Uncategorized - Civil Service Commission

The REACH - Senior Disability Network has recently published a series of interviews as part of their 'Empowering Disabled Staff into Senior Grades' workshop series. Please see below links to all six interviews:

Ben Merrick

Seonaid Webb

Stuart Armstrong

Shaun Gallagher

Jeanette Rosenberg

Stephen Braviner Roman

Nagesh Reddy

In our fourth blog in this series, Nagesh Reddy, Portfolio Director - DWP Change Delivery, talks about his experience of working in the Civil Service.

About Nagesh

Nagesh was appointed Portfolio Director - DWP Change Delivery in January 2020. In that role, Nagesh leads a range of programmes spanning change, transformation and delivery covering areas such as Economic Recovery, Devolution and EU transition.

What do you think the civil service needs to do to attract more candidates from a more diverse background into senior roles? What advice do you have for recruiters?

We need to engage with the social media networks both local and national to reach the diverse workforce; a mainstream approach gives you mainstream results. We also need to ensure roles that are advertised, where possible, reach the greatest diversity of potential. When drafting those adverts, we need to appeal to a more diverse group of individuals, rather than just being so restrictive that they only attract talent or promote specific talent from within.

We should use local and national networks to reach a more diverse pool and also have more visible role models - both from within and from outside - that people can relate to and aspire to be like. This would help increase confidence that you can make it into the Senior Civil Service irrespective of your social, economic or specific characteristics.

What could the civil service do better to attract and retain civil servants from a more diverse background overall (at any level)? What do you see as the barriers?

If we develop recruitment and promotion exercises with a certain mindset, the outcomes will inevitably be the same as before – we need to have a different perspective throughout the whole process. Our processes may need to be revisited and revamped to remove barriers for certain groups to level the playing field.

What has been your personal experience of working in the civil service? What made a difference to you?

I have been in the civil service for over 20 years, starting as a ‘casual administrative assistant’ in front-line operations; now working as a Director, delivering multi-billion pound programmes. I love what I do and I know it may be a cliché but making a difference to people’s lives is my motivation. What made a difference to me has been a strong network, great leaders, mentors, colleagues and sponsors who gave me the belief that I could succeed.

Why is diversity particularly important at senior levels?

We serve the communities of the country in so many ways. If we are going to do that effectively, we need the insights, experiences and knowledge of a diverse range of people to make sure the policies we develop, design and implement have those insights to develop the best solutions. Also, so that we can have confidence they will make the difference. Having visibly diverse leadership increases confidence in the policies and solutions being developed and in the recruitment of a diverse pool of people.

What experiences did you have working at a senior level in the private sector? Are there lessons that the civil service can learn from the private sector in terms of recruiting staff from a more diverse background?

Within the private sector, they are often able to move at a greater speed to recruit and also offer a more flexible remuneration package – which I know can be a challenge within the civil service. We should look at speeding up the hiring process, which can be frustrating for people and we can lose good people to other opportunities because the private sector is so much faster to take them on.

What drives and motivates you in your career?

Making a difference - seeing the difference I have made every day to society and the public we serve.

What are your interests and hobbies outside work?

Films, music and long walks with the mobile phone switched off.

In our third blog in this series, Ben Merrick, Director, Overseas Territories Directorate, HM Commissioner for the British Indian Ocean Territory and HM Commissioner for the British Antarctic Territory, talks about his experience of working in the Civil Service.

About Ben

Ben was appointed Director of Overseas Territories at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in August 2017. In that role, he holds office as Commissioner of the British Antarctic Territory and Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory. Previously he was the Deputy Director of the Overseas Territories and has worked in the Ministry of Defence and Cabinet Office.

What do you think the civil service needs to do to attract more candidates with a disability into senior roles? What advice do you have for recruiters?

The Civil Service needs to continue on its path of having role models with disabilities in senior positions to demonstrate what is possible. It needs to set out in the publicity for a role the scope for operating at that level with a disability, ensure necessary workplace adjustments are made and maintain & increase targeted leadership support eg through the DELTA programme (part of the Future Leaders Scheme). Recruiters need to be very clear in their material about roles that the Civil Service is determined to ensure the recruitment process is accessible, the job itself and working environment are fully accessible, and make clear that they are very happy to discuss potential workplace adjustments etc with candidates. Line managers in particular need to make sure they have really thought about the requirements of a role, where the flexibilities are, and how they can make the environment as accessible as possible.

What could the civil service do better to attract and retain civil servants with a disability overall (at any level)? What do you see as the barriers?

On top of what I’ve said above, it’s about promoting aspirations of people at all levels and to ensure they feel that they can belong in the Civil Service and perform to their maximum extent. Although the Civil Service aims to get workplace adjustments in place, there are often practical barriers (eg around physical access or IT / assistive software) as well as attitudes about what is and isn’t possible from certain colleagues (and occasionally self-imposed limitations from disabled colleagues who may not know what is actually possible).

What has been your experience of reasonable adjustments and how have these helped you to do your job?

I’ve had wide experience. Many are in the very easy category, eg people telling me who they are rather than expecting me to recognise them, or the Permanent Secretary getting people to introduce themselves at meetings. Those have been straightforward, though partly related to my telling people from the outset about my situation and the changes I needed. Others have been more variable – IT provision in some departments has been very good and swift in terms of getting my assistive software on the system, but in other places it’s taken far longer - six months on one occasion and a year on another. This has a massive impact on one’s ability to work. For example, I currently have no ability to access Rosa as it doesn’t work with screen readers, so there is still work to do. Other issues have sometimes required me pushing, for example getting learning materials for a year-long financial course on CD-ROM, where initially the educational publisher claimed they weren’t available in soft copy until I pushed them very hard.

Have you seen good/bad examples of reasonable adjustments provided to disabled employees in the civil service?

Yes. As well as my own examples above, I’ve seen lots of adjustments provided to colleagues, including by the Civil Service Workplace Adjustments Service. Those have mostly been fine for the more straightforward issues, but I’m aware of some cases which have run on for many months. This is completely unnecessary and has left the disabled individual highly frustrated. Sometimes it may be unavoidable, but almost always it relates to excessive bureaucracy or line managers just not doing their jobs properly in moving things forward, or not being given sufficient support to know what to do.

What has been your personal experience of working in the civil service? What made a difference to you?

I have for the most part very much enjoyed all my various jobs working in the Civil Service. What’s made a difference to me is having important & fulfilling work where I can identify the difference I’m making, with a strong and supportive team, and having the IT and adjustments I need in order to operate properly.

Why is diversity particularly important at senior levels?

To slightly broaden the question, I think Diversity and Inclusion is important at all levels for moral and legal reasons, but also because it gives us better policy & delivery outcomes, improves our recruitment & retention and makes us more representative of the society that we serve. At senior levels, it’s particularly important because we shape the overall approach & culture of the organisation and provide a role-model for everyone.

What experiences did you have working at a senior level in the private sector? Are there lessons that the civil service can learn from the private sector in terms of recruiting disabled staff, provision of reasonable adjustments etc?

I haven’t worked at a senior level outside the Civil Service. However, I did work for six years for Childline in my spare time as a volunteer counsellor, as well as training new counsellors & occasionally managing shifts. The recruitment process was incredibly open – when I asked if my disability would be an issue they just said they were committed to making it work, and they made various small adjustments to the training etc to enable me to do it properly.

What drives and motivates you in your career?

It’s the ability to do important and interesting work which makes a difference. More recently, I’ve become particularly interested in leadership and role-modelling side of things, coaching and building capability in those coming up behind me, and seeking to really influence the culture of the whole Civil Service and promote our values.

What are your interests and hobbies outside work?

I spend lots of time with my kids (9 and 11) introducing them to the world, even if that’s been slightly curtailed this year. I’ve taken up running during lockdown after doing Couch to 5k at Easter and now do a lot. I also like reading and Scrabble (and some cooking) in such spare time as I have. Pre-COVID we also used to enjoy travel.

The online event on Wednesday 7th October was aimed specifically at candidates for Senior Civil Service roles who have a disability. The event was chaired by the Chief Executive of the Civil Service Commission, Peter Lawrence OBE, alongside two independent Civil Service Commissioners, Jan Cameron and June Milligan and the Commission Disability Advisor, John Knight CBE.

The Civil Service Commission regulates recruitment into the Civil Service to make sure it is fair, open and merit-based. Commissioners personally chair recruitment competitions for senior roles.

The speakers covered a range of topics of relevance to candidates for senior roles who have a disability:

Overview of the senior recruitment process
What Commissioners are looking for
Disability Confident Scheme
Reasonable Adjustments
Q&As throughout via Slido

The full recording of the event can be found through the link below:

In addition, there were a number of unanswered questions on Slido that we did not have time to address during the event. The questions and answers can be found below:

1. Do you have people sponsors that can help those in the lower grades to get up the ladder and to get into senior leadership roles, especially those from a BAME background as I find there are very few BAME senior civil servants?

This is not something the Commission can advise on although John Knight mentioned the help that mentors can bring. Diversity Networks can often put you in touch with mentors, and not all mentors need to have a protected characteristic. Many will give you help and advice.

2. In my department recruitment boards have to be gender mixed to be diverse through male/female. Why can’t diversity be shown in a different way?

This is a matter for individual departments to consider. The Commission would encourage all organisations to consider diversity in its recruitment boards or panels, and this is slowly becoming standard practice. It is often a challenge to find diverse representatives at the right grade. Some departments are ensuring panels are diverse by having members from lower grades, which also provides a learning experience FOR the individual on the panel.

3. The national statistics show that 16% of adults at working age have a disability - what is being done to bring the CS up from 6% to be representative?

As Peter Lawrence mentioned the Commission is ideally placed to influence and encourage diversity in the senior campaigns that are chaired by the Commissioners. You should contact Civil Service organisations directly to ascertain what they are doing to improve representation in this area.

4. Do you have people with disabilities on sift and interview panels for the SCS?

The Commission always supports the use of diverse panels, but panels are usually chosen by departments and agencies. Commissioners often ask for diverse panels, and other exercises in SCS selection processes try to incorporate diversity. Staff engagement exercises often have a diverse group.

5. I have a number of reasonable adjustments in place in my current role, if I apply for an SCS role should I mention this at the very start of the application process?

If you need reasonable adjustments as part of the application process you should certainly discuss this with the vacancy holder before you apply for the role, equally if you are invited for an interview you should notify the vacancy holder as soon as possible. SCS is often managed by a small team in departments, and they are often open to conversations prior to applications being made.

If you have any other questions please email us at: info@csc.gov.uk.

The Art of the Possible – supporting the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

The drive to increase the diversity of the Civil Service is keenly shared by the Commission. As the regulator, we’re there to provide assurance that appointments are made fairly and on merit, so internal levers to increase diversity such as talent development programmes, temporary promotion, mentoring etc.. are not within our remit.

But with the Commission’s unique perspective across departments’ recruitment from chairing open competitions at senior levels and its role in auditing processes across government, we are using our experience and influence to help departments deliver on their ambition to be more representative of the country they serve.

Challenging the Civil Service to improve diversity in the SCS is one of the Commission’s strategic priorities, set out by Ian Watmore in 2016 Key strategic aims and actions that flow from this include:

How can the Commission support departments to get more diverse candidates?

by increasing our own data capabilities (capture and analytics)
better communications/encouraging applications
increasing the Commission’s presence/raising our visibility
improving departmental job packs and advertising strategies when chairing SCS competitions

How do we help departments maintain their focus on diversity?

working with networks and other stakeholders
regular discussion at the Commission board and diversity working group
communications and events
promote and challenge when chairing competitions
use compliance visits to encourage and support HRD and Perm sec

How do we create challenge in the diversity agenda?

recognise, join and promote the different outlets for work on diversity across government, for example, the People Board
raise awareness at the outset of competitions, and ensure it is embedded at the planning stage- with action points for departments
regular monitoring of data
Commissioners feeding back on competitions, adding to our best practice guide and using these insights in future competitions

Link Commissioners

Our Commissioners are ideally placed to use their influence in competitions and in their roles as link Commissioners. The link Commissioner role pairs Commissioners with the 20 or so main departments and professions with the aim to meet regularly with Perm Secs and/or HRD’s/Heads of Profession to discuss recruitment activity. Link Commissioners act impartially and champion best practice and promote compliance with the Recruitment Principles and the Civil Service Code. The link Commissioners are ideally placed to provide advice and challenge on departmental plans to enhance diversity through recruitment.

Diversity working group

As well as overseeing competitions, our Commissioners, who bring broad experience across all sectors, engage in a wide range of Commission work, including working groups that have delivered a number of positive actions:

Best Practice Guide, collecting information to enable Commissioners to better challenge departments to think more widely when recruiting to senior positions.

D&I reporting is now a key component of compliance in the Commission’s audits, particularly around risk ratings given and the scorecards.

Demystifying events to engage with different stakeholders on the Commission’s purpose and the application of the Recruitment Principles and the Code.

Evening event with search firms and other interested stakeholders with the aim of strengthening mutual engagement around issues including the government’s diversity statistics, initiatives and barriers.

A virtual event for candidates with disabilities who are interested in SCS roles, another demystifying event later in the year, and more blogs/short films on our website to promote careers in SCS for BAME and disabled candidates.

More information and statistics about the work of the Commission is available in our interactive annual report: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/CSC-ARA-Report-201920-Interactive.pdf

If you would like to know more about the Commission’s role in recruitment, take a look at our short videos: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-principles/

If you would like to speak to one of our team about our work in supporting the Civil Service on diversity and inclusion, please email: info@csc.gov.uk

In the second blog in this series, John Knight CBE, who advises the Commission Board on disability, talks about his own experience and what more he thinks can be done to attract and support disabled candidates into senior Civil Service roles.

About John

John Knight’s career has spanned the voluntary and statutory sectors including the Department of Health, an international disability charity and as an assessor for the Commissioner for Public Appointments. He served on the Board of the Commission for Social Care Inspection (now part of the Care Quality Commission); the Charity Commission and was a member of a Cabinet Office Honours Appointments Committee. John was a Magistrate for 28 years.

He is currently a Board Member of a National Housing Association (which provides accessible housing to disabled people); a Governor of an Adult Education Institute and a London NHS Foundation Acute Trust as well being an advisor on disability issues to the Board of the Civil Service Commission.

He was appointed a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for services to disabled people.

John brings a vivid lived experience of disability to all his work, blending the personal with the professional.

What do you think the civil service needs to do to attract more candidates with a disability into senior roles? What advice do you have for recruiters?

A significant and visible cohort of SCS employees with a disability would be really helpful – if you can’t see yourself in the levels above it’s a struggle to be motivated to climb up. This principle extends to the universal need for diverse interview panels – again, if you can’t see yourself…

It is essential that we start to fully understand disabled applicant’s journeys through the SCS appointments process – the conversion rates are disappointing. What feedback, if any, are we systematically garnering and learning from those applicants who fell by the wayside?

Recruiters need to adopt more flexible and creative approaches to interpreting applicants’ skills and experiences e.g. greater use of the Success Profile Framework. Applicants with a disability need to mine their own extensive life experiences and use examples from the everyday of resilience; planning; teamwork and creativity to augment the harder skills in any essential criteria – they are really valuable and valid. I’d also encourage recruiters to take more risks, look at potential rather than always opting for a safe pair of hands. I would like to see the Commissioners chairing the panel to report more explicitly on their observations and experiences regarding applicants with a disability in their final reports in order to better understand how the process might be improved and raise the profile of disability.

What could the civil service do better to attract and retain civil servants with a disability overall (at any level)? What do you see as the barriers?

Mmm… Let me ask you some questions! Why are Civil Servants with a disability twice as likely as those without to report being bullied and harassed? Commissioners should, with their Link departments, hold Permanent Secretaries feet to the fire (nicely!) on both disability recruitment and bullying and harassment. Are disabled employees able to access the same career development postings and training opportunities that their colleagues without a disability can? Finally, unconscious bias (the “silent assassin”) training is prevalent across the service – but is anybody checking whether this training is having a positive impact?

What has been your experience of reasonable adjustments (if any), and how have these helped you to do your job?

All good in my experience. Increasingly adjustments are offered without me having to ask for them. It is amazing how colleagues’ knowledge, intuition and confidence have grown in working with people who have impairments, empowering them to act like this. It’s a great story.

What has been your personal experience of working in the civil service? What made a difference to you?

I was a very junior Civil Servant at the then DHSS (who remembers that?) for 5 years – an exhilarating and intellectual rollercoaster ride serving a then energetic administration. More recently I was a Public Appointments Assessor with OCPA where I factored diversity and in particular disability very much into my work to appoint senior people to national public roles. Now, as an Advisor to the Board of the Civil Service Commission, I have been wrestling with the conundrum of why more disabled people are not following through the journey towards appointment to SCS roles. The intellectual challenge, mutual respect and lack of judgement in the CS (and its satellites) made and still does, a real difference to me.

Why is diversity particularly important at senior levels?

Diverse senior leadership a) helps erode/challenge unconscious bias; b) sends out positive messages to people from a variety of backgrounds that they are welcome; c) imports positive, fresh, and sometimes challenging and innovative thinking into policy debates.

What experiences did you have working at a senior level in the private sector? Are there lessons that the civil service can learn from the private sector here?

I worked at a very junior level in a bank for 3 years after I graduated from University (an ill-thought-out “milk round” job) before moving into the public sector where I thrived. Sure, there are things the CS can learn from the private sector – but this definitely works both ways. I’m currently a Director of a National social housing association. This involves managing physical and financial assets, brand reputation and new property developments/land acquisitions.

What drives and motivates you in your career?

It used to be proving myself to others but now having matured I am driven by a quiet satisfaction of moderate achievement in public service over 35 years. My wonderful, unorthodox family is a major driver also – we mind each other’s backs.

Outside work I really enjoy Opera, cricket (watching not playing) and my grandson.

The Commission is running an online open event on 7 October 2020 aimed specifically at candidates for senior roles in the Civil Service who have a disability.

Last year, 6% of applicants reported having a disability in recruitment competitions chaired by Commissioners, although it is estimated that 18% of the working-age population in Britain are disabled as defined as by the Equality Act 2010.

The Commission is keen to use its influence to attract more disabled candidates to apply for senior Civil Service roles and has been working with an associate adviser, John Knight, to support its work in this area.

At the online event, Commissioners Jan Cameron and June Milligan will cover a range of topics of relevance to candidates for senior roles who have a disability:

What to expect from a recruitment process chaired by a Commissioner
What you can ask for as a candidate with a disability
Top tips from Commissioners
Disability Confident Scheme (GIS)
Reasonable adjustments
Q and A throughout via Slido

This event is being held from 15:00 – 16:30 on 7 October 2020. For more information and to register to attend, please click here.

Please share this event with colleagues inside and outside the Civil Service who may be interested in attending.

The Commission will also be publishing blogs from senior leaders in the Civil Service who have a disability. Click here to read the first blog in the series.

In the first of a series of articles about disability and working in the Civil Service, Alistair Watters, Director Grenfell Site and Programme at MCHLG, talks about his own experience in both the private and public sector and what needs to happen to build candidates’ confidence that their disability won’t count against them.

About Alistair

Having started my career in sales and marketing of pharmaceuticals, I went on to set up and lead a number of small service businesses. While this was enormously hard work it was also amazingly rewarding both personally and professionally. The downside of this was a form of loneliness where I spent so much time away from home that it was increasingly hard to maintain relationships with friends and acquaintances, so I decided to move into the corporate world.

I worked across many industries in the private sector including pharmaceuticals, financial services, telecoms, technology, media and broadcast media and retail. As a consequence I had the opportunity to lead a variety of functions varying from customer & marketing, property, technology, operations and programme management – often leading large corporate restructures to achieve a profit objective or delivering changes that organisations had tried (and often failed) to deliver. It was a great career and I value every second of it – but it wasn’t enough for me. I felt I wanted to do more than just deliver profits and “numbers” and to deliver things that really mattered – where better than the civil service?

In 2017 I joined DEFRA to lead their Programme Management Office to be ready for EU Exit and then in 2019 I took the opportunity to come and work with an amazing team managing the Grenfell Tower and engaging with the local community to realise the vision of the community led memorial commission to deliver a fitting and lasting memorial to the 72 people who lost their lives in the tragedy.

The Civil Service is an absolutely fabulous place to work. Its values ensure that as a disabled colleague I am guaranteed that this will not adversely impact on my career. To attract more disabled candidates this has to become not just a fact – but a widely acknowledged fact based on lived experience. As senior leaders in the Civil Service who happen to be disabled – it’s our duty to lead on this, shout about it and work with recruiters and others to make it an obvious truth.

I think that many disabled candidates and colleagues believe – even if they won’t say it – that there is an unconscious bias that will “get in their way” when they are competing against candidates without a disability. We have to ensure that we go beyond acknowledging it to the point where we are building it into the fabric of recruitment processes.

I think this goes well beyond “right to interview” and every hiring manager should be asked to consider how they will ensure this will not happen. It does not, by itself, overcome the doubt of the candidates that the bias is there – that will take time and a lot more work that we must do. We’ve achieved it with other protected characteristics – this should be no different.

What has been your experience of reasonable adjustments (if any), and how have these helped you to do your job?

In truth I’ve had mixed success in the time I have been in the Civil Service. My situation is a bit idiosyncratic so it makes it much more difficult and the team are working with me to achieve the right results. The process itself has been brilliant, it’s just finding the solution that’s been a bit difficult.

I’ve seen some brilliant examples of where reasonable adjustments have been made for disabled colleagues. These have ranged from completely different working patterns to specific solutions that deal with a disability. I’ve not seen this to this degree in any other organisation I’ve worked with.

What has been your personal experience of working in the civil service? What made a difference to you?

I came to the Civil Service naively expecting it to be a “nicer” version of the private sector but still with the same drivers and motivations. What I found was completely different from what I expected. People genuinely do come first here and that makes such a huge difference.

For example. when my wife was pregnant with our son in 2017 and I needed to take time off – I assumed I’d have to ensure that nothing dropped and so when I went to my DG I had “plans” for all of this – what I was met with was genuine concern and the question “Why are you still even here? Go home and be with your family.” It was a huge revelation to me – and the point at which I utterly believed that what was being said, was meant.

Why is diversity particularly important at senior levels?

With my childhood in Belfast, working background and training I just don’t act, think, speak and especially write like many of my colleagues – I think they are awesome by the way. However, because of this I bring different lived experiences and perspectives to a conversation, I anticipate different issues and challenges and have other solutions that others don’t perceive.

The importance of diversity at senior levels is this lived experience and difference of thought and perspective. Actively bringing it into the conversations from different groups with different background means you get the best of many and not just the best of a few.

I was lucky enough to have worked for a number of great private sector organisations at senior levels. One in particular had a policy of providing people with whatever equipment and adjustments they needed to successfully fulfil their role – and they did.

They made company processes including IT, estates and others work with the individual to ensure they had what they needed. In seven years at the organisation I didn’t once hear – or say – “no, that’s not possible” when a request was made for this.

What drives and motivates you in your career?

Throughout my career I’ve had several things that have driven me in whatever role I take. I love to make a difference with what I do – I recognised early in my career that organisations get “stuck” when trying to make changes. By being different, adaptable and flexible in how I think, how I act and how I lead a team I have learned that I can move things on and deliver the outcome needed. I also recognise that I inherited an ethos from my father of hard work who was a self-employed piano tuner and had to work incredibly hard to look after us.

At the end of the day (often 10pm with an 8am start) he’d come in, sit down, have a cuppa and give a big sigh of satisfaction – knowing he’d done a hard day’s work well. I like that feeling too. Finally, I’m interested in service and achieving outcomes that others value – whether that be a “safe and ambitious exit from the EU” or better internet services or better banking. To achieve all of these takes ambition to be better, curiosity, imagination, hard work and leadership.

What are your interests and hobbies outside work?

From a very young age, I’ve had a real interest in cars – something else I got from my dad. I find driving one of the ways to switch off and truly be “in the moment”. I read voraciously and love listening to music of all sorts. We have a two-year-old son – so right now the majority of interests and hobbies revolve around him. One of the huge benefits of the Civil Service is that I feel I can give him the time and attention that he needs and let work fit around this. What a great organisation to be part of.

This article is part of a series being produced by the Civil Service Commission ahead of the online Disability & Senior Civil Service Recruitment event, which is being held on 7 October from 15:00 – 16:30. For more information and to register to attend, please click here.

The Commission held its first online event on Wednesday 22nd July where we set out to Demystify the Civil Service Code. During this event the Chief Executive of the Civil Service Commission was joined by two Civil Service Commissioner's and two members of the Commission's secretariat, to talk in depth about the Civil Service Code. The session covers:

- An introduction to the Commission

- The Civil Service Code, what it is, and who it applies to

- Raising a concern under the Code - Outcomes of cases investigated by the Commission

- Maintaining the balance between policy and impartiality - Audience Q & A

Please find the full recording of the event through the link below:

https://youtu.be/ceh8NY9ojv4

PRESS NOTICE 20 July 2020

The independent Civil Service Commission, which regulates Civil Service appointments to provide assurance that they are made on merit after fair and open competition, published its annual report for 2019 – 20 today.

The annual report contains a range of statistics and information about the Commission’s work including:

- 39,654 people were recruited to the Civil Service through open and fair competition this year, down 21.5% on the previous year

- Commissioners chaired 161 competitions at senior levels this year, down from 197 in the previous year.

- Black and minority ethnic candidates made up 19% of people recruited (SCS Pay band 2 and below) in 2019 – 2020, down from 20% in the previous year

- where declared 6% of people recruited reported having a disability.

- 97 Code appeals received this year.

Ian Watmore, First Civil Service Commissioner, said:

“The scale of the challenge faced by the government and the Civil Service in dealing with the global Covid-19 pandemic has never been seen in peacetime. Civil servants across the country are playing their part, actively serving the government to deliver its priorities and support citizens and businesses through this time of crisis. Website https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

“As the regulator, the Commission responded to help departments to continue to recruit and deploy front line staff quickly in line with the Recruitment Principles, producing guidance for Departments to answer emerging recruitment questions and approving significant appointments by Exceptions within hours where necessary.

“This year there has been fewer recruitment competitions chaired by Civil Service Commissioners for posts at senior levels (161 in 19-20 compared to 197 in the previous year). This is likely to be a consequence of both the December 2019 election, when appointments tend to slow, and a return to more usual levels of recruitment following EU exit. There were 7,146 applicants for those 161 posts, demonstrating that working in the Civil Service continues to be a highly attractive career.

“And while the data shows some improvement this year in the proportion of some diverse groups from application to interview to being found appointable by the panel, there are still questions around why the progress of all candidates is not proportionally similar. Supporting departments to improve the diversity of their staff is one of the Commission’s strategic objectives. It’s clear that departments need to do more, especially in the planning stages of each recruitment campaign, to ensure they are going to reach and attract a strong and diverse field of candidates for each role.”

Download the Commission’s annual report

Watch our short videos

Notes to Editors

1. Media enquiries about the work of the Commission should go to

Maggie O’Boyle on 07880 740 627.

2. More information about the work of the Commission is available on its website www.civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

3. You can also follow the Commission on twitter @CivServComm

4. 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 on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.

5. The Commission comprises senior figures from the private, public and third sectors. Civil Service Commissioners are appointed by the Crown for five-year non-renewable terms of office. The Commission and the Cabinet Office are currently recruiting five new Commissioners.