New measures to improve performance and ensure the civil service
can recruit and retain the best talent were announced this
morning by Minister for the Cabinet Office, at the Reform Think Tank Annual
Conference at the BT Tower in London.
In the second of a series of speeches on Civil Service reform,
the Minister set his focus on performance management,
attracting the best from the private sector and ensuring that
Civil Servants are backed to deliver for the British
public.
Plans to encourage and reward those that deliver high
quality public services were unveiled with a new pilot to
test milestone based pay - where certain Senior Civil Service
(SCS) staff would be rewarded for delivery of pre-agreed
milestones for projects they manage.
The plans will ensure that pay and reward is more
closely aligned to how staff are performing and delivering for
the public.
This new approach would also support recruitment in priority
areas – making reward packages more attractive to potential new
hires, without increasing basic salaries to ensure public
resources are spent carefully.
It also aims to encourage SCS staff to remain in post for the
whole of the project, helping to tackle Whitehall churn at the
senior level, and ensuring that there is
full accountability for a project's long term results.
The new system is being delivered at pace and pilots will begin
in the Summer.
The Government has set out its plan to deliver on people's
priorities, and today's announcement will deliver on these.
Minister for the Cabinet Office
said:
“To build a world-class Civil Service that truly delivers for
the public, we must start with the people.
“We need to recruit the brightest minds, ensure they have the
tools and skills to succeed, and take swift action when
performance falls below expected standards.
“The measures I've set out today will help to meet today's
productivity challenge head on, building a resilient and high
performing Civil Service that is fit for the future.”
The Minister also announced a review of the external-by-default
recruitment policy for SCS roles, which ensures that all senior
roles are open to external applicants unless there is a genuine
reason not to do so – enhancing competition.
The Civil Service Commission will monitor data on SCS
recruitment, to ensure the policy is being implemented and that
any exceptions are properly justified and do not undermine
efforts to bring external expertise into senior leadership roles.
Building on plans unveiled in his speech in January to tackle
poor performance, the Minister announced that work to improve the
performance management system for SCS staff is well underway and
will conclude in June.
Work has also begun to gather data and insight across departments
on the current performance management situation across the Civil
Service, with a view to looking at what works, and crucially
where changes are needed.
Today's announcement builds on measures set out by the Chancellor
to increase Government efficiency by capping Civil Service
headcount and reducing staffing numbers to pre-pandemic levels by
the end of the next spending review.
This will enable the government to channel resources where they
are most needed, for example increasing defence spending and
sending vital aid to Ukraine.
Additional measures and updates announced today include:
- Part of the SCS Strategy, a new pathway will be delivered to
recruit external technical specialists at a senior level to the
Civil Service. Those recruited under the pathway will not have
all the same responsibilities that come with a traditional SCS
level role, including line management responsibilities. This is
designed to ensure their focus remains on driving innovation and
transformation.
- Work to automate recruitment processes has shown promising
results, with over 2400 working hours saved since some
pre-employment processes were automated, and more identified to
be automated in the next 12 months.
ENDS
Note
- Today's announcement builds on the Minister for the Cabinet
Office's speech at the Institute for Government in January, which
is available here.
