Uncategorized - Civil Service Commission

A new Framework Agreement with the Cabinet Office for monitoring and understanding the strategy, performance and delivery of the three Independent Offices supported by the Commission secretariat – the Civil Service Commission, the Commissioner for Public Appointments and the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments - has been published today.

Framework Document (PDF)

It sets out the core responsibilities of each organisation, describes the governance and accountability framework that applies between the Cabinet Office and the three offices, and sets out how the day-to-day relationship works in practice, including in relation to governance and financial matters.

The Framework Agreement replaces a previous Memorandum of Understanding dating back to 2010 and ensures that the Independent Offices are not treated as a Business Unit of the Cabinet Office for the purposes of business planning.

This agreement is in line with the expectations set out in the latest HM Treasury guidance in Managing Public Money.

Are you thinking about applying for a Senior Civil Service role?

Do you know what to expect when an independent Civil Service Commissioner chairs the recruitment process?

The Commission provides assurance that civil servants are appointed on the basis of merit, after a fair and open competition, and helps safeguard an impartial civil service. For senior roles, an independent Commissioner will oversee the recruitment process and chair the interview panel.

Join our free online event on 18th March from 12 to 1pm where you can hear from three of our independent Commissioners, Baroness Gisela Stuart (First Civil Service Commissioner), Atul Devani and Martin Spencer. They will talk through the SCS process and give their own hints and tips about successful applications.

You can RSVP to the online event via EventBrite

You can also ask questions via Slido.

Are you new to working in Civil Service HR or would you like refresher training on the Recruitment Principles? Or a Civil Service manager who needs to understand what to do to recruit in compliance with the Principles?

The Commission offers regular online training on the Recruitment Principles which set the framework for all recruitment into the Civil Service. These sessions are intended to support staff using the Recruitment Principles to make appointments on merit after a fair and open competition, and to better understand the role of the independent Commission as the regulator.

The training will cover how to use the Recruitment Principles, Exceptions to appointment on merit, how complaints are handled, what to expect from our audit, and an introduction to the role of our independent Commissioners. There will also be time at the end for any questions.

“These sessions are intended to be practical and useful, to help you gain the confidence to develop and apply recruitment processes that best meet your business needs, while following the Recruitment Principles. Sessions are free and online, so please do sign up.”

Our next session will be via MS Teams on 24 February 2 pm - 3 pm.

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Kate Owen, CEO, Civil Service Commission

If you have a specific query or need advice, or would like to suggest specific areas where additional training would be helpful, please contact compliance@csc.gov.uk, and one of our team will contact you.

30 January 2025

The Home Office and Government Digital and Data Function have been jointly awarded the 2024 Commissioners’ Mark of Excellence for their innovation and commitment in recruiting external candidates who may not have previously considered a role in the Civil Service.

Home Office won for their strategic approach to recruiting more women into frontline roles and outstanding work to support external candidates at different stages of the recruitment process.

The Government Digital and Data Function won for their innovative regional tech partnerships to secure senior digital talent on secondment to contribute to the work of Government.

First Civil Service Commissioner, Baroness Gisela Stuart, said:

"The purpose of the Mark of Excellence is to showcase some of the exemplary work occurring across government, highlighting innovative and thoughtful initiatives that attract strong and diverse fields of candidates for Civil Service jobs.

"Both the Home Office and Digital and Data Function team demonstrated exceptional commitment to attracting, encouraging and retaining applicants who may never have considered working in the Civil Service before. They have tried new and different approaches within the Commission’s Recruitment Principles, which ensure appointment on merit after fair and open competition.

“Home Office’s work to provide tailored support for external candidates in bulk campaigns using information events, chat bots, call centres and videos, providing advice and insight to candidates, demonstrated real impact - delivering 22,000 applications for these campaigns alone in 2024 with a high proportion from female and ethnic minority candidates.

“The Digital and Data Function entry impressed the panel with its professional collaborations across the sector to bring in senior tech specialists on secondment. Digital is an area in which the Civil Service can struggle to recruit; their cross-government secondment programme develops the Civil Service’s capability in an ever-evolving digital landscape and builds greater understanding of government work.

"Being joint winners is a testament to their consistent and innovative work, illustrating what can be done within the Recruitment Principles to attract and recruit new skills and talent.

"One of the Commission’s strategic priorities is to support departments to comply with the legal requirement to recruit on merit, after a fair and open competition. As well as highlighting best practice through the Mark of Excellence, we do this through our revised audit approach and outreach work with departments. These monthly sessions have attracted over 200 attendees per session. We will continue these this year and provide more bespoke support to individual departments where their audit results indicate that this is required.”

The 2024 Mark of Excellence judging panel included Baroness Gisela Stuart, First Civil Service Commissioner, Tony Poulter, Civil Service Commissioner, who was a PWC Partner for over 25 years and Liz Walmsley, Civil Service Commissioner, who held senior roles in ICI and a private equity firm.

There were 27 applications from departments and agencies for the Commissioners’ Mark of Excellence, now in its third year.

Winning organisations are entitled to display the Mark of Excellence logo on all their recruitment advertisements for one year.

Website http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

Notes to Editors

More information about the work of the Commission is available on its website: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/
Media enquiries about the work of the Commission should go to Maggie O’Boyle on 07880 740 627.
The Civil Service Commission was established as a statutory body in November 2010 under the provisions of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. The Commission is independent of Ministers and the Civil Service. It is responsible for upholding the requirement that recruitment to the Civil Service is based on merit through fair and open competition. The Commission comprises senior figures from the private, public, and third sectors who oversee recruitment into the Civil Service. Commissioners are appointed by the Crown for five-year non-renewable terms of office.
You can also follow the Commission on LinkedIn and X @CivServComm.

Baroness (Gisela) Stuart

First Civil Service Commissioner

Maintaining Civil Service integrity in recruitment

On 5^th July the party in power changed for the first time in 14 years and – unlike in the United States - existing UK civil servants must turn to serve a new government overnight. Often wrongly described as ‘independent’, the civil service is actually part of government in the UK. It must be impartial - permanently ready to serve the democratically elected government, whatever its colour. Impartiality isn’t passivity or indifference; it requires that civil servants must serve the government of the day with energy and commitment.

There are around 510,000 civil servants across the UK – and approximately 30,000 leave every year. Maintaining a workforce with the necessary skills ready to deliver the government’s agenda is an important function of the leadership of the Civil Service.

The Commission’s role - as the independent statutory regulator - is to provide public assurance that entry into the Civil Service is on merit, after a fair and open competition. This long-standing convention became a legal requirement in the UK in 2010 and is interpreted through the Commission’s Recruitment Principles. Recruitment on merit is core to maintaining the integrity and impartiality of the Civil Service.

Exceptions to appointment on merit are allowed within the Principles and the law only in specific circumstances and are time limited. Used appropriately, they can be a sensible and practical way to bring in skills needed for short periods, for example, or where a particular role will only exist for a short time. There are also Exceptions to support schemes for veterans and care leavers.

The recent interest in some appointments by exception is legitimate scrutiny of whether appointments are being made in line with those Principles. However, some of the headlines could benefit from greater understanding of the purpose and use of Exceptions. There is a balance to strike here - protecting the important principles but allowing leaders some flexibility where a full recruitment competition isn’t practical or proportionate.

Exceptions should be exceptional. Indeed, of the 98,328 appointments made this year, 6.977 were by Exception, with the proportion appointed by Exception falling year on year post Covid. The majority relate to temporary appointments of, for example, interns, employment lawyers, driving examiners and public inquiry staff to meet short term business needs – as well as my personal favourite - Christmas elves, temporarily recruited by the Forestry Commission for the Christmas season.

For more senior roles and those paying £97,000 or above (and in other specified circumstances), departments must submit a request to the independent Commission for approval to appoint by exception to the legal requirement. We may approve, not approve or change the length of time the Exception is allowed for.

Below that level, the power to appoint by Exception is delegated to departments and they must follow the Recruitment Principles in doing so – and the Commission’s regular audit process looks at departments’ handling of these appointments too.

Given the importance of public trust in appointments to the Civil Service, the Commission has been carrying out a rapid review of appointments made under those delegated powers since the election and will be reporting on our findings later this month as the regulator.

Appointment on merit is vital to the integrity of the Civil Service and we want departments to get better at workforce planning to reduce their need to use Exceptions further. Fair and open recruitment competitions need not take very long. As well as being the law, fair and open recruitment has wider organisational benefits. It allows the hiring team to properly test the market fully for potential new candidates and gives the successful candidate the legitimacy that they were the best person available.

The Commission has long supported open recruitment and we use our regulatory influence to encourage departments to do more to attract new pools of candidates for civil service jobs. We already see excellent practice in some departments and agencies. Our Commissioners’ Mark of Excellence – now in its third year – seeks to recognise and share some of the more innovative work underway attracting and selling civil service roles to people who may never have thought about it.

Our independent Commissioners, who personally oversee recruitment processes for senior roles, come from a wide range of different backgrounds. They unanimously tell me they find the breadth and complexity of the Civil Service roles incredible. To attract new talent in a competitive skills market, the Civil Service needs to do a lot more to sell the fascinating and unique challenge of – for example – leading digital change in the justice system or strategy on climate change at the Ministry of Defence. These are jobs like no others. We also need to do more to sell the Civil Service values – honesty, impartiality, integrity and objectivity. They are the bedrock of trust in our system and underpin the Civil Service Code which all civil servants must follow.

At a time of major global uncertainties, our Civil Service will require the flexibility and skills to handle increasingly complex decisions and deliver the changes the new government has set out. To do this, our focus must be on attracting and retaining the best talent available to serve the country.

This article first appeared in The House magazine.

The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 stipulates that the Civil Service Commission may “except” certain appointments from the requirement that recruitment into the Civil Service takes place on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.

The First Civil Service Commissioner has today (20 November 2024) written to the Cabinet Secretary outlining action taken by the Commission to provide assurance around the use of appointments by exception.

Read: First Civil Service Commissioner to the Cabinet Secretary, 20 November 2024

The Commission has also published a review of appointments by exception made by departments which did not require prior approval by the Civil Service Commission in July and August 2024.

Read: Review into appointments by exception delegated to departments (November 2024)

Read: First Civil Service Commissioner to Heads of Departments, 20 November 2024

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Kate Owen, CEO, Civil Service Commission

The 2024 Commissioners’ Mark of Excellence, which recognises innovation and excellent practice in recruitment across the Civil Service, is now open for entries.

This year, the Commissioners’ award will focus on openness in recruitment, looking for hiring teams who have made efforts to bring new skills and talent into the Civil Service by:

innovative or new approaches to advertising vacancies externally

providing support for candidates to enable them to make strong applications or prepare for Civil Service style interviews

encouraging secondments from outside the Civil Service or

encouraging candidates from local government and the wider public sector to apply for roles in the Civil Service

The judging panel this year will include Baroness Gisela Stuart, First Civil Service Commissioner, Joanna Abeyie, Civil Service Commissioner and social impact entrepreneur, and Tony Poulter, Civil Service Commissioner who was a PWC Partner for over 25 years and who now holds a range of Non-Executive roles in government and the private sector.

The application process runs from today until Wednesday 6th November. Please note: this deadline has now been extended to Friday 15th November.

Baroness Gisela Stuart, First Civil Service Commissioner, said:

“We know from our work as a regulator there is some truly outstanding recruitment practice in departments and agencies. The aim of the Commissioners’ Mark of Excellence is to share examples of what can be achieved and to celebrate those hiring teams that go the extra mile to attract talented people who might not have previously considered a career in the Civil Service. Further information can be found on our website. We are looking forward to reviewing your entries’

The winners of the 2024 Mark of Excellence will be announced by the end of the year. Winners of the Mark of Excellence are able to display the logo on all their recruitment advertising for one year.

Please download the application form here.

The First Civil Service Commissioner, Baroness Gisela Stuart, has today (30 August 2024) written to all departments outlining a review of all appointments made by exception which did not require prior approval by the Civil Service Commission in July and August 2024.

The Commission has also today written to departments outlining next steps for this review.

Read: First Civil Service Commissioner to Heads of Departments, 30 August 2024

Read: Interim Chief Executive to HR Directors, 30 August 2024

Read: Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles

Read: Exceptions - why are they allowed?

Read: First Civil Service Commissioner to Shadow Paymaster General and Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, 30 August 2024

Kate Owen, Interim Chief Executive, Civil Service Commission

The Civil Service Commission exists to provide assurance that appointments to the Civil Service are made on merit on the basis of a fair and open competition. In effect, that the best person gets the role.

This has been the basis of recruitment into the Civil Service since the Northcote Trevelyan Report. The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act put this requirement on a statutory footing in 2010. The legislation makes clear that the Commission’s published Recruitment Principles set the framework that departments must follow.

At senior levels, the Commission’s regulatory role is carried out by an independent Commissioner personally chairing the recruitment process from start to finish, while recruitment below SCS2 level is delegated to Departments and audited by the Commission.

Exceptions

Like any major organisation, there are times when the Civil Service urgently or for a fixed term requires particular skills which are not found within it. Take for instance, the recruitment of large numbers of staff for the Covid-19 Test and Trace scheme or the short-term need for lots of statisticians to complete the UK Census once every ten years, or the requirement for AI specialists.

In some cases it makes sense for the Civil Service to bring in these skills by Exception as and when they are required and often for a short period, for example deep financial services knowledge. In other cases an Exception is needed because the Civil Service simply struggles to recruit in this field, for example AI.

When might an ‘Exception’ be granted?

The Commission’s Recruitment Principles allow for specific time-limited ‘Exceptions’ to the legal requirement to recruit on merit on the basis of a fair and open competition. This must either be to meet the needs of the government or to enable the Civil Service to participate in a government employment initiative such as schemes that provide support for veterans or care leavers.

The Commission reports on these Exceptions each year in its Annual Report and Accounts (ARA). The ARA for 2022-23 can be found here. The ARA for 2023-24 will be published and laid in Parliament in October.

In appointing by Exception, Departments must be able to justify why, in any particular appointment, it is not possible to select someone on merit through a fair and open competition and why the specific skills needed cannot be found in the Civil Service.

Which ‘Exceptions’ are within the Commission’s scope?

In most cases departments determine the case for an Exception themselves. The Commission audits Departmental use of exceptions as part of its audit programme.

The Commission’s approval is however required for:

Any appointment by Exception at Senior Civil Service Pay Band 2 minimum (£97,000) or above at any grade
Any extension or variation of any fixed-term appointment previously agreed by the Commission at Senior Civil Service Pay Band 2 or above
The use of an Exception within 12 months of an earlier Exception for the same individual
Any fixed-term appointment by Exception in excess of two years

In reaching its decision, the Commission will look at the detail of the business case put forward by a department about why a particular role could not be done by existing staff or why the role could not be recruited through fair and open competition. The Commission will respond to the business case in a number of ways:

Approve; or
Approve but apply conditions such as shortening the period of time for which the Exception is granted or require enhanced reporting in the case of a bulk exception; or
Reject the business case

Are appointments by ‘Exception’ subject to the Civil Service Code?

Appointees, whether by exception or through fair and open competition, are civil servants and bound by the Code and the values of impartiality, honesty, objectivity and integrity that underpin it.

In the event that a current civil servant has concerns relating to another civil servant’s conduct under the Code, they can raise this with their department in the first instance and, if concerns persist, bring that complaint to the Commission.

Who is responsible for background checks?

The department – as the employer – is responsible for carrying out background checks on individuals who may be appointed by exception. The department is also responsible for addressing any potential propriety matters.