Civil service fast stream

The fast stream is the government’s accelerated development programme for the UK civil service. But how big is it? How many different streams are there? And why has the number of applications decreased so substantially in recent years?

What is the civil service fast stream?

The civil service fast stream is the government’s accelerated development programme for the UK civil service. It provides talented graduates with the core skills needed to become the future leaders of government departments. Applications are open to everyone who is eligible to work in the UK and has a class 2.2 degree or above. Many fast streamers eventually take on senior management roles in the civil service.  

As of October 2024, the fast stream consists of 17 different schemes. Most of these belong to specific ‘professions’ within the civil service – for example, there is a human resources scheme and a project delivery scheme. 

Historically, the single largest scheme was the generalist scheme, which did not correspond to any specific profession. However, from 2024 onwards, the generalist scheme has been split into the government policy and operational delivery schemes in an effort to further align the fast stream with the structure of civil service professions. Applicants are allowed to select up to four fast stream schemes to apply to, and rank them by preference.

Fast streamers enter departments at Higher Executive Officer (HEO) level, and typically take around three years to progress to Grade 7, the sixth most senior grade in the civil service. 

The fast stream is not the only way into the civil service. Other forms of recruitment include:  

• The civil service apprenticeship scheme that offers an alternative to university.  
• Departmental graduate programmes, such as HM Treasury graduate programme and the health policy fast track scheme run by the Department of Health and Social Care.  
• Jobs advertised on GOV.UK and online job boards.  

Which schemes get the most applications and appointments?

In 2024, the government policy scheme received the highest number of applications, with 26,011 expressing a preference for it of some sort. 8,375 put the government policy scheme as their first preference. That made it the scheme with the second highest applications by first preference, with only the diplomatic and development scheme (10,318) receiving a larger number. 

The economics service scheme received the fewest overall applications (2,169), whilst the operational research scheme received the fewest first preference applications (370). 

The government policy scheme also had by far the largest intake of fast streamers in 2024, with 314 recommendations for appointment. The digital, data, tech & cyber scheme was a distant second (102). The social research scheme had the fewest successful applicants, at just 22. 

How competitive is the fast stream? 

The overall success rate for the fast stream – the number of applicants recommended for appointment as a proportion of all applicants – was 2.2% in 2024. This marked the first time in four years when the success rate decreased, reflecting the increase in the number of applications.

Different streams have different success rates. In 2024, these varied between 13% (operational research scheme) and 0.4% (diplomatic and development scheme).

Why did the number of applications decline so significantly between 2020-2023?

Over the 2010s, the fast stream grew dramatically, going from 21,761 applicants in 2010 to a record high of 64,697 in 2020. Between 2020 and 2023, however, the trend was reversed, with the number of applicants falling by more than half to 26,899 in 2023, the lowest level since 2015. 

The decline in applications was broadly uniform across the different schemes, with the exception of the science and engineering scheme, which saw a decrease of 96% in the number of overall (i.e. any preference) applications between 2020 and 2023, far larger than the 58% figure across all schemes. 

The low number of applications registered in 2023 has been at least partly attributed to the decision of then-prime minister Boris Johnson to temporarily pause fast stream recruitment in May 2022. Though the move was reversed by Rishi Sunak upon becoming prime minister, the uncertainty it created may have driven a substantial number of prospective applicants away from the fast stream in the subsequent year.

However, as we have argued elsewhere, more structural reasons may also be driving the steady decline in applications. For one, competition to the fast stream is growing – with many private sector organisations appealing to the sense of purpose and ability to ‘make a difference’ that used to be a unique selling point of the fast stream. Fast stream pay is also a factor; starting salaries are far smaller than for equivalent schemes in management consultancies and investment banks, which have in recent years become increasingly popular graduate destinations. Lastly (though most uncertainly) the decline in applications may be a reflection of deteriorating relations between some ministers and civil servants which has received substantial press coverage and could have created a sense that the civil service is not a welcoming workplace environment.

The number of applications rose in 2024, although applications remain 26% below 2021 levels. The uptick of interest in the fast stream could be at least partially attributable to the pay rise secured in 2023 after industrial action. But there could also be other reasons that are not yet clear.

How diverse is the fast stream?

Data from 2024 shows that LGB+ ⁶ The fast stream, and the civil service more broadly, invites applicants to record their sexual orientation as “Heterosexual/straight”, “Gay or Lesbian”, “Bisexual” or “Other”. Our use of the term LGB+ refers to candidates who report belonging to one of the last three groups. The term 'LGBT+' is not used because this data only refers to sexual orientation. Gender identity is recorded separately.  and disabled candidates have disproportionately high success rates – a greater proportion of successful candidates are from these groups than the proportion which apply. 

By contrast, non-Russell Group candidates have disproportionately low success rates. The gap between applications and recommendations for appointment is 29.2 percentage points. There is also a gap between the number of women and ethnic minorities who apply and who are appointed (3.4 and 13.8 percentage points respectively), and a gap of 9.2 percentage points for applicants with a routine or manual socio-economic background.

Amongst ethnic groups, those who identified as “White – British” were disproportionately likely to be appointed. The proportion of successful applicants who identified as “White – British” was 12.7 percentage points larger than the proportion of total applicants who did so. Conversely, the proportion of successful applicants who identified as “Black or Black British – African” was 8.2 percentage points smaller than the proportion of total applicants who did so, making them the most underrepresented ethnic group by this metric. 

Data on the home location of applicants shows that London has the largest number of applicants of any single region, with 23.9% of applicants based in the capital. This figure is slightly lower than in 2023 (24%) and keeps with an overall downward trajectory spanning the last few years. Approximately 13.2% of the UK’s overall population live in London ⁸ Using the 2023 mid-year estimate produced by the ONS for the population of London, taken from the GLA (https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/londons-population#:~:text=London%E2%80%99s%20mid-2023%20population%20was%208.945%20million.%20London%E2%80%99s%20…) and the 2022 mid-year estimate produced by the ONS for UK total population (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates#:~:text=UK%20residents%20by%20broad%20country%20of%20b…,) , meaning that the capital remains overrepresented in terms of applications for, as well as appointments to, the fast stream.