The Civil Service People Survey is by no means perfect, but its results offer a fascinating annual insight into civil servants’ experiences of working in government.
In recent years, we’ve seen pay satisfaction fluctuate – dipping amid a cost-of-living crisis and following years of real-terms pay decline in the civil service, and then improving following inflation-busting salary rises.
The survey has also shown the heavy toll Covid has had on officials’ health and provided a warning of an increase flight risk among civil servants.
This year’s survey took place just a few months after Labour came to power – following 14 years of Conservative rule – giving it an extra layer of interest.
Here’s what CSW learnt from this year’s results.
Collaboration up, efficiency and productivity down
Labour has targeted speedy improvements to the civil service’s productivity and efficiency, with the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, setting a 2% “productivity, efficiency and savings target” for departments in October to ensure they are “focusing on the delivery of what matters most”.
In light of this, a decline in the proportion of civil servants saying efficiency is being pursued as a priority, and a dip in reported productivity levels, will be a worry.
Just over half of the civil servants (52%) who responded to the 2024 survey agreed that efficiency is pursued as a priority in their organisation, down from 55% in 2023 and 57% in 2022.
And 65% of respondents told the survey that they had been between 90% and 100% productive in the previous month, compared to 66% in 2023 and 69% in 2022.
The results do show improvement in another key area of civil service reform, however, with 39% saying they collaborate with civil servants in other government departments and agencies to achieve common goals "often or always" or "some of the time". This compares to 37% in 2023 and 35% in 2022. This is an encouraging sign, given the importance of collaboration for Labour’s mission-led approach to government.
Rise in disability discrimination continues
In one of the more worrying findings, disability-related discrimination has increased again.
While the proportion of civil servants who said they had been discriminated against in 2024 (7%) was the same as in 2023, almost one in five (19%) of those who said they had been discriminated against selected disability as one of the reasons, up from 15% in 2023, and 8% in 2009.
In contrast, reports of pay-based discrimination have gone down again, with 6% selecting it as grounds for discrimination, compared to 7% in 2023 and 13% in 2018.
Another concerning result is the increase in civil servants who say they did not report bullying and harassment because they did not want to be seen as a troublemaker. This metric has risen from 44% to 47%.
The Cabinet Office said the department was "absolutely committed" to ensuring that all staff are treated with dignity and respect, by everyone they come into contact with, irrespective of seniority or position.
The department said it was committed to investigating all reports of discrimination, bullying and harassment. It added that routes for staff to report issues continued to be strengthened, while the annual "Speak Up" campaign for civil servants existed to build confidence among officials that they will be listened to and taken seriously if they raise concerns.
Money worries decrease
One of the key findings in this year’s survey is that pay satisfaction has increased again, following a second successive year where pay rises trumped inflation. Around 35% of respondents agreed that their pay adequately reflects their performance, a three-percentage-point improvement on 2023's figure – as reported by CSW last week.
Taking a deeper look, the survey results also show a big drop in the proportion of officials wanting to leave their organisation for a better pay and benefits package.
In total, 14% of respondents told the 2024 survey they want to leave immediately or within the next 12 months, compared to 15% in 2023; and 44% cited a better pay and benefits package as a reason for wanting to leave compared to 50% in 2023.
The results also suggest that for some civil servants, money concerns have lessened. With a cost-of-living crisis seeing inflation rise to 11% in 2022, the survey asked civil servants for the first time last year about the extent to which money worries in the previous 12 months had affected their ability to do their job. In the 2023 survey, 56% said money worries "seldom" or "never" affected their ability to do their job. Encouragingly, 62% said this in 2024.
Should I stay or should I go?
One of the most interesting questions in the survey is how long civil servants want to stay in their current organisation, giving an insight into which public bodies could face the most churn in the next few years.
A standout result for this question in 2024 is that a huge 19% of National Infrastructure Commission staff want out "as soon as possible". A further said they 32% wanted to leave within 12 months, and just 10% wanted to stay for at least three years.
The survey took place from 10 September to 8 October 2024, just a few months after Labour announced the National Infrastructure Commission would merge with the Infrastructure and Projects Authority to become the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority.
However, the will to leave among NISTA staff is not new. In 2023, 13% of staff who responded to the people survey said they wanted to leave as soon as possible, 48% said they wanted out within a year, and just 3% said they wanted to stay for at least three years.
Several of the major departments might also be concerned by their scores. At the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Department for Transport, between 33% and 35% said they want to leave either "as soon as possible" or "within 12 months". This is an improvement on the 2023 results for the Treasury and DSIT, worse for DfT and about the same for the Cabinet Office.
This story was updated at 3:15pm on 4 February 2025 to add a Cabinet Office response in the discrimination section