Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Accepted
Average civil service 'time to hire' is excessively long, hindering recruitment efficiency.
Recommendation
The Cabinet Office told us that it had agreed a standard definition of time to hire with departments, defined as the time taken from a job advertisement being published to a job offer being made.13 Using a similar definition, the average time to hire across all departments in 2022 was 99 calendar days, based on departments’ reported recruitment times. Security clearance vetting time was on average an additional 171 calendar days, for recruits requiring the highest level of security clearance.14 The Cabinet Office recognised the current time to recruit was too long and said that it was not satisfied with the situation. It noted that recruitment best practice in the wider economy resulted in hiring times that were about half that reported by government departments.15
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states it has already implemented consistent recruitment measures across 17 Whitehall departments, including 'time to hire' and 'time to fill,' with the first data set available in April 2024 to drive improvements.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 2.2 Consistent and comparable Civil Service recruitment measures have been implemented across the Whitehall 17 departments. These metrics are time to hire, time to fill, diversity of candidate, cost per hire, vacancy holder experience and candidate experience. The first data set became available during April 2024 and on a quarterly basis thereafter. 2.3 Time to hire represents the time between the advertisement closing date and the date that the successful candidate is offered the post. This represents a candidate’s perspective of the selection process and provides the basis for reliable and fair external benchmarking closely aligned to researched industry interpretation of this measurement. 2.4 Departments will also monitor the total time to fill a post. This extends beyond the time to hire to also measure time taken for any internal approvals processes that departments operate in order for a recruitment to commence and runs through to the arrival of the individual in post, taking account of pre-employment checks and security clearance. 2.5 These metrics will enable effective benchmarking between departments, as well as external comparators, to drive improvements using a single standard. Once the new metrics are fully embedded, the Cabinet Office will introduce a set of recruitment standards, which will drive further consistency and improvements across Civil Service recruitment.