How old is the Civil Service?

The Civil Service is getting older; just 9% of civil servants are under 30, down from 14% in 2010.

In 2015, just 9% of civil servants are aged under 30, down from 14% in 2010. At the other end of the age spectrum, 32% of all civil servants are aged 50 to 59 in 2015, up from 26% in 2010. The percentage of the Civil Service aged 60 or over has also increased, from 6% to 8%. This may reflect the recruitment freezes which were, according to the National Audit Office (NAO), largely responsible for the overall staff reductions since 2010 in some departments, and reduced the flow of younger people into the Civil Service. With the NAO warning that an ageing Whitehall “might increase the risk of a shortage of talent and skills in future”, the continued development of this “generational gap” – and the lack of clear understanding about its potential consequences – presents a long-term challenge. Over half of civil servants in DECC, CO and HMT are under 40; around three-quarters of civil servants in HMRC, DWP and MoD are over 40.

As in 2010, DECC, CO and HMT are the departments with the youngest age profiles, and have got younger following an increase in the proportion of their staff under 30 in the past five years. In DECC and CO, more than half of civil servants are under 40 (56% and 59% respectively), while in HMT this figure is 70%. Even more strikingly, the proportion of civil servants in the Treasury aged under 30 is now 38%, more than four times the average across the Civil Service for this age group (9%). MoD, DWP and HMRC are the departments with the oldest workforces. DWP has seen the proportion of its staff over the age of 50 grow by 15 percentage points in the past five years – from 31% in 2010 to 46% in 2015 – while the proportion of its workforce under 30 is now only 5%, down from 14% in 2010. MoD has consistently been the department with the largest proportion of its staff aged over 60 – 11% in 2015. Age is generally correlated with seniority…

In the Civil Service as a whole, 49% of the Senior Civil Service (SCS) are over 50, the largest proportion of this age group at any grade. However, the proportion of the workforce in older age groups is relatively consistent across the grade structure; over-50s also account for 41% of the workforce at the most junior, Administrative Officer/Administrative Assistant (AO/AA), level and 40% of staff in the Executive Officer (EO) grade. Correspondingly, under-50s make up 51% of the most senior grades (SCS) – compared to 59% of the most junior grades (AO/AA) – but are best represented in the mid-ranking positions, constituting 62% of the Senior Executive Officer/Higher Executive Officer (SEO/HEO) grade and 61% of Grades 6 and 7. It is only in the youngest age groups – under 30, and 30 to 39 – that there is a markedly lower representation at the most senior level. … but young departments have younger leadership.

In departments with older age profiles, the higher grades are dominated by civil servants aged over 50: in MoD, 62% of SCS are over 50, while in HMRC, 65% are. However, in many departments, such as Defra and BIS, older staff are concentrated in the most junior positions as well as in the senior grades, with under-50s accounting for the majority of the mid-level workforce. Although they are correlated, seniority in age is not necessarily a requirement for seniority in grade; young departments tend to have younger leadership. As we saw above, DECC, HMT and CO have the youngest workforces. In DECC, 73% of SCS are under the age of 50, as are 71% of CO staff at this most senior grade, compared to an average of 51% across Whitehall. For those in mid-ranking grades, a similar picture emerges; over 82% of civil servants at the SEO/HEO grade in CO are under 50, compared to only 48% in the oldest department, HMRC. In HMT – the department with the youngest workforce overall – under-40s account for 45% of SCS and 75% of Grades 6 & 7, and make up the majority of its staff at every grade except the most senior. The 61% of the Treasury’s SEO/HEO staff who are under 30 reflects the influx of 20- to 30-year-olds through the department’s Policy Advisor graduate scheme. One of the four priorities for Civil Service reform, recently outlined by Chief Executive John Manzoni, is getting talented young people into Whitehall and keeping them there, by improving the offer the Civil Service makes to those who want to build a career. Although there has been growing awareness of the potential effect of ageing departments on the ability of the Civil Service to meet future challenges, further improving opportunities for younger staff to enter and progress is a critical long-term investment in Whitehall’s workforce.

Abbreviations for government departments can be found here.