Guidance

Terms and conditions in HMRC

Updated 5 August 2025

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

Probation period

If you are new to the Civil Service, you will need to successfully complete a probationary period of six months during which your performance, attendance, conduct and behaviour will be assessed.

Annual leave

HMRC’s leave year runs between 1 September to 31 August.

For new joiners to HMRC, your initial annual leave entitlement will be calculated on a pro rata basis from your start date to the 31 August.

Full-time employees have a starting paid annual leave allowance of 25 days per year, pro rata for colleagues working part time, which will increase by one day for each year’s qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.

If you are an existing civil servant or transferring over from a Crown Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) see General information about transferring from other government departments to HMRC to find out about how any previous qualifying service will be used when calculating your annual leave allowance, and for details on HMRC’s policy on carried forward leave. 

Public and Privilege leave

In addition to your annual leave allowance, you are entitled to paid public and privilege leave according to where your office is based as follows:

• England or Wales - 8 days’ public holiday and one day privilege leave for the King’s Birthday
• Scotland - 8 days’ public holiday and one day privilege leave for Victoria Day
• Northern Ireland - 10 days’ public holiday and one day privilege leave for the King’s Birthday

Public and Privilege leave entitlement is apportioned (pro rata) for colleagues working part time or part year.

Paid and unpaid leave

HMRC has provisions for a range of paid and unpaid family friendly leave. These meet, and in most cases, exceed statutory requirements, subject to you satisfying the relevant qualifying conditions set out in legislation and/or HMRC’s rules, as applicable to each type of leave in force at the time. Leave included:

• maternity
• paternity
• adoption
• surrogacy
• foster care
• parental leave
• parental bereavement leave

Additionally, HMRC offers paid and unpaid special leave for a range of other circumstances, which you may be able to take if you meet the eligibility requirements applicable to each. Types of Special Leave included:

• jury duty
• domestic emergencies
• bereavement leave
• career breaks
• serving in the reserves
• study leave

Further information can be found on our intranet, which will be made available to any successful candidates upon joining HMRC.

Supporting Your Attendance and Sick Pay

HMRC’s Supporting Your Attendance policy is available when you are too unwell to work. Providing your absence is certified in accordance with HMRC’s Supporting Your Attendance policy, you will be entitled to full pay for 1 month in the first year of service plus 1 month at half pay.

The entitlement will increase by one-month full pay and one-month half pay for every year of service up to a maximum 5 months full pay and 5 months half pay from the beginning of the 5th year of service. This will be calculated on a pro-rata basis for part-time and part-year employees.

Sickness absence is paid up to the maximum of 10 months in any rolling four-year period.

If you are an existing civil servant, see General information about transferring from other government departments to HMRC for further information on calculating your entitlement.

Deployment

You may be required to undertake other duties appropriate to your grade temporarily or on a continuing basis as HMRC reasonably considers necessary. In all cases, you will be given reasonable notice, and your personal circumstances will be considered.

You may also be required to transfer permanently to any HMRC or other Civil Service post appropriate to your grade either in the UK or abroad, where this is considered necessary to meet business requirements. There may be a requirement to serve away from home for temporary periods of ‘detached duty’. This may be at locations which are not within reasonable daily travel of your home.

Working arrangements  

Your contracted weekly hours and individual working pattern 

All full-time employees are contracted to work 37 hours per week, which excludes daily lunch breaks or any other breaks, which are unpaid. This is the same for all employees, whether they are based within or outside of London.  

Your individual working pattern is the times and days on which you are personally required to attend for work to perform your contracted weekly hours. You can be asked to work any contractual individual working pattern that falls within HMRC’s standard operating hours. Subject to the business area you work in, you may be entitled to perform your contracted weekly hours in accordance with the arrangements set out in HMRC’s Flexible Working Hours (FWH) approach, giving you the flexibility to choose when to begin and end work, within certain limits.  

HMRC operates seven days a week and 24 hours a day, although our ‘standard operating hours’ are 7am to 8pm from Monday to Saturday. Dependent on your role, there is a possibility that you will be required to work overtime, shifts or variable and unsociable hours including weekends and public/privilege holidays.   

Not all HMRC’s roles require regular Saturday working. Please refer to the job advert for details and speak to the vacancy holder if you have any questions about the specific working arrangements relevant to the role you are applying for.  

Flexible Working Hours (‘Flexi’)

You may work your contracted weekly hours in line with HMRC’s Flexible Working Hours Approach (unless notified that the role is unsuitable). This means subject to sufficient cover being maintained and any local requirements, you can choose when to begin and end work, within certain limits, which are set out in the Flexible Working Hours policy.

Directorate Working Arrangements (DWAs) 

It is important to note that some of HMRC’s business areas may operate outside of the standard operating hours to meet customer requirements; their hours of operation and working arrangements will be set out in its Directorate Working Arrangements (DWAs). If you are applying for a role in one of these areas, there may be additional expectations as to how and when you work (e.g. shift rotas) and if you need to be located at specified places to carry out your role. See the job advert for detail. 

Before taking up a role, it is your responsibility to understand the working requirements and to be satisfied that you can meet them. 

Individual working pattern for Customer Services Group (CSG) employees 

If you are applying for a role within CSG, you need to be aware that there are specific working arrangements in operation to help HMRC deliver improved services for customers and a better work experience for our people.  

The individual working pattern for employees subject to the CSG working arrangements will be set by a collaborative roster which reflects the following fixed requirements (if required by HMRC): 

• work one weekday late shift (including the hours between 5pm and 8pm) in every week
• work a maximum of 6 Saturdays a year

CSG has standard operating hours from 8am to 8pm Monday to Saturday. This means everyone in CSG will start work no earlier than 7:45 am unless there is an agreed business need for starting earlier. It will make sure we’re ready to deal with customers as soon as our lines open at 8am and have enough coverage through the day. 

Flexible working 

HMRC is committed to providing colleagues with the flexibility to balance their working and personal lives to deliver their critical roles for HMRC and our customers.

This includes working part-time or applying for a special working arrangement (for example, part-year and compressed hours) where you need additional flexibilities.

Please refer to the job advert to find out what flexible working is available for the role you are interested in.

These types of arrangement are subject to our operational and customer service needs and may be subject to regular review.

Home working (non-contractual)

You are expected to spend 60% of your working time in the office. This means that if you are in a suitable role, you’ll have the opportunity to work from home for 2 days a week averaged over a calendar month (or a proportionate amount for colleagues who work part-time).