The proportion of civil servants who have a declared disability has hit a new high and is now above the representation in the economically active working age population for the first time.
There have been year-on-year increases in the percentage of civil servants who declare themselves as disabled over the last decade. New figures from the 2026 Civil Service Statistics show that 18.4% of civil servants have declared themselves as disabled this year, up from 17.9% in 2025 and 9.2% in 2016.
Comparatively, among the economically active working age population, 17.9% have declared having a disability in 2026 – the same as in 2025.
The figures show that while the proportion of civil servants with a declared disability has risen consistently over the last decade, representation in the economically active working age population has plateaued in recent years.
Ethnic minority representation hits new record
Meanwhile, representation of ethnic minorities in the civil service has also continued to rise, hitting a new record high of 19.2%. This compares to 18.0% in 2025 – and 11.2% in 2016.
The 2026 figures remains, however, slightly lower than the percentage of ethnic minorities in the economically active working age population in the UK (19.6% in 2026).
The proportion of civil servants from an ethnic minority background has increased across all grades over the last year. The largest increase has been at AA/AO, which has increased to 21.0% in 2026 from 18.7% in 2025. Back in 2016, ethnic minorities made up just 11.7% of AA/AO officials.
The increase is much smaller at SCS level, going up by just 0.1 percentage points from 10.5% in 2025 to 10.6% in 2026. Over the last decade there has been a more significant increase, with ethnic minorities representing just 7.0% of the SCS in 2016.
On a headcount basis, Asian civil servants (46,310) make up the largest ethnic minority group in the civil service, followed by Black civil servants (26,655).
Civil servants identifying as LGBO rises again
The proportion of civil servants identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or recording their sexual orientiation as 'other', has increased every year since 2015, when data on sexual orientation began to be recorded in these statistics. This year it is up to 7.4%, compared to 7.2% in 2025, 3.8% in 2016 and 3.7% in 2015.
LGBO representation has increased at all grades over the last year. The grades with the highest percentage of LGBO civil servants are HEO/SEO, G6/7 and SCS (all 7.7%).
Declaration rates for sexual orientation have increased from 38.1% in 2015 (when it was first collected) to 74.4% in 2026.
Civil service continues to get younger
The average age of civil servants has dropped once again.
The median age of civil servants is 43 years as of April 2026, down from 44 in 2025 and from 47 a decade ago.
The percentage of civil servants aged under 40 is now 40.7%, up from 40.3% in 2025 and 31.7% in 2016.