The Civil Service

The role of the UK Civil Service is to help the government of the day develop and implement its policies, and administer the public services for which it is responsible. It is an integral and key part of the government of the United Kingdom, at an annual cost of £13 billion. Civil servants are accountable to ministers, who in turn are accountable to parliament. Civil servants are appointed on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition, and are expected to carry out their role with dedication and a commitment to the Civil Service and its core values:

• integrity – putting the obligations of public service above personal interests
• honesty – being truthful and open
• objectivity – basing advice and decisions on rigorous analysis of the evidence
• impartiality – acting solely according to the merits of the case
• political impartiality – serving equally well governments of different political persuasions.

Individual departments are accountable for their own decisions and actions. The Cabinet Office is responsible for ensuring that the Civil Service as a whole meets the government’s commitment to achieving greater representation of minority ethnic staff, women and staff with disabilities at senior levels. Many executive agencies have been created to carry out government functions. These agencies operate within rules set by the responsible minister, and were introduced to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government services. They are a part of the Civil Service but have delegated authority to employ their own staff and organise service provision.

The Civil Service employs over 499,090 people (full-time equivalents) in 173 departments and executive agencies, making it one of the biggest organisations in the UK. Just over half (53%) are women, 4% are from a minority ethnic group, while 4.4% have some kind of disability. One-fifth of civil servants work part-time. Overall numbers continue to fall, in line with government policy, although civil servants constitute more than 2% of the working population in employment and about 10% of all public-sector employees.

Much of the work, particularly at junior levels, is office-based, working on routine clerical and administrative tasks. The next level of employment would probably include writing letters, minutes of meetings and dealing directly with the public. After that could well come specialising in a particular area, or moving up the general administrative ladder, which would almost certainly include elements of budgetary responsibility, policy planning, and advice to ministers and senior officials. The Senior Civil Service is made up of top managers, specialists and policy advisers, and currently has around 4,000 members.

Staff are generally classified into industrial and non-industrial, although the distinction is disappearing. Major employing departments (containing 70% of all civil servants) are:

• Work and Pensions 111,796 (22.4%)
• Revenue and Customs 91,832 (18.4%)
• MoD 82,350 (16.5%)
• Home Office (including Prison Service) 70,372 (14.1%).

Nearly three-quarters of civil servants work outside London and the south of England. The vast majority of industrials do similar jobs to those performed by blue-collar workers in other sectors. Non-industrial staff include ‘fast stream’ recruits, administrative grades (including junior managers – formerly called executive officers and higher executive officers) and specialist grades (including lawyers, linguists and librarians). Non-industrials can also apply to join the Diplomatic Service – working in London or one of the 200-plus British missions in over 170 countries.

The Civil Service and the Armed Forces

The Civil Service has many similarities with the Armed Forces. Both serve the government, and have recently had greater emphasis placed on them to increase performance and reduce costs. Both are Investors In People, and offer training and personal development schemes that lead to qualifications that can be used with a subsequent employer. Employees in both are able to work in different jobs in different environments and gain experience in new areas.

Many Forces people work alongside Civil Servants, sometimes sharing offices and often carrying out joint functions with them – like policy, finance, logistics and procurement. Soldiers, sailors, and airmen and women who value the Forces culture can well feel comfortable by moving into a reasonably similar environment when they leave.

Recruitment

Most recruitment of people who join the Civil Service each year is done by the department or agency that is looking for staff. They will probably advertise vacancies in Jobcentres and the local and regional press. Most positions will be in larger towns and cities, and telephone directories will have a list of departments and agencies in the area, under ‘Government Offices’. The Civil Service website gives links to all the major Civil Service employers. Junior positions are advertised under a recruitment gateway, while more specific searches should be directed at the relevant department or agency.

Qualifications for entry vary, and depend very much on the department people apply to, the area in which they want to work and the grade at which they want to enter. Specialists will need the relevant qualifications – for example, an economist will have an economics degree and a lawyer will be legally qualified.

However, more general posts simply require a level of academic or vocational achievement to show competence to function at the necessary grade. So a junior post will need two GCSEs at grades A–C, while a more senior one will require five. Both will need English, but people without formal qualifications can be selected if they have relevant previous experience and pass a written test.

Unlike the Forces, junior managers can be recruited directly as well as promoted internally. Half of them are graduates, but the rest have other qualifications, with the minimum generally being two A-levels and three GCSEs, one of which should be English. However, some departments place less emphasis on education and look instead for people with competencies in such areas as decision making, written and oral communication, managing resources and planning. These skills are at the heart of military training, and applicants should be prepared to provide evidence of their capabilities in these areas.

Around 500 graduates are accepted for Fast Stream posts every year. The minimum qualification for external candidates is a second-class honours degree in any subject, but the selection process looks for the ‘leaders of tomorrow’, with strong intellectual, analytical and interpersonal skills. Serving civil servants are selected by their departments and do not need formal educational qualifications. Fast Stream schemes include:

• Central
• Diplomatic Service
• European
• Science and Engineering
• DFID Technical Development
• Clerkships in Parliament
• Economists
• Statisticians
• Technology in Business
• Government Communications Headquarters
• Secret Intelligence Service.

It is a very popular option among graduates, and competition for places is fierce. Successful candidates can expect to spend some years in a series of high-profile development appointments (each of one year to 18 months), designed to give them experience in a variety of areas. They then enter competition with everyone else, although most tend to continue a rapid upward path through a series of demanding jobs.

There are generally no age limits for the Civil Service, but applicants will be expected to have a reasonable working life ahead of them.

The Military Support Function (MSF) covers a wide variety of roles, including welfare, housing, logistics, finance, personnel management and training. There are MSF posts throughout the MoD at locations all over the United Kingdom and overseas, working to support the military. Applicants need a broad knowledge of military life and procedures. This understanding does not need to have been obtained from full-time military service: the applicant may have worked with the Services as a civilian, worked in the defence industry, or may be in one of the reserve organisations. Equally the MSF can offer a second career for a retiring Service person. All posts carry a normal retirement age of 65.

Salaries

Salaries and gradings are delegated to individual departments and agencies, but18% of non-industrial staff earn £15,000 or less (on a full-time equivalent basis), 29% earn between £15,000 and £20,000, 22% earn between £20,000 and £25,000, 13% earn between £25,000 and £30,000, and just 18% earn more than £30,000 or more. This is different to the way the public sector generally works. Most workers are subject to national pay bargaining arrangements, whereas each Civil Service department and agency negotiates pay for its own staff. Performance-related pay has also been introduced to establish a closer link between performance and reward.

Those joining the Civil Service after 30July 2007 will have a pension age of 65 and pensions based on earnings throughout their career. Current civil servants will keep their existing final-salary pension terms and pension age of 60.

Benefits include pensions, 25 days holiday (usually) plus public and other standard holidays, season ticket loans, sports and some family-friendly measures.

Further information

Civil Service Communications, Cabinet Office, 3rd Floor, 22 Whitehall, London SW1A 2WH Website: www.cabinet-office.gov.uk, Recruitment website: www.careers.civil-service.gov.uk

Civil Service Fast Stream, Pilgrims Well, 427 London Road, Camberley, Surrey GU15 3HZ Tel: 01276 400333

Jobcentres hold vacancy details for individual departments and agencies

Applications for MSF appointments should be made to: Military Support Function (Recruitment), PO Box 3424, BathBA1 5ZP