Working for the Civil Service

Civil servants are united by shared values and a strong sense of community. Together we work hard to meet the high standards that the public expects.

A career in the Civil Service offers you:

the opportunity to make a difference to people’s lives in the UK
learning on the job and good career development opportunities
flexible working hours and comprehensive benefits

“I’m really passionate about staff wellbeing and the importance of creating a culture where you can be yourself. As a mental health patient and a Mental Health First Aider, I share my story and deliver training and support to civil servants on a daily basis.”

Chris Murray

Mental Health First Aid Instructor

Culture

We are committed to making the Civil Service a great place to work. Whilst ways of working vary between roles and departments, we are all united in our focus to build ‘A Modern Civil Service’. ‘A Modern Civil Service’ is our vision of a skilled, innovative and ambitious Civil Service equipped for the future.

Flexible working

Balancing your well-being, productivity, and responsibilities outside of work can be challenging, so we want to help you work in a way that works for you. To do this, we offer the following wherever we can: flexible working which can include adjusting working hours or patterns including part-time, term-time, flexi-time, compressed hours, or adjusting start and finish times. There may also be some flexibility over where you work.

Learning and Development

Everyone has the potential to make a difference. We want to make everyone feel valued and able to perform at their best. To empower you to meet your career goals, we offer a wide range of learning opportunities, such as:

coaching and mentoring
work-based qualifications and training.
access to externally recognised qualifications
job shadowing
access to Civil Service Learning courses and a guaranteed 5 days dedicated to your learning and development per year
secondment and loan opportunities to help you gain experience, or try something new
talent programmes, such as the Civil Service Fast Stream

Diversity and Inclusion

We are committed to inclusion and creating equal opportunities for all. We want the Civil Service to have a diverse workforce and a culture of openness and inclusivity.

Our Diversity and Inclusion strategy focuses on how we will continue to build a more inclusive Civil Service. It will enable a Civil Service that:

understands and draws from the communities it serves – drawing from a range of backgrounds, experiences and locations
is visible to everyone – engaging the communities we serve and showcasing what the Civil Service offers
is flexible – supporting innovation, performance and engagement
welcomes talent from wherever it comes – attracting the best talent from all backgrounds

“I have the opportunity to make a real difference as a policy advisor, not only to the people who my policy impacts, but also within the team.

I am really enthusiastic about supporting other’s career and job development.

We should all have the opportunity to meet and exceed our goals”

Nikki Holliday

Senior Policy Advisor in Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Values

Our core values are: integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.

These values are detailed in the Civil Service Code, which forms part of the terms and conditions of every civil servant. In this code:

‘integrity’ is putting the obligations of public service above your own personal interests
‘honesty’ is being truthful and open
‘objectivity’ is basing your advice and decisions on rigorous analysis of the evidence
‘impartiality’ is acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving equally well governments of different political persuasions

Whatever the role, we look for individuals who share these values.

Apprenticeships

An apprenticeship puts you in a paid position whilst allowing you to study for professional accreditation. Once you complete your Civil Service apprenticeship you will have all the relevant knowledge to progress in your chosen field.

Read about apprenticeships

Career Matcher

We understand that finding a career can be overwhelming. So we want to help you. Our Career Matcher takes less than 5 minutes to complete and will show you areas in the Civil Service that could be a good fit for you.

Try the career matcher