'I felt like the boy in short trousers': What’s it like to manage people who are decades older than you?
30 Mar HR

'I felt like the boy in short trousers': What’s it like to manage people who are decades older than you?

Taking on challenging leadership roles can be a quick progression route for younger civil servants, but the experience is not always easy. CSW gets the lowdown from officials who’ve been through it
by Susan Allott
AI curiosity and climate change: What a global survey of public officials tells us about 2026’s big issues
11 May Digital, Data & Technology
AI curiosity and climate change: What a global survey of public officials tells us about 2026’s big issues
Director's Cut: Michael Padfield on flexibility, the Horizon scandal and confusing journalists
08 May HR
Director's Cut: Michael Padfield on flexibility, the Horizon scandal and confusing journalists
Director's Cut: Elisabeth Cuthbertson and Lucy Ryan on job-sharing, agility and the importance of trust
27 Apr HR
Director's Cut: Elisabeth Cuthbertson and Lucy Ryan on job-sharing, agility and the importance of trust
‘I have to make sure the ship is not blown off course': Alex Chisholm's cross-government efficiency drive – and the teenage job that crushed his festive spirit
14 Dec 2022 Digital, Data & Technology
‘I have to make sure the ship is not blown off course': Alex Chisholm's cross-government efficiency drive – and the teenage job that crushed his festive spirit
Striking the right balance between proactive and reactive priorities will be a challenge in 2023, the Cabinet Office perm sec and civil service COO predicts
Out with the old, in with the new: GDS head Tom Read looks to the future
13 Dec 2022 Digital, Data & Technology
Out with the old, in with the new: GDS head Tom Read looks to the future
Government Digital Service's chief exec salutes new talent and tells us about the need to protect crucial teams 
Results day and staff cuts: DfE chief Susan Acland-Hood's post-pandemic highs and difficult decisions
13 Dec 2022 Education
Results day and staff cuts: DfE chief Susan Acland-Hood's post-pandemic highs and difficult decisions
The Department for Education perm sec tells us about tough choices – both personal and corporate – she’s had to make over the past 12 months
'Empowering East and Southeast Asian officials was a highlight': Civil Service Race Forum looks back on 2022
13 Dec 2022 HR
'Empowering East and Southeast Asian officials was a highlight': Civil Service Race Forum looks back on 2022
Co-chairs of the CSRF Junaed Khan and Justin Placide discuss the events that stand out from the last 12 months – and lament the ones that couldn’t happen due to pressures in and out of work
Simon Case: ‘The thing I found most difficult in 2022? Telling the PM the Queen had died’
12 Dec 2022
Simon Case: ‘The thing I found most difficult in 2022? Telling the PM the Queen had died’
In the first entry of CSW’s annual permanent secretaries’ round-up, the cabinet secretary shares his reflections on an eventful year
Evaluation, managing demand and investing in digital the path to saving public money, watchdog says
12 Dec 2022 Analysis
Evaluation, managing demand and investing in digital the path to saving public money, watchdog says
NAO head Gareth Davies suggests how departments can get more out of their budgets amid mounting pressures
Why more departments should have a data lab
09 Dec 2022 Digital, Data & Technology
Why more departments should have a data lab
The Ministry of Justice and DWP have taken steps that others ought to follow, according to think-tank New Philanthropy Capital
Know your worth: how the Government Office for Technology Transfer is helping unlock the value of knowledge assets
08 Dec 2022 Commercial
Know your worth: how the Government Office for Technology Transfer is helping unlock the value of knowledge assets
GOTT has been set up to help public sector organisations make the most of their knowledge assets. Its chief outlines its priorities and how it will help departments to realise the value of their intellectual resources
Look to the future: Sarah Healey on the challenges of digital policymaking
07 Dec 2022 Digital, Data & Technology
Look to the future: Sarah Healey on the challenges of digital policymaking
As DCMS perm sec Sarah Healey argued in a recent speech, policymakers should not assume in the face of monumental change that a policy response is impossible
'We are putting science, innovation and evidence at the heart of the Home Office'
05 Dec 2022 Justice & Home Affairs
'We are putting science, innovation and evidence at the heart of the Home Office'
Dr Jason Dewhurst talks "embedding a scientifically inquisitive and analytically curious culture across the Home Office"
The fast and the curious: Anita Friend on the Defence and Security Accelerator's 'defendable' decisions
02 Dec 2022 Security & Defence
The fast and the curious: Anita Friend on the Defence and Security Accelerator's 'defendable' decisions
Anita Friend tells CSW how DASA finds and funds innovation to serve national security, why she trusts her staff, and how managing crises has framed her approach to work
Collaborations between public and private organisations that work Partner Content
01 Dec 2022 Health & Social Care
Collaborations between public and private organisations that work
Tim Sheppard and Shayma Ali from IQVIA, a human data science company, on building on the learnings from collaborations that emerged during the pandemic to support public health challenges today and in the future
Cabinet Office warned of ‘serious risk’ to services as UKCloud customers hit with sevenfold price increase
22 Nov 2022 Commercial
Cabinet Office warned of ‘serious risk’ to services as UKCloud customers hit with sevenfold price increase
Customers that cannot pay fees seven times higher than contracted price face a race against time to migrate data from collapsed £40m public sector hosting firm
Read the November 2022 issue of Civil Service World
21 Nov 2022 Operational Delivery
Read the November 2022 issue of Civil Service World
This month's issue shines a light on science and innovation in the civil service – plus, the civil servants behind Operation Bridges and an exclusive interview with government's chief property officer
As strikes loom, ‘civil servants won’t ever be as popular as nurses but we hope for public support’
16 Nov 2022 HR
As strikes loom, ‘civil servants won’t ever be as popular as nurses but we hope for public support’
Union chief says most people are “supportive of people who they think are standing up for themselves”
Bridge builders: How civil servants helped the nation mourn Queen Elizabeth II
15 Nov 2022 Operational Delivery
Bridge builders: How civil servants helped the nation mourn Queen Elizabeth II
Operation Bridges included the organisation of national and international mourning for the UK’s longest-serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. Here, CSW hears from four of the many civil servants who worked on the operation
PCS strike ballot: which departments voted for industrial action?
10 Nov 2022 HR
PCS strike ballot: which departments voted for industrial action?
Union members at 124 civil service employers backed strikes, but 86 missed the turnout threshold. See the full breakdown here – including the eight that fell one vote short
Integrated data is key to understanding climate change 
09 Nov 2022 Digital, Data & Technology
Integrated data is key to understanding climate change 
With Cop27 underway, deputy national statistician Alison Pritchard explains how getting the foundations right on data will help the world stand its best chance of securing its future
Defence procurement has an opportunity to step up to the global challenge   Partner Content
08 Nov 2022 Commercial
Defence procurement has an opportunity to step up to the global challenge  
The war in Ukraine, rising costs and supply chain challenges mean a perfect storm is brewing in defence procurement. Proxima shares learnings from the private sector
Troubled Ajax programme 'far from on track' as MoD rejects contractor's claims
07 Nov 2022 Commercial
Troubled Ajax programme 'far from on track' as MoD rejects contractor's claims
MoD and former minister say new schedule to deliver Ajax armoured vehicles has not yet been agreed as noise problems remain
Younger, bigger and more diverse: 2022's civil service by numbers
04 Nov 2022 HR
Younger, bigger and more diverse: 2022's civil service by numbers
More people left and joined the civil service than last year than any other in the last decade. Here is the civil service at a glance.
Opening the door to a better life: how government agencies are working together to reduce reoffending
02 Nov 2022 Justice & Home Affairs
Opening the door to a better life: how government agencies are working together to reduce reoffending
Like many complex issues, reducing reoffending is a challenge that can get caught in the web of organisational boundaries. But with focused, collaborative work, positive change can happen. Jess Bowie speaks to officials working together through the Reducing Reoffending Board and finds out how they build common goals, line up their budgets – and why they still value their own departments
Career reflections with Simon Ancona
31 Oct 2022 Security & Defence
Career reflections with Simon Ancona
The outgoing chief executive of the Whitehall & Industry Group – who has also held various senior Ministry of Defence roles – discusses memorable career moments, civil service reform, life on a warship and the blues harmonica
Trader woes – inside customs firms' months of HMRC struggle
28 Oct 2022
Trader woes – inside customs firms' months of HMRC struggle
As switch off looms for the UK’s 30-year-old customs IT platform, many of its users fear that issues with government internal systems meant that they too are facing closure