Recommendation 2

The civil service struggles to attract and retain specialist staff. Since 2010 the civil service has been subject to pay restrictions, which have limited its ability to offer progressive pay packages to staff. Areas such as Digital and Commercial have struggled to recruit and retain specialists because there is strong external competition for these skills. Functions have introduced their own pay flexibility measures to attract external talent and increase skills retention. However, pay flexibility creates pay disparities between departments and an internal market for specialists which risks some government departments and projects missing out on the skills they need. Some functions, such as Digital, have introduced measures to ensure that pay is consistent for similar roles across all departments. Recommendation: The Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and functions should outline in the Treasury Minute response how, and by when, they will review pay exception case processes across the functions to address current pay disparities and avoid creating an internal market for specialists. 6 Specialist Skills in the civil service