Recruitment Principles

The Recruitment Principles 2018 (PDF, 269KB, 16 pages) explain the legal requirement that selection for appointment to the Civil Service must be on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.
They also:

Set out the circumstances in which appointments can be made as exceptions to this requirement; and
Describe the responsibilities of departments and agencies in meeting this requirement.

Departments and agencies are free to develop their own approaches to recruitment as long as they are consistent with the Recruitment Principles.

Please see the below video for a useful introduction to our Recruitment Principles