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Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

Civil service workforce: Recruitment, pay and performance management

Status: Closed Opened: 10 Jan 2024 Closed: 28 May 2024 7 recommendations 13 conclusions 1 report

The Committee has regularly raised issues of staff capacity, skills and workforce planning in the civil service in the past, and warned in December 2020 that the lack of specialist skills in the civil service affects both the efficiency and the effectiveness of government projects. The Government declared in 2022 that it would cut civil …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Twenty-Third Report - Civil service workforce: Recruitment,… HC 452 22 Mar 2024 20 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

2 items
15 Conclusion Twenty-Third Report - Civil service wor… Deferred

Declining real-terms civil service pay for most grades hinders competitiveness and recruitment ability.

Civil service pay for almost all grades has seen a long-term decline. Since 2013, civil service median pay has decreased in real terms for all grades apart from the most junior grade (Administrative Assistant).28 The Cabinet Office recognised that declining real-terms pay was a “chronic” problem affecting the civil service …

Government response. The government agrees and states a new Civil Service Reward Strategy is under development with an initial target implementation date of Winter 2024, aiming for a flexible reward framework by 2030, but acknowledges departmental control over pay systems.
HM Treasury
17 Conclusion Twenty-Third Report - Civil service wor… Deferred

Substantial variation exists in departmental performance-related pay approaches and spending

Departments vary quite substantially in their approaches to performance-related pay, including how much they spend on it. For example, departmental per-head spending on performance-related pay in 2021–22 ranged from £13 to £1,366 per employee, for staff 27 C&AG’s Report, para 3.2 28 C&AG’s Report, para 1.10, Figure 6 29 Q56 …

Government response. The government agrees and states a new Civil Service Reward Strategy is under development with an initial target implementation date of Winter 2024, aiming for a coherent reward framework by 2030, and acknowledges departmental control over individual pay systems.
HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
5 Feb 2024 Esther Wallington · HM Revenue and Customs, Fiona Ryland · Cabinet Office, Mark Adam · Ministry of Justice, Sir Alex Chisholm · Cabinet Office View ↗

Correspondence

2 letters
DateDirectionTitle
26 Feb 2024 — Joint correspondence from Sir Alex Chisholm, Civil Service Chief Operating Offi…
26 Feb 2024 — Correspondence from Mark Adam, Chief People Officer, Ministry of Justice, re Ci…