Three-quarters of officials now work in roles above the two most junior grades – administrative assistant and administrative officer – as the civil service continues to become more senior in grade.
Ten years ago there was a 60-40 split, with 60% of civil servants at executive officer grade and above, and 40% in the most junior grades. But just a quarter of civil servants are now in AA/AO grades.
The percentage of civil servants now working at EO and above is 75.0% in 2025, according to the new 2025 Civil Service Statistics release, published yesterday by the Cabinet Office. This is up from 73.8% in 2024 and 60.1% in 2015.
Conversely, the percentage of civil servants working at AA and AO grades is now 25.0% – down from 26.2% in 2024 – and has fallen each year since 2015 when it was at 39.9%.
Looking at the grades from EO and up individually:
- The percentage of civil servants working in grades 6 and 7 has increased to 16.2% in 2025, up from 15.6% in 2024 – and 9.3% in 2015
- The proportion of officials working at the senior executive officer and higher executive officer grades has risen to 31.0% in 2025, up from 30.4% in 2025 and 23.5% in 2015
- The proportion of civil servants working at executive officer level has not changed much, rising from 26.2% to 26.4% in the last ten years
- The Senior Civil Service continues to make up 1.5% of the civil service – the same proportion as in 2024, 20233 and 2022, but higher than its 1.2% figure in 2015.
Departments with large numbers of front-line staff delivering public services tend to have a higher proportion of junior grades. For example, the Department for Work and Pensions has the highest percentage of staff at EO grade and below (76.4%).
Civil sevice organisations with more senior grades tend to have fewer employees delivering services directly to the public. For example, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has the highest percentage of employees at grades HEO/SEO and above (95.1%).
Why has the civil service become more senior?
Jack Worlidge, a senior researcher in the civil service and policy making team at the Institute for Government, suggested in a blog post in March that the shift towards a civil service that is significantly more weighted towards the middle and more senior ranks "could be explained by a necessary or inevitable shift in the grade structure of the civil service, for example reflecting the automation of administrative roles".
He said there is "clear evidence for this" in some departments, such as DWP and HMRC.
But he said "grade inflation" is the "major cause".
"This has occurred through officials being promoted earlier than they otherwise would have been, and roles being advertised at higher grades, as ways to recruit and retain the best officials in an environment of inflation-eroded pay," Worlidge said.