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Life at FCDO Services

Our colleagues meet incredibly high standards here, to do work that protects people globally. We believe the best way to support them in that is by investing in the best and most inclusive working environment we can, with strong benefits, training, wellbeing options and support networks.

Rewards and benefits

We expect exceptional standards – but we reward our colleagues for a job well done. It’s not just about salary either: we offer a well-rounded package that includes day-to-day benefits; long-term incentives, like pensions; and variable pay, including any relevant location allowances. Here’s what’s on offer:

Extremely competitive pension, with employer contributions between 26.6-30.3% of your salary (figures accurate for April 2021; subject to change – for more on employer contributions, see here)

  • 25-30 days of annual leave each year, depending on your length of service
  • 9 days a year in Public Holidays and Privilege Holidays
  • Leave trading, allowing you to buy or sell 10 days of annual leave per year
  • Exclusive discounts portal, offering year-round deals with high street brands
  • Cycle-to-Work scheme
  • Financial health advice through Wealth Wizard
  • Access to financial planning app My Eva
  • On-site gym facilities and exercise classes
  • On-site OFSTED-registered nursery
  • On-site canteens and restaurants
  • Interest-free travel season ticket loans
  • Interest-free bicycle loans
  • Interest-free car loans for eligible overseas employees
  • RE:Think – our scheme to encourage good ideas and innovation, where staff can suggest ways to improve, save money, increase revenue, reduce waste, and improve how we work together
  • Optional £25 a month membership to CSMA – a benefits club to help civil servants make the most of their free time, with shopping discounts, special rates on home and car insurance, breakdown service, events, experiences, holidays and more
  • Supportive family leave policies for all staff with new families, with maternity, paternity and adoption pay – subject to meeting qualifying criteria, including service length
  • Flexible working options, depending on the nature of the role
  • Sick pay to support any long-term absence due to illness
  • A wide range of welfare support options, which you can read more about on our Diversity and Inclusion page  
  • London location allowance of £5000
  • Hanslope Park location allowance of £1750
  • Individual performance awards – which varied from £500-£3100 last year
  • Corporate award (£1000 in 2019)
  • Through the Th@nks scheme, recognition for individual or team contribution, with vouchers of up to £75 and cash rewards of up to £2000 over a 12-month period
  • Home and overseas allowances
  • Daily allowance for short working trips overseas

Did you know?

We have wellbeing rooms all over the world, as well as five facilities in the UK.
Even when you’re travelling regularly in your role, our wellbeing rooms overseas can help you find peace and calm.

Our facilities

Hanslope Park

  • Free parking
  • Onsite Costa
  • Modern canteen
  • Fresh deli bar
  • Free phone-charging stations
  • On-site OFSTED-registered nursery
  • Electric car charging stations
  • On-site gym
  • Wellbeing room
  • Tennis and football court/pitch
  • Discounted fitness classes

King Charles Street

  • Coffee shops
  • Deli bar
  • Restaurant/canteen
  • On-site OFSTED-registered nursery
  • Wellbeing room
  • Access to Language Centre Library for self-study
  • On-site gym
  • Discounted fitness classes
  • Easy access by train, bus and tube – with step-free access at Westminster and Green Park

Learning and Development

You’ll always feel supported to achieve more here. Our high standards mean helping each other stay ahead of the curve, gaining new skills in some fast-moving industries. That’s why, as well as some elements of mandated learning, we offer extensive opportunities for you to own your development and continuously grow.

Work/life balance

We do our best work when we’re well-rested, happy and able to balance our workload with our personal lives. Here’s how we support colleagues to do that:

At the end of a day of rewarding challenges, we encourage a culture where colleagues go home on time, a good work, life balance is important to us.

Flexible working is common and comes in many forms: compressed hours, flexible hours, job shares, and remote working are just a few. It makes our staff happier and nurtures colleagues with different needs and lifestyles.

We offer 25 days of annual leave, with an additional five days when you reach five years of service. You can also buy and sell up to ten days of leave per year – and carry up to ten days over into next year.

We offer paid maternity leave and adoption leave, and we support partners of all gender identities, with paid leave for husbands, wives, and partners whose other half is pregnant.

If the unexpected happens and you need to look after your family or your household, we’ll explore how we can support or help you, with discretionary special paid leave to help you cope with whatever comes.

Whether you need an extended period to care for your family, or to take a career break, we offer the opportunity to apply for special unpaid leave allowing you to return within two years.

Our colleagues are encouraged to support their community. Everyone is entitled to apply for paid special leave for volunteering activities, helping support those who need it.

You and your line manager might agree that you’d like to enrol in relevant further learning, at anything from GCSE to degree level. We can help with study leave and any resources you might need.

If you’re dedicated to helping others, we’ll support you. Special paid leave is offered for voluntary public service training, e.g. training as a Special Constable or a Retained Firefighter, as well as for youth leadership courses.

Did you know?

We don’t just support colleagues: we take care of the creatures who live around our sites.
Wood workshop colleagues build bird-feeding tables, and we also have onsite bee hotels to supplement natural habitats.

It’s family friendly here. It’s supportive. Flexible. All in all, it’s a very positive place to be.

How our salary bands work

We’re a trading fund – you’ll find out more about what that means here – and our employees are civil servants. That’s why we work within the pay policy set for all civil servants in teams across government.

So what does that mean to you? Well, when you see a job advertised, we’ll usually list the salary band next to it, e.g. £25,000-£35,000. Typically the starting salary for the role will be the smaller figure. In exceptional cases, offers may be made within the range, subject to knowledge and skills. Movement through the pay range for your grade is achieved through annual pay awards, in line with annually published Civil Service pay guidance and dependent on satisfactory performance.

If you apply for and successfully get a promotion or a new higher-paid role with us, you’ll then move to a higher grade and begin climbing through that new salary band.

Latest roles

Want to join FCDO Services but can’t see a live role to suit you? Great news: you can sign up for job alerts or add your CV to our talent pool and we’ll be in touch when something comes up.

Senior M&E Engineer & Deputy Team Leader

Hanslope Park
£56,430 – £66,963 plus location allowance and excellent benefits

Head of the Sensitivity Review Service

Hanslope Park
£67,214.00- £78,033.00 Plus Location Allowance of £1750 and Excellent Benefits

Technical Developer

Hanslope Park
£35,510 – £44,197 plus location allowance and excellent benefits

Mechanical & Electrical Engineer

Hanslope Park or London
£43,026 – £50,491 plus location allowance and excellent benefits.

Senior M&E Engineer

Hanslope Park or London

Trainee Technical Security Engineer

Hanslope Park
£26,887 including location allowance

Apprentice in Construction Design and Build Technician

Hanslope Park
£24,550 including location allowance

Apprentice Building Surveyor

London KCS
£28,082 including location allowance

Database, Infrastructure & Application Support Specialist

Hanslope Park
£35,510- £44,197 Plus Location allowance of £1750 and additional Benefits

CAD Technician

Hanslope Park
£29,586 plus excellent benefits

Project Manager – Construction

London and Hanslope Park

HR Employee Relations Advisor

Hanslope Park
£28,392 plus £1,750 location allowance

Non-Executive Director

Hanslope Park or London
£17,000 Per Annum