Civil Service Decentralisation query

Hello All,

Applied for decentralisation, moved to the decentralising department have not yet moved to the decentralising location. Think I have changed my mind and wonder if anyone has withdrawn from decentralisation? There does not seem to be any hard and fast rules for this scenario! What happens? Can anyone offer any enlightened advice?

Thanks

B

Can your union not advise?

You would think so! Unfortunately the unions are less than useless, not really their fault as they are caught between a rock and a hard place with trying to represent people who dont want to decentralise and people who do. They are afraid to do much other than tell me that I signed up for it so if I want to withdraw I will be at the mercy of the CAF as to where I will be sent! It appeared at the begining that if your original dept were willing to take you back then you could go back but that doesnt seem to be the case any more but no one seems to know for definate. I just wanted to see if anyone had actually gone through the process to see what rules actually do apply!

B

I think it's probably best to contact your decentralisation unit (I think most decentralising departments have coordination / information units), and talk through the implications with them. If part of the Department is staying in Dublin it may not be a big deal - on the other hand, if most of it is slated to go in the next six months, it could be really difficult. Without more detail, which you probably wouldn't want to give, it's hard to make any more helpful comment. But I suspect you're not the only one getting cold feet, by a long shot, and you may be better dealing with it now rather than waiting for formal rules to be established which could be far more rigid.

Best of luck.

Thanks Dreamerb,

I did just that today. I sent them a confidentail email to try and get information so that I can make an informed decision. I get the feeling however that if I do withdraw that I will be very much at the mercy of the department that I am currently in and I am afraid that they will send me somewhere awful to 'teach me a lesson' for withdrawing, I know it sounds very cynical but having started out very enthusiastic about Decentralisation 4 years ago experience has facilitated the creation of a very cynical perspective, much to my annoyance as I was not cynical before this!!!

B

I applied for decentralisation but was told I could withdraw at any time,

C

You canwithdraw your CAF application at any time (assuming you didn't sign up to decentralise on promotion). If you withdraw from CAF and are Dublin based, then you can apply on Dublin CAF, or whatever the correct term is. Decentralisation is voluntary afterall! If your whole dept is decentralising without you, you'll have to move to another dept at somestage.

bradfield said:

I get the feeling however that if I do withdraw that I will be very much at the mercy of the department that I am currently in and I am afraid that they will send me somewhere awful to 'teach me a lesson' for withdrawing,
B

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They might be a little miffed but people change there minds all the time. Did Pat Rabitte not just do the same? You can always look to transfer from that Department. I wouldn't worry too much about been "shown a lesson" the HR Dept (if you do have HR as against Personnel) have to be transparent and listen to where you want to go. Also, you have fOI on your side.

Be specific in where you want to go, if you have no idea then you might end up somewhere where you dont like. I'm amazed by how many civil servants don't plan their career. PM if you want to discuss in not such a public way.

bradfield said:

...I am afraid that they will send me somewhere awful to 'teach me a lesson' for withdrawing, ...

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Why?

Might depend to on whether the dept you have have moved to were under or over-subscribed for the decentralising posts. if they were oversubscribed there might not be a problem as they should be able to transfer you out and get the next person on the waiting list, but if they were undersubscribed they might not want to lose the people who have already 'volunteered'. I don't think they will be vindictive about it though, so I don't think they will want to 'teach you a lesson'.