Departmental Compliance
The Commission audits organisations to drive greater innovation and improvement in departmental practice, while ensuring the important principle of recruitment on merit, after fair and open competition remains the cornerstone of an effective and impartial Civil Service.
2024-25 Audit Programme
The 2024/25 audit year was the first in a three-year audit cycle, with 39 departments and arms length bodies (ALBs) receiving a full audit. This examines recruitment at all grades from Administrative Officers to Senior Civil Service Pay Band 1, with audit meetings to discuss areas of positive practice, areas for improvement, and breaches to the Recruitment Principles. This large-scale programme allows us to shape future audits for the remaining cycle and beyond. The final audit reports are issued to departments with recommendations, which are followed up six months later to ensure compliance
The Commission also completed 28 interim audits, which did not have audit meetings or ratings. However, full audits will be conducted on these organisations during 2025/26 and 2026/27 to determine audit ratings.
Department’s scores are calculated based on their breaches, Exception 1 (temporary appointments) usage, diversity, innovation and SCS recruitment.
- Breaches: breaches encapsulate a wide range of issues, including upheld complaints and breaches recorded outside the audit process. Accordingly, this is the key measure for audits.
- Exception 1 (temporary appointments) usage: an assessment of whether appointments made using Exception 1 (temporary appointments) have been made in line with its intended purpose: where either the urgency or short duration of the role makes a full competition impracticable or disproportionate.
- Diversity: an assessment of any actions that have been implemented to encourage and improve the recruitment of under-represented groups in the Civil Service.
- Innovation: an assessment of any actions that have been implemented to improve recruitment practices that go beyond regular processes.
- SCS Recruitment: an assessment of any positive practice that has been implemented in relation to SCS recruitment approaches, including the appropriate use of fair, open, merit-based recruitment to appoint to SCS roles and evidence that EbD is embedded.
Audit Findings
The audits broadly demonstrated good compliance with the Recruitment Principles and positive engagement with the Commission and its processes. Of the 39 full audits, 13 departments rated as ‘good’, 20 rated as ‘fair’ and six rated as ‘needs improvement’.
2025-26 Audit Programme
Building on the system-wide insights from the first year of this three-year audit cycle, the 2025/26 audit programme will be risk-based, with audits focusing specifically on organisations of concern. Wider compliance activity will provide greater focus on targeted tailored support, system-wide breach prevention and data analysis.
For questions on the audits and breaches, please contact the Compliance team at compliance@csc.gov.uk.
