Promote civil servants on talent not time served, says report backed by Michael Gove

Policy Exchange document says higher salaries should be paid in key areas in order to attract and retain high calibre talent

Mr Gove said the reforms would ‘help us to level up opportunity and build back better after the pandemic’
Mr Gove said the reforms would ‘help us to level up opportunity and build back better after the pandemic’ Credit: Andy Rain/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Civil servants must be promoted based on talent and not time served, a report backed by Michael Gove has said. 

The report by the Policy Exchange think tank, called "Government Reimagined: A Handbook for Reform", said a key action for overhauling the civil service was to focus on "capabilities, recruitment, promotion and accountability". 

It added: "Promotion must always be based on talent and potential, and not simply on time served."

Other recommendations included higher salaries in "key areas in order to attract and retain high calibre talent in the Civil Service", and that the service should take "drastic steps to reduce unnecessary turnover and movement". 

The report warned that while promotion and pay progression while in post should be encouraged, this should only be done if "more robust mechanisms of evaluating employee performance are developed". 

It also found voters "want a Government fit for the technical and global challenges of the 21st century" and that the civil service should take drastic steps to reduce unnecessary turnover and movement, doing more to attract, support and retain external recruits.

Mr Gove, the Cabinet minister charged with civil service reform, said: "As this report argues, ministers and officials will ensure the promotion of the most capable civil servants, with promotion based on talent rather than time served. This will help us to level up opportunity and build back better after the pandemic."

As part of the report, a survey of 1,591 people's attitudes towards the civil service was taken over three days in January. The polling revealed that nearly a quarter of the public felt Whitehall was out of touch and "doesn't understand people like me".

Meanwhile, 72 percent felt the machinery of government should be reformed so that it might be better prepared for future disasters such as another pandemic, and 45 percent felt that ministers are not given enough time to make a difference before they are sacked, moved or otherwise leave their post. Only 10 percent felt that no reform was required.

Dame Patricia Hodgson, who chairs the Policy Exchange's Reform of Government Commission, said the polling showed that "voters want a government and civil service fit for the technical and global challenges of the 21st century".

She added that the public must be sure "that the civil service makes the most out of its recruits and develops and nurtures the best".

Meanwhile, Ben Houchen, the the Tees Valley Mayor, said the report showed how "urgently we need to modernise the civil service and the machinery of government". He warned that "without the right talent and tools in the civil service, the levelling up agenda risks coming off the rails".

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