The civil service's Darlington relocation is succeeding – but not as a levelling up policy

The relocation of parts of the civil service to Darlington is proving beneficial for government – but ministers shouldn’t see civil service relocation as a primary tool for reducing regional economic inequality, finds a new Institute for Government paper.

Published today, Settling in: Lessons from the Darlington Economic Campus for civil service relocation draws on interviews with local politicians, local businesses and civil servants based in both Darlington and London – with the Darlington Economic Campus (DEC), announced in the March 2021 budget, currently housing around 600 staff from multiple departments on top of 700 from the Department for Education. 

The new IfG paper says the Darlington relocation has allowed talented people who cannot or do not want to live or work in London to contribute more effectively to the civil service and diversify its thinking and helped to change the way policy is made by exposing policy makers to different realities across the country and breaking down Whitehall siloes. Around 80% of the staff at the Darlington Economic Campus are recruited from the north of England and the remaining 20% have relocated from London.

The paper also finds that the campus has increased local pride in the area and provided a modest economic boost. But the number of relocated roles is not substantial enough to meaningfully reduce regional inequality and with almost 80% of the civil service already based outside London, civil service relocation cannot be a primary tool of ‘levelling up’. 

To ensure that the DEC succeeds on its own terms and benefits the civil service more than previous relocations, the new IfG paper sets out a series of recommendations for government including:

• Ministers giving positive permission for staff at the campus to practise hybrid ways of working 
• Ministers committing to regularly visit and work at the DEC
• Ensuring jobs in the civil service are more accessible to external recruits and career paths adapted to suit the local workforce. 
• The rest of the civil service adapting to get the best out of the DEC, including by becoming more open to new ideas and perspectives.

Report author Jordan Urban said:

“Despite some scepticism at its outset, the Darlington Economic Campus has shown that, if done well, relocation can improve the civil service’s effectiveness. It has given talented people in a different part of the country the opportunity to contribute to the civil service, changed the way policy is made and broken down Whitehall siloes. But it has only had a limited economic effect, showing that civil service relocation cannot be a primary tool of levelling up. For the campus’s early success to continue, ministers and civil servants need to continue to support it, and jobs in the civil service need to become more accessible to external recruits – currently the civil service closes itself off from too many of the people it says it wants to attract.”