You should check with your personell section.
As fas as I know you can transfer your pension entitlements from the local authourity into the civil service scheme. There are straightforward rules and forms to be filled in.
Previous service should be taken into account for annual leave. Again there are rules on this. Personell will be able to walk you through the calculations.
Salary, well, that's a different story. All people taking up a position are being put on teh bottom point of your scale as far as I know, regardless of years worked in teh public service elsewhere. You can put in a claim, with the help of your union, but it'll probably sit on a desk somewhere for a very long time.
Would be interested in hearing how you get on with that sort of thing, as the other half is in the very same position.