CS Career Break to work in private enterprise/self employed?

A

ajapale

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N Solo asked this interesting question in another thread, t though it deserved a thread of its own:

N Solo said:
Can you take a career break in the CS and work in private enterprise/self employed whilst presumably still being on the CS "books" so to speak? Is this not double jobbing and if so is it encouraged?
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The position with regard to career breaks in the Civil Service is as follows. Staff may apply for them for purposes such as (text taken from Circular):

(a) child rearing,
(b) other domestic purposes (such as care of a sick relative),
(c) education and travel abroad.
(d) There are special provisions for special leave for genuine self-employment or for starting up a business with employment potential.

In all cases applicants for career breaks are obliged to provide details of the exact purpose for which the career break is to be used and to sign a formal understanding to abide by the rules of the scheme.

If it comes to the attention of the Department/Office that someone is using a career break for a purpose other than that for which the career break was granted, the career break may be terminated immediately and the officer may be subject to disciplinary proceedings.

While the above is restrictive in nature - I do know of 1 or 2 people who have taken career breaks from the Civil Service and who were working elsewhere here in Ireland (which is forbidden under the terms of the scheme).
 
ajapale, sorry - I got the links arseways above and only afterwards read you explanation elsewhere about why you split the topic in three. Feel free to remove the redundant posts from me in this topic so.
 
i work work in a public sector body (but not in the civil service) and the guidelines regarding career breaks in my organisation state

"A career break may be allowed for most purposes including further education, domestic responsibilities, starting a business or a stay abroad."

the guidelines also state that

"An individual seeking a career break for the purpose of taking up a job in Ireland should submit a copy of the offer of employment in support of the application.



Each request for a career break should state the specific purpose for which the career break is being sought."
​

The above would lead me to believe that it should be possible to get a career break and get a job in the private sector.

Do you think that maybe some of the rules/guidelines seem prohibitive but in reality these days people are allowed to take career breaks for any reason they wish?

or would it depend on the goodwill of your organisations HR department?

 
Career breaks involve the issuance of a P45 when the career break starts so there's no question of double jobbing.

i know of people who have applied for career breaks for a year to start their own business but when it didn't work out thay had to take a job in the private sector until the period of the career break expired.

AFAIK, the CS isn't obliged to take you back until the break is over but in some cases they will facilitate this.
 
AFAIK you have to take a minimum of a year initially and then you can take smaller amounts of time.

i'm not sure about the rules for coming back to work except that you're supposed to notify them 3 months before the end of the break whether you are coming back or not.

i would be interested to find out also if you can just decide to return at any point, i'd say not though.
 
ANC said:
i would be interested to find out also if you can just decide to return at any point, i'd say not though.
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If there happened to be a vacancy and it suited them to have you as a means of filling it, you could probably go back. I think the point is, though, that there's no guarantee.

Also, i think the minimum break allowed has been reduced to six months.
 
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