Diversity in the civil service
The civil service is more diverse today than it has ever been. But there is still more work to be done.
The Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for 2022 to 2025 states that “a truly diverse workforce and culture of openness and inclusivity [act as] a means of delivering better outcomes to the citizens we serve”. But how diverse is the civil service currently?
Three key arguments have been made as to why increasing diversity in the civil service is important:
- Talent and performance. Failing to reach different demographic groups can lead to missing out on attracting and appointing the best people for the job.
- Diversity of ideas. Attracting people from different backgrounds is likely to improve the quality of work by bringing forward new ideas, perspectives and ways of working.
- Trust and reputation. A civil service that reflects the society it serves is more likely to be trusted by the wider public.
The civil service has become more diverse in terms of key ‘protected characteristics’ – gender, ethnicity, disability status, sexual orientation, faith and age – though progress in some areas has been faster than in others.
Disparities also persist in the workplace experiences of civil servants with different demographic characteristics, for example socio-economic background (SEB), while data from the Civil Service People Survey (2023) shows that certain staff groups have markedly more negative experiences than others.
Gender
In every year since 2001, more than half of all civil servants have been female: the proportion was 54.5% in 2024. Women make up a higher percentage of junior grades than they do of more senior grades, but the proportion of female staff in the senior civil service (SCS) increased substantially between 1997 (17.7%) and 2024 (48.2%), now lying just below the population benchmark for the economically active population (48.8%). 41 Population benchmarks are calculated using ONS data on the economically active population. For more details, refer to the Methodology section of Whitehall Monitor 2025, available at https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/whitehall-monitor-2025/methodology. At all other grades, the proportion of female employees exceeds the population benchmark.
The proportion of permanent secretaries who are women has also steadily risen – although there has not yet been a female cabinet secretary. As of January 2025, out of the 16 Whitehall departments with a permanent secretary, half were run by women. 42 This figure excludes DHSC, which – as of January 2025 – had Sir Chris Whitty as acting permanent secretary.
In 2017, the Civil Service People Survey 43 Cabinet Office, Civil Service People Survey: 2023 results, 29 August 2024, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-people-survey-2023-results started collecting data on gender identity. In 2023, the year for which the latest CSPS data is available, about 0.2% of respondents identified as neither male nor female and about 0.5% identified as ‘transgender/other’. The data also showed transgender civil servants were substantially more likely to say that they have been bullied or harassed at work (17.4%) than cisgender civil servants (8.3%).
The share of transgender staff declaring they have experienced bullying and harassment declined significantly between 2018 and 2020 (from 23% to 14.6%), possibly related to the release in late 2018 of the Bullying, Harassment and Misconduct Review, 44 Cabinet Office, Bullying, Harassment and Misconduct Review, 2 October 2018, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bullying-harassment-and-misconduct-review but there was a slight uptick in the problem in 2023.
Ethnicity
Ethnic diversity in the whole civil service has closely tracked that of the economically active population, increasing from 9.2% in 2010 to 16.6% in 2024.
The SCS has more than doubled its proportion of minority ethnic staff from 5% in 2010 to 10.7% in 2024, although this is below the population benchmark of economically active adults; indeed, the executive officer (EO) grade is the only grade in which minority ethnic staff are better represented.
Representation also varies by department. In 2024, DESNZ had the highest share of minority ethnic staff, at just over a quarter (25.8%), followed by the Treasury and DHSC (both at 25.4%). The MoD was the least diverse (7%), followed by DfT (11.6%).
Ethnic background also shapes civil servants’ perceptions of and experiences in the workplace. Civil servants from all minority ethnic categories were more likely to say they were bullied or harassed in the past 12 months than both the average civil servant and White civil servants. In 2023, almost one in ten of Black (9.5%) and Asian (9.7%) of Asian civil servants said they had been bullied or harassed in the previous year, compared to 7.8% of White civil servants. The figures for civil servants belonging to the ‘Mixed’ and ‘Other ethnicity’ categories were higher – 11.4% and 13.6% respectively.
Nonetheless, the figures for all ethnicity categories are lower now than they were 10 years ago. The most substantial decrease in reported rates of bullying and harassment occurred between 2019 and 2020, again possibly related to the Bullying, Harassment and Misconduct Review.
In 2023, the ethnic group with the lowest engagement index score, 46 The civil service employee engagement index is the headline measure in the Civil Service People Survey. According to the Cabinet Office, it measures ‘how proud staff feel in working for their organisation, whether they would recommend their organisation as a great place to work, whether they feel a strong personal attachment to it, and whether they feel their organisation inspires and motivates them to do the best in their job and achieve their organisation’s objective’. according to Civil Service People Survey data, was ‘White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller’, at 53.4, significantly lower than the mean for all minority ethnic civil servants, at 66.4.
Disability
The representation of people with a disability in the civil service has increased substantially since 2010, more than doubling from 7.6% to 16.9% in 2024. This remains slightly below the UK population benchmark, which has also been on an upward trajectory, reaching 18.1% in 2024.
In 2024, only the share of disabled staff at EO level (19.2%) was above the population benchmark. The SCS was furthest below the population benchmark, with 10.8% of staff identifying as disabled. Representation also varies by department. In 2024, only two departments – DWP and the Cabinet Office – surpassed the UK population benchmark in terms of disabled representation. The departments with the lowest share of disabled staff were DfT, at 11.4%, and DCMS, at 11.5%.
Disabled representation in the civil service fast stream has been higher than in the civil service as a whole in recent years: in 2024, the share of successful applicants who are disabled was above the UK population benchmark.
Sexual orientation
LGB+ representation 48 The Cabinet Office invites civil servants to record their sexual orientation as ‘Heterosexual/straight’, ‘Gay or Lesbian’, ‘Bisexual’ or ‘Other’. Our use of the term LGB+ refers to staff who report belonging to one of the last three groups. The term ‘LGBT+’ is not used because this data refers only to sexual orientation. The civil service records data on gender identity separately. in the civil service has been on an upward trajectory, climbing from 3.8% of staff identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual and other in 2016 (the earliest data available) to 6.9% in 2024. In all years for which robust data is available on the share of the total UK population identifying as LGB+, the civil service is above the population benchmark.
These figures are higher in the senior civil service (SCS), where 7.1% of staff are LGB+, up from 5.3% in 2016. Unlike for staff with disabilities, those from a minority ethnic background or female civil servants, LGB+ civil servants make up a higher proportion of the SCS than the whole civil service – although that gap has narrowed over time.
In 2024, the share of staff identifying as LGB+ was higher in all departments bar the MoD than in the general population (5% according to the latest available data from the ONS). The highest proportion was found in DCMS, at 14%, followed by DESNZ, at 11.2%. MoD had the lowest proportion of LGB+ staff, at 4%.