Network Rail Milton Keynes - Future Prospects?

[Roger1973]

Network Rail are currently advertising again for operational planner/s at Milton Keynes. While I'm not wanting to sound over-confident, I have applied and been offered before, but combination of circumstances including covid lockdown meant I declined the offer, so unless that would still be on file and held against me, I think I would at least stand a chance.

My current job is likely to disappear in the next year or two with the government's local authority reorganisation plans. I'd rather start job hunting sooner rather than wait until I'm another couple of years older. I've not been in the current job long enough for a redundancy pay-off to be worth waiting for, and I'm not going to be in a position to embrace retirement / semi retirement in a couple of years.

But I'm aware that Great British Railways is coming - and the 'transition team' website says the GBR head office will be in Derby.

Has anything been said about what's going to happen to Milton Keynes - and the staff based there? Or the timescales for moving things to Derby?

I'm not asking for any confidential 'inside information', or for pure speculation, but my initial thought is that maybe a job at Milton Keynes isn't all that secure. I'm not entirely keen on the idea of moving to Milton Keynes, but moving to Derby in a few years would not work for me for family reasons.

I'm reaching a point in life where job security is a higher priority than pay (within reason) or prospects, but the idea of moving house then a year or two down the line be job hunting again after another false start doesn't really appeal.

Or have I misunderstood some of it? Or is it too early to know?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[stungata]

Network Rail's head office is currently in London, not Milton Keynes.

In my personal opinion, I don't think anybody from Milton Keynes would be relocated purely because the company is "changing names". It wouldn't be sustainable anyways. I think people working there will still be working there. It wouldn't make sense, if you think about it they wouldn't move all the staff to Derby purely because of a new head office.

I am also confident that travel allowances would be applicable if you do get moved.

Again, that's my personal view.

 

[WAB]

As mentioned earlier, I've not heard anything about MK, but you may find that progression opportunities at MK may at some point cease to be available, in favour of Derby.

My only concern would be a slimming down of the headcount at MK in favour of more devolution to whatever regional units GBR ends up having. However, I'm not sure that this would affect you too much as MK reportedly has a high turnover rate of staff.

 

[Horizon22]

It will be very difficult and I would suggest impossible to just shut down MK completely; it's a large and established base, especially for planning roles and Derby is not exactly close and planning is generally specialised so I don't think they'll want to lose loads of experience if they force a move. Whilst as others have suggested some roles might be slimmed down for future recruitment in favour of potentially Derby, if they are currently hiring a role at MK, it is likely to remain. If there was going to be a shift I imagine it will be gradual as people leave/retire and roles are backfilled but in other locations.

Even with GBR there are going to be regional 'hubs' and it seems highly likely that MK will retain some of the more 'national' functions of which I can easily see planning being one. One thing about planning is I can see this as one area which will become amalgamanted in GBR with TOC and NR planners which have some duplication likely to have some rationalisation going forward.

 

[12LDA28C]

It will be very difficult and I would suggest impossible to just shut down MK completely; it's a large and established base, especially for planning roles and Derby is not exactly close and planning is generally specialised so I don't think they'll want to lose loads of experience if they force a move. Whilst as others have suggested some roles might be slimmed down for future recruitment in favour of potentially Derby, if they are currently hiring a role at MK, it is likely to remain. If there was going to be a shift I imagine it will be gradual as people leave/retire and roles are not backfilled.

Even with GBR there are going to be regional 'hubs' and it seems highly likely that MK will retain some of the more 'national' functions of which I can easily see planning being one.

Although it was only established with staff forced encouraged to relocate from York, wasn't it? I seem to recall hearing there was a lot of resistance from staff due to the nature of the relocation package at the time and how it was implemented...

 

[Eloise]

Although it was only established with staff forced encouraged to relocate from York, wasn't it? I seem to recall hearing there was a lot of resistance from staff due to the nature of the relocation package at the time and how it was implemented...

If people from York office moved it was their choice. Leeds, Birmingham and Paddington did close though and you had the choice of relocating, finding another job or taking redundancy. No one was forced but like any change it was easy for some and tough decisions for others. It worked in a lot of peoples favour as they were looking for out anyway. By transferring to MK some were closer to home than their previous office. Relocation packages were dealt with on a case by case basis.

To the best of my knowledge no plans to move Planning away from MK. There will always be vacancies as it's a huge department and that generates turnover of staff.

Would suggest applying and asking the question if you make it to interview. Declining an offer in the past shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Harpo]

The original move to centralise ops planning in MFK was NR at it’s most arrogant. It naively believed that the expertise needed to backfill for those who didn’t relocate could be home grown. It didn’t go well. So, it might sound like a bad idea to reverse the process, but….

Each TOC has it’s own in-house train planning expertise which ought to be capable of working without the ‘validation’ NR has been responsible for, so it may well be that this is now the least expendable resource?

All part of the very large GBR question marks.

 

[Belperpete]

I doubt that there are any current plans to close MK, simply because I doubt planning for GBR is that far advanced.

I doubt that it is as secure as some seem to think. I can remember a time not that long ago when the office didn't exist, and what can be created on a whim can likewise be undone. If as others have suggested, a decision is made to amalgamate TOC and NR planning, I doubt that they would be moving yet more staff to MK - more likely that they would set up regional hubs. In which case, if MK is only left as a .much pared-down HQ role, it could well move to Derby. In which case, you might have the option to relocate to one of the hubs, rather than Derby.

I can remember when MK was being set up, it was said that it was the ideal compromise location - equally inconvenient for just about everybody! The word on the ground that it was done as a deliberate move to shed staff, as who in their right mind would want to move their family from York, Leeds, Paddington or Birmingham to somewhere like MK. Particularly with the kind of relocation packages many were being offered.

I doubt that asking the question at interview is likely to lead to anything useful, but worth asking anyway. All you are likely to be told is that there are currently no plans (that the interviewer is aware of), but that if you were required to relocate you would likely be offered a relocation package. Just be aware that many relocation packages come with a requirement that you move to somewhere within a set distance or travelling time of the new office. And that it may be nowhere near as generous as equivalent civil service packages.

Having said all that, it is probably as secure as any other job can be in this day and age.

 

[Harpo]

I can remember when MK was being set up,……………The word on the ground that it was done as a deliberate move to shed staff, as who in their right mind would want to move their family from York, Leeds, Paddington or Birmingham to somewhere like MK. Particularly with the kind of relocation packages many were being offered.

I’d heard similar views. An arbitrary maximum journey time was also applied and those most likely to exceed it would have had long service, high salaries, plus BR-era free travel making it an ageist policy too.

This was raised with the chocolate teapot TSSA but got nowhere, presumably because it was in London, and not South America, and bought no new opportunities to schmooze with senior Labour figures.

 

[WAB]

Ultimately, a large proportion of clerical and management grades are up in the air when it comes to GBR. Some 'central' functions will be devolved to whatever regional units are created, and conversely, some services provided separately by TOCs may end up being centralised at Derby. Jobs which remain in the same location may have their remit fundamentally altered. This'll be a decade-long process and I don't think it's possible to say at this stage with any degree of certainty who will be affected.

I would speculate that posts centred around interfacing with other companies and jobs which are (to a degree) duplicated within other organisations will be subject to particular review over this decade. This covers many of the jobs at MK, particularly in planning. It has been suggested in some quarters that some of the tasks that Ops planning at MK do could be discontinued or integrated into the TOC planning units, with the residual coordinating function moving to Derby.

But the long and short of it is that we don't know, but for now the job you're applying for is an alright prospect for job security.

This is not new. Rationalisation saw districts, then divisions eliminated from the 50s onwards. Sectorisation and OfQ saw the demise of the regions and a slimmed-down BR HQ, with more jobs made available in the profit centres and Sector HQs. Privatisation saw a purge of engineers at Railtrack, the redundancy of many BR HQ staff and more staff dedicated to managing the interface between organisations. GBR will be yet another step change with some painful choices for some people.

 

[winks]

Network Rail are currently advertising again for operational planner/s at Milton Keynes. While I'm not wanting to sound over-confident, I have applied and been offered before, but combination of circumstances including covid lockdown meant I declined the offer, so unless that would still be on file and held against me, I think I would at least stand a chance.

My current job is likely to disappear in the next year or two with the government's local authority reorganisation plans. I'd rather start job hunting sooner rather than wait until I'm another couple of years older. I've not been in the current job long enough for a redundancy pay-off to be worth waiting for, and I'm not going to be in a position to embrace retirement / semi retirement in a couple of years.

But I'm aware that Great British Railways is coming - and the 'transition team' website says the GBR head office will be in Derby.

Has anything been said about what's going to happen to Milton Keynes - and the staff based there? Or the timescales for moving things to Derby?

I'm not asking for any confidential 'inside information', or for pure speculation, but my initial thought is that maybe a job at Milton Keynes isn't all that secure. I'm not entirely keen on the idea of moving to Milton Keynes, but moving to Derby in a few years would not work for me for family reasons.

I'm reaching a point in life where job security is a higher priority than pay (within reason) or prospects, but the idea of moving house then a year or two down the line be job hunting again after another false start doesn't really appeal.

Or have I misunderstood some of it? Or is it too early to know?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I would say definitely apply to NR. You’ll have knowledge of the interview process from last time which will help.

You will thank yourself if successful as pay scales nearly always increase each year and you will benefit from the staff travel pass / leisure scheme. There may be the opportunity to work from home 1 day a week which could be beneficial too.

Good luck.

 

[Roger1973]

Thanks to all for the thoughts.

NR have taken the vacancy off their website, so presume they have had a lot of applications.

I was leaning towards not applying, and the decision has been made for me.

 

[Worldwide]

MK will still exist in someway even when GBR is created.

 

[Harpo]

MK will still exist in someway even when GBR is created.

All depends on how centralised GBR is. The Derby ‘HQ’ could be anything from a shed to several tower blocks.

Hopefully the MfK experience will be remembered and cause some of the grown-ups to ask GBR how much experience they are prepared to ditch.