Recruitment
Recruitment Principles
The Commission derives its regulatory powers from the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRaG), which requires appointments to the Civil Service to be made based on merit following fair and open competition. It also provides us with a duty to publish Recruitment Principles. The Principles explain our interpretation of the legal requirement and must be followed by government departments.
The Recruitment Principles also set out the circumstances in which appointments can be made by exception to this requirement and describe the responsibilities of departments and agencies in using these exceptions.
We are a regulator, independent of government and the Civil Service. The Commission provides assurance that the requirements of the CRaG are being met.
We empower departments and agencies to develop their own approaches to recruitment as long as they are consistent with the Recruitment Principles.
Our remit covers all appointments into the Civil Service, ranging from those in core government departments to agencies and accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs).
We aim to be open, collaborative and enabling. Departments are encouraged to maintain regular and early contact with the team to seek advice and design recruitment campaigns that are compliant with the Recruitment Principles. We offer a responsive email service by which staff in departments and members of the public can seek advice.
Senior Recruitment
As mandated by the Recruitment Principles, Civil Service Commissioners personally chair recruitment competitions for the majority of SCS pay band 2 roles (Director or equivalent) advertised externally.
Commissioners also chair all roles at SCS pay band 3 (Director General or equivalent) and SCS pay band 4 (Permanent Secretary or equivalent), under the terms of the Senior Appointments Protocol, irrespective of whether the competition is advertised publicly or across the Civil Service only. SCS pay band 4 campaigns are typically chaired by the First Civil Service Commissioner.
At the request of departments, or at our decision, Commissioners may also chair some competitions at SCS pay band 1, for example in cases of particular ministerial interest.
The independent Commissioners are individually linked to key departments across the Civil Service in order to cultivate a supportive and collaborative relationship with the organisation at Permanent Secretary and HR Director levels to facilitate proactive advice on emerging issues.
Recruitment Principles complaints
We can hear a complaint from anyone who believes a department has breached the requirements of the Recruitment Principles.
In the first instance, the matter should be raised with the department concerned. You can refer your complaint to us if you have taken the prescribed steps as outlined in the job advert and you remain dissatisfied with the outcome. The organisation must be given the opportunity to respond and attempt to rectify the issue if they accept any wrongdoing. We will need to see a copy of your final adjudication from the department in order to consider whether we can investigate your complaint.
The scope of any investigation by us is limited to determining whether there has been a breach of the Recruitment Principles. We do not consider any issues that fall outside our remit, even if they come to light during the course of an investigation.
Complaints pertaining to the following issues do not fall within our remit:
- Internal competitions including promotions;
- Scores awarded during a recruitment process. The Commissioners cannot ‘replay’ competitions and judge how individuals fared against the criteria for a post in competition with others;
- Provision of feedback;
- Pre-employment checks and security and vetting issues;
- HR matters (for example, the withdrawal of an offer of employment).
The guide to bringing a Recruitment Principles complaint to the Civil Service Commission explains what you should do, how we decide whether to accept your request for a complaint investigation, and how we will go about our investigation.
If you wish to submit a complaint please download and complete this form: Recruitment Complaint Submission Form and send it via email to: [email protected]
If you are unable to send your form via email please send it to the following address:
Civil Service Commission
1 Horse Guards Road
London SW1A 2HQ
Recruitment Complaints Transparency
We publish the outcomes of recruitment complaints. Further data and commentary is also reported in our Annual Report and Accounts.
Last updated: March 2026