Equality and diversity

Diversity and Inclusion across the Civil Service.


Diversity and Inclusion in the Civil Service

The Declaration on Government Reform committed the Civil Service to setting a new standard for Diversity and Inclusion, challenging tired prejudices and championing a diversity of backgrounds with the merit principle front and centre. We want the Civil Service to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. The Civil Service is at its best when it reflects the diversity of the country as a whole and is able to understand what the public needs.

Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022 - 2025 - Promoting Fairness and Performance

The Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy builds on the commitments made in the Declaration on Government Reform and provides the necessary framing for diversity and inclusion activity in the Civil Service as part of our wider workforce strategy, and through that, how the Civil Service delivers for its people, the government and our citizens.

It emphasises transparency using a data-driven, evidence-led, delivery-focussed approach to diversity and inclusion.

Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Data

We support transparency by publishing a range of data about representation and inclusion making it easier for everyone to scrutinise our progress:

Civil Service Statistics - presents detailed information on the Civil Service workforce. Data are sourced from Civil Service organisations via the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey (ACSES).

Civil Service People Survey - the annual Civil Service People Survey looks at civil servants’ attitudes to, and experience of working in government departments. Below you’ll find links to the People Survey benchmark results and organisation-level reports.

Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Dashboard - Our interactive dashboard shows data on the representation of protected characteristics in the Civil Service by grade and department over time and selected themes from the Civil Service People Survey.

Socio-economic Background (SEB)

We have published recommendations on how employers can measure socio-economic background in their workforce. The recommendations have been developed in consultation with private sector employers and experts, including the ONS. This data will be used alongside the data we already collect to understand how diverse our workforce is, our employees’ lived experience in the Civil Service, and to inform development of inclusive HR policies. Here are the recommendations. As with all our demographic measures, we keep these measures under review, and seek to align to ONS’ harmonised standards where possible.