There is much to be welcomed in the civil service workforce plan, launched on Tuesday at the Civil Service Live conference in London by Matthew Hancock, minister for the Cabinet Office.
It was, of course, slightly overshadowed by the events of the past few weeks but at its core, it’s about ensuring the civil service has the capability to meet whatever challenge is thrown at it.
A number of the elements will strike a chord with many civil servants. Aligning the graduate fast stream and non-graduate fast track schemes to strengthen the talent pipeline is a start at a single talent pathway that we have long argued for. Fast track has the potential to identify the huge numbers of extremely talented civil servants within its current ranks and, if they get this right, will help solve many of the inclusion challenges that the plan also identifies.
The focus on leadership is also welcome. In reality, good leaders are made, not born. Developing a clear understanding of what is expected of our leaders and supporting them through a new academy will be music to many ears, so expect a flood of applications.
Identifying and nurturing talent is one of the key themes of the plan and this will be its greatest challenge. There’s a clear drive to increase external recruitment and at the same time develop deeper skills within the existing workforce. External pay markets are much higher than civil service salaries from first line management upwards, as we’ve seen with the senior civil service, where pay inequities abound and pay leads of 30% to 50% are not uncommon for external hires. If internal talent is to bloom, then it must be given time to develop and I fear that the easy option will be to look externally first, frustrating internal talent and creating a two-tier pay structure.
In a five-point plan, it’s refreshing to see a focus on inclusion being a key priority. Understanding the structural barriers to being a fully inclusive employer is always a major challenge for big organisations with an abundance of worthy policies. But another reason why this is critical to get this right is that if the civil service truly reflects the society it serves, then surely some of the many outcomes will be policy development – grounded in how the UK looks today, not 30 years ago.
On reward, it’s no big surprise that promises are thin on the ground. The civil service faces a huge challenge in competing in most markets for talent and the focus here is on creating exemptions from general pay restraint to reflect this. But what about the rest? Reward has remained impervious to reform for 20 years, with the dead hand of the Treasury frustrating any number of attempts to drag it in to the 21st century. Recognising that it needs reform is a first step, but it’s a long ladder.
All of this territory is very familiar to us, but the lack of any recognition that unions play a role in the successful implementation of this plan is regrettable and all too familiar.
The plan overall contains many good ideas and, of course, good ideas are what the civil service does best. But implementing them and making them a success is a different challenge. This takes commitment and, crucially, resource, both of which have been in short supply of late. But succeed it must, given the unprecedented challenge that’s been presented to the civil service by the voting public.
So, if our new prime minister and cabinet have any sense, commitment and resource will one of their first priorities.
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