Civil Service Commission - Annual Report and Accounts 2018-19

"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

  1. Media enquiries about the work of the Commission should go to Maggie O'Boyle on 07880740627
  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.
Aiesha Feldwick
HM Government logo