Reforms including scrapping success profiles, cross-cutting capability reviews and a rapid review of the Fast Stream have been unveiled.
The reforms are detailed on a website outlining plans for the Future Civil Service, a programme cabinet secretary Dame Antonia Romeo has launched to build a civil service that is “famous” for excellence in delivering for ministers and the public; use of tech and AI; and being “trusted by the people we serve”.
Romeo has recruited Jerome Glass as a DG to lead the transformation of the civil service.
The website, which was shared in an all-staff email from Romeo, bears the slogan “Make it happen. Make it better. Make it count”, which Romeo has asked civil servants to adopt, and lists five priorities for building a better civil service: recruitment; talent strategy; Future Civil Service capability reviews; performance management; and harnessing AI to solve problems faster.
Success profiles to go
The website says the civil service needs to make recruitment ”simpler”.
To do so, it says the civil service will “start by scrapping success profiles, instead introducing a new model that emphasises skills and expertise – and will make further changes over the coming months”.
Success profiles are made up of five elements:
- Behaviours – the actions and activities that people do which result in effective performance in a job
- Strengths – the things we do regularly, do well and that motivate us
- Ability – the aptitude or potential to perform to the required standard
- Experience – the knowledge or mastery of an activity or subject gained through involvement in or exposure to it
- Technical – the demonstration of specific professional skills, knowledge or qualifications
They were introduced in 2018 under the leadership of the then-civil service chief executive John Manzoni and the then-chief people officer Rupert McNeil to replace the civil service competency framework and change how people are hired and promoted across the civil service.
McNeil said they were needed to keep up with “the science of selection and career development” and would reflect the increasing emphasis on encouraging employees to “bring their whole self to work”, because they allow for a more-rounded view in recruitment.
The Institute for Government has argued that success profiles should be replaced by a system that ”tests more robustly whether applicants have the skills they say they do”.
Rapid review of Fast Stream
The website says the civil service has “extraordinary talent right across our organisation, and across the country”, but needs to “continue to find, attract, and grow the very best people”.
To do this, the civil service “will review how we identify, develop and deploy talent across all departments” to ensure it has “a world class talent pipeline, recognises excellence from within, and invests in the skills of the future”.
It says this will include a “rapid review” of the Civil Service Fast Stream “to cover everything from recruitment to training and deployment across the country”.
The website notes that the Fast Stream, which received its biggest ever number of applicants for the 2025 intake, is “one of the most highly-rated graduate schemes in the country”. But it says the civil service needs to make sure that it “continues to be a world-leading scheme which opens doors for a diverse range of recruits with the highest potential to join the civil service”.
It also says civil service leaders are considering how to create “a new entry point for talent into the civil service for those joining mid-way through their careers” to ensure top talent is being brought in at all levels.
The government will also explore how to enable all civil servants to develop a “wider set of skills” through improved secondments and placement opportunities across local and regional government, the wider public sector, business and voluntary organisations.
Cross-cutting capability reviews
To “understand where we are already brilliant, and where we need to target interventions to improve our capability”, the website says cross-cutting Future Civil Service capability reviews will be launched.
These will assess the whole system against three priority areas: delivery and accountability; innovation and productivity; and pride and trust.
“This will help us focus our efforts on where they are most needed, and hold ourselves accountable for making things better,” it says.
Performance management and AI
On performance management, the website notes that an end-to-end review of performance management has already been launched.
On AI, it notes the launch of the cab sec’s AI Award and says the civil service will soon host an AI Hackathon, bringing together expert teams to work on innovation in operational delivery, aiming to solve problems in a few days that would usually take months.
The website also invites civil servants to have their say by setting out the one change they would introduce to the civil service to make it better.
The Cabinet Office has been approached for comment on the announcements.