"Life Chances Schemes are good for diversity of the Civil Service and for communities"
Ian Watmore, First Civil Service Commissioner
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 2018-19 today and highlighted its work supporting Life Chances schemes in Civil Service recruitment.
The annual report contains a range of statistics and information about the Commission's work including:
- 50,552 people were recruited to the Civil Service through open and fair competition this year, up 25% from 2017-18
- Commissioners chaired 197 competitions at senior levels, 17% more than the previous year
- Where declared, BAME candidates made up 20% of people recruited in 2018-19
- Where declared, 6% of people recruited reported having a disability
"I am incredibly proud that in 2018 the Civil Service Commission shared a national Civil Service innovation award for our Life Chances programme relating to the direct employment of ex-offenders into the Civil Service.
As one of the Commission's four strategic priorities, last April we revised our Recruitment Principles to enable and encourage Departmental Life Chances schemes designed to boost the employability and skills of disadvantaged groups such as military veterans, ex-offenders and care leavers.
Offering roles to people like ex-offeners who otherwise would not have applied to the Civil Service, let alone secured a role, is clearly good for those individuals, good for communities who are protected from the risk of reoffending and it is good for the Civil Service which gets committed and talented employees, with a different set of experiences, thus improving public services and being more representative of the society they serve.
We also made a number of changes to improve diversity in recruitment and help the Civil Service obtain the skills needed in these testing times as well as auditing recruitment across 71 Departments for open and merit-based processes for appointment.
We will continue to be innovative across a range of challenges in 2019, whether in educating departments and improving their regulatory compliance; helping departments to improve diversity in areas such as ethnicity, disability and social mobility; promoting civil servants' understanding of the Civil Service Code and values; and continuing to take their complaints seriously when they see breaches.
I am grateful to my colleagues for their continued hard work this year, enabling the Commission to play its part in helping maintain an efficient, effective and impartial civil service, with the necessary skills to deliver the agenda of the government of the day. "
Ian Watmore, First Civil Service Commissioner
Download the Commission's annual report
Notes to Editors
- Media enquiries about the work of the Commission should go to Maggie O'Boyle on 07880740627
- More information about the work of the Commission is available on its website www.civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk
- You can also follow the Commission on twitter @CivServComm
- 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
- 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 has produced three short, informative films below. These will help you to better understand what the Commission is, what the Recruitment Principles are and how the Civil Service Code works. Scroll down to view!
Civil Service Commission: An Introduction
Civil Service Commission: The Recruitment Principles
Civil Service Commission: The Code
Working with the Civil Service to support initiatives to boost the employability of individuals with limited ‘life chances’ is one of the Commission’s strategic priorities for 2019.
The Commission’s support for a joint Cabinet Office and Ministry of Justice project in the North West of England, helping ex-offenders back into work, already led to an Innovation Award at the 2018 Civil Service Awards in October.
To drive this area of work, the Commission has established a Life Chances Working Group, comprised of Commissioners Rosie Glazebrook (Chair), June Milligan and Jane Burgess, and Secretariat staff Peter Lawrence (Chief Executive), Bill Brooke and Aarti Soba.
The Group’s planned programme of activities will include promoting and explaining the Exception to the Commission’s Recruitment Principles (PDF, 16 pages, 269 KB) which is specifically designed to accredit programmes to help individuals whose circumstances make it difficult to compete for Civil Service appointments on merit on the basis of fair and open competition without further work experience and/or training.
Currently, there are seven programmes are accredited under the Exception and the Commission is keen to support other Departments who are developing ‘life chances’ schemes.
If you would like to find out more about what the Commission is doing, or you are working on a ‘life chances’ scheme and would like to know more about Exception 2, please get in touch on info@csc.gov.uk.
The Commission held two Open Events on 4 March to demystify the recruitment process for senior roles and help potential applicants understand how Commissioners carry out their role ensuring open, fair and merit-based recruitment.
Commissioners Jane Burgess (seen speaking in the photo above), Natalie Campbell, Rosie Glazebrook and June Milligan took participants through the various elements of the recruitment process and revealed useful hints and tips about what panels are looking for when recruiting to senior roles in the Civil Service.
“We were delighted with both the turnout for these events and the engagement from the audience. Lots of thoughtful questions and genuine interest in finding out how to best prepare for the process for senior Civil Service roles. Given the enthusiasm and interest, our team are planning another event for the Autumn – watch this space.”
Jane Burgess, Commissioner
Commissioners Rosie Glazebrook, June Milligan and Jane Burgess 
