The public are not convinced that the civil service can fix Britain’s biggest problems, according to a new poll.
The poll from Ipsos and the Institute for Government examining the British public’s perceptions of the UK civil service has found that 57% lack confidence that the civil service can solve the most important issues facing Britain today.
It also found that 53% don’t believe civil servants can deliver major projects on time and on budget and 54% don’t think civil servants understand the needs of local communities.
However, a majority of respondents (56%) said they know “not very much or nothing” about the civil service.
The online poll of 1,095 British adults aged 16-75, carried out from 19-22 September, also found that Britons see civil servants as “bureaucratic, political and stuck in their ways, but also professional”. These results were found by asking respondents to pick from 16 words (as shown below) and say which, if any, they think describe the civil service.
Bureaucratic (41%) was the top pick, followed by professional (36%), political (33%) and stuck in their ways (30%).
Which, if any of the following words, do
you think describe the UK civil
service?
The survey also found mixed views on the Nolan principles. While close to half of respondents were confident civil servants act with integrity (49%), in the public’s interest (48%), and promote good behaviour (47%), the public were split on whether civil servants tell the truth (42% confident, 44% not confident), make decisions openly and transparently (43% confident, 44% not confident), or are accountable to the public (44% confident, 45% not confident).
Other results included:
- WfH: The public were split over whether civil servants currently work from home about the same (32%) or more often (24%) than their counterparts in the private sector. The public was also split between wanting them to work from home about the same amount (36%) or less (33%) than the private sector. Reform and Conservative voters had a clear preference for less home working in the civil service compared with the private sector (56% and 54% respectively).
- Split views on AI: Britons are split on whether the Civil Service can make the best use of new technology such as AI (34% confident, 36% not confident). At the same time, only 10% would describe the Civil Service as innovative.
- DEI division: Over a third (37%) felt the Civil Service places about the right amount of emphasis on DEI, one in four (24%) too much, and 12% too little. Labour 2024 voters were most likely to say there is about the right level of emphasis (47%), as were young people (49% of 18-34s), while Conservative and Reform UK voters were more likely to say there is too much emphasis (42% and 53% respectively).
Gideon Skinner, senior director of UK politics at Ipsos, said:“The wider lack of public faith in government is impacting views of the civil service too. While Britons trust civil servants more than they do politicians, and public confidence has been lower in the past, the UK civil service still faces a challenge to convince an ambivalent public both of its professional standards and of its ability to make a real difference to the problems the country faces. In part this reflects a lack of awareness among most people about the civil service, but that is not the only issue.
“The civil service is seen as bureaucratic, with doubts over its capability to manage major projects, and how it has an impact on improving people’s day-to-day lives. More positively, civil servants are broadly seen as professional, acting with integrity and with an ability to serve all parties equally, but underneath this there is a clear division in political views, with Conservative and Reform voters much more critical. And just as important are the attributes which are not associated strongly with the civil service – innovative, accessible, and in touch with people’s local communities.”
Alex Thomas, the Institute for Government’s programme director for the civil service, added: “This fascinating polling should be read closely by civil servants and all those who care about the civil service. It's encouraging that many members of the public see the civil service as professional, competent and trustworthy, and back public officials to act with integrity. But far too many people see civil servants as remote and unable to solve the most important issues facing Britain today.
“The civil service needs to do much more to improve its capability, to encourage innovation and to become more accountable to the public. It's especially notable that older British people seem to be falling out of love with the civil service; the institution needs to prove its worth to all sectors of the public.”