About us
The Valuation Office Agency is an executive agency of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). We provide the Government with the valuations and property advice required to support taxation and benefits. We also deliver a range of statutory and non-statutory valuation and surveying services to over 4,000 public sector bodies.
Website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/valuation-office-agency
Reviews
Great training and support
Pros
Great work Life balance and investment in employees development
Cons
Salary could be more competitive
Advice to Management
Pay more
Great place, great people
Pros
Learned a lot here, excellent mentors and opportunities to do things
Cons
Bureaucracy that comes with the civil service, things can move slowly
A nice friendly agency
Pros
Family like culture
Good L&D options
Cons
Very old ways of working compared to bigger and modern departments
They sell a dream well but it’s a strange and frustrating place to work
Pros
If you’re used to something very intense and not very flexible (like I was) then this is a step up in that respect
Annual leave is good (but that’s Civil Service protocol not VOA specific)
Salary is one of the best in Government
Cons
The management are not good – no one seems to have any perspective. It’s like the VOA is their life and they don’t seem to realise they’re often making a massive fuss of things that no one actually cares about in the slightest. The average person doesn’t even know what the VOA is.
They preach about flexibility and work life balance but it’s not as good as it sounds. Since the pandemic they brought in hybrid working and want everyone in twice a week as a blanket rule. It’s not the worst ask obviously but when your role can be done completely remotely and half your team colleagues don’t even work in the same local office it feels a very pointless and frustrating rule. In addition I never even got full say in what days worked for me – I was highly pressured to come in on certain days that suited other people.
In general there is a lot of pressure tactics and passive aggressive management because they know they can’t get away with being aggressive in an obvious way being that it’s the Civil Service.
Even outside of management there are a lot of difficult people here. People who have worked here 30+ years and are bitter and rude.
Advice to Management
Practice what you preach in regard to flexibility and work life balance
Have some perspective, you’re a tiny, unknown Agency, but you act like we’re working in the Home Office during a civil war
Good culture and people
Pros
Good culture and people. Friendly and genuine.
Cons
No cons really – work was sometimes mundane.