The Civil Service Commission has published the results of its government-wide audit of recruitment in the civil service, which looked at all grades from AO to SCS1.
For 2024-25, the regulator carried out a one-off audit of every department and organisation under its remit as part of a new approach to its duty to ensure that the principle of recruitment on merit is upheld and is not being undermined.
As part of this government-wide review, the commission carried out “full audits” for 39 departments and public bodies. Departments not audited between 2020 and 2023, or rated as "poor" or "fair" in the last audits held in 2021 to 2022, got the “full audit” treatment: the commission selected six recruitment campaigns and six exceptions from each organisation, and requested all relevant evidence on how the campaigns had been conducted, before carrying out a review of each organisation.
The commission issued final audit reports to these organisations and asked them to provide a six-month update on delivering the recommendations.
The CSC also completed 28 interim audits, examining practice in the remaining organisations. These examined the detail of two selected recruitment campaigns and two exceptions – with key conclusions and recommendations issued.
In a foreword to the report, first civil service commissioner Gisela Stuart described the review as a significant evolution in the commission's regulatory approach and said it aimed "not simply to identify breaches but to drive improvements in recruitment practice across government".
The results – how departments and other bodies did
The commission said the audit findings “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". None received the "requires regulatory intervention" rating.
Departments which received an interim audit are likely to receive full audits during the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 audit years to determine their ratings.
Good
- Companies House
- Crown Commercial Service
- Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
- Department for Business and Trade
- Department for Culture, Media and Sport
- Government Commercial Function
- Health and Safety Executive
- HM Revenue and Customs
- Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
- National Savings and Investments
- Ofsted
- Water Services Regulation (Ofwat)
- Welsh Revenue Authority
Fair
- Charity Commission
- Crown Prosecution Service
- Department for Education
- Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- Department of Health and Social Care
- Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
- Department for Transport
- Home Office
- Met Office
- Ministry of Defence
- Ministry of Justice
- National Crime Agency
- Northern Ireland Office
- Office for National Statistics
- Office of Rail and Road
- Ofqual
- Registers of Scotland
- Serious Fraud Office
- UK Export Finance
Needs improvement
- Animal and Plant Health Agency
- Cabinet Office
- Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Services
- Forestry Commission
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
- UK Health Security Agency
Good and bad practice
The programme identified a number of good recruitment practices that are embedded widely across the civil service. Examples included: clearly outlining to candidates the purpose of CVs and personal statements; allowing candidates without relevant degrees to apply if they had relevant experience in the same field; offering virtual events to help candidates understand the role and selection process; and clearly explaining the intended use of reserve lists and how tied candidates would be evaluated.
It also identified some consistent areas which required improvement. Examples included: occasional lack of clarity on what a candidate should expect through the application process; a need to clearly record the end-to-end journey of candidate outcomes; and a need to ensure consistency in both the job advert and candidate pack.
The commission also identified a range of positive practice in attracting diverse talent into the civil service, including:
- Implementing artificial intelligence-powered tools for drafting inclusive job adverts and using data analytic platforms to optimise recruiting efficiencies
- Focusing on improving the candidate experience through digital channels, such as virtual guidance sessions, and online events showcasing a day in the life of employees
- Actively participating in outreach efforts aimed at schools, universities, and community organisations, particularly in areas with under-represented groups
The audit also identified a number of common breaches of the recruitment principles. These included:
- Departments failing to get prior approval for appointments by exception at salaries exceeding thresholds prescribed by the recruitment principles, or for extending appointments beyond the set limits without prior approval
- Departments not assessing candidates according to the criteria advertised
- Departments using exclusionary criteria which disadvantage external candidates
The report also reveals that there were 234 breaches of the civil service recruitment principles in 2024-25, up from 71 the year before – a huge 230% jump. The commission said this was due to the cross-government audit “which identified more breaches than those just self-reported in previous years”.
Of these breaches – which were across 56 organisations – 99 were identified as serious breaches.
What’s next?
Building on the system-wide insights from the first year of this new three-year audit cycle, the 2025-2026 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”.