applied
• after the performance year but before the settlement date - HMRC’s pay award will be applied
• on settlement date - HMRC’s pay award will be applied
• after settlement date - no award to be paid as already received for year

On or after 1 June:

• more than 3 months before the end of the performance year and before settlement date - Pay on transfer will be based on HMRC’s new pay range. You will receive HMRC’s pay award in the next cycle
• less than 3 months before the end of the performance year and before the settlement date - you will receive the award of your exporting department
• after the performance year but before the settlement date - you will receive the award of your exporting department
• on settlement date - you will receive the award of your exporting department
• after settlement date - no award to be paid as already received for year

Depending on the exact date of transfer to HMRC, you may be eligible for either HMRC’s or your exporting department’s pay award. This will exclude any increases for pay restructuring or contractual buy-out by your old department. If details cannot be obtained and you meet all other Pay Award Criteria, you will receive HMRC’s award.  Any award will be paid from 1 June or your take up duty date (with backdating if required), whichever is later.

If you are eligible for your exporting department’s pay award, details of the pay award settlement owed should be forwarded from your previous department to HMRC’s Unity Business ÌìÃÀÓ°Ôº, Operations.

Further information

If you have any questions concerning your prospective terms and conditions on transfer, please use the contact point in the job advert.