Civil Service Workforce

Published 10 October 2017

Last updated 22 February 2018 - see all updates

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Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• in the 2011 Census, 86% of the population of England and Wales described themselves as White

• as of 31 March 2016, 88.8% of civil servants were White, 5.8% were Asian, 3.1% were Black, 1.4% were Mixed, 0.3% were Chinese, and 0.5% were from the Other ethnic group

• London had the highest percentage of staff that were Asian (16.3%), Black (11.8%), Mixed (3.0%), Chinese (0.7%) and from the Other ethnic group (1.2%), compared to all other regions in the UK

• male civil servants were more likely to be White (90.1%) than female civil servants (87.8%)

• Asian staff had the lowest median salary (£25,000), and were the only ethnic minority group (other than White minorities) to earn less than the median salary for all groups combined (£25,400)

• 15.8% of staff aged 20 to 29 years were from ethnic minorities (other than White minorities), compared to 7.4% of those aged 60 to 64 years

Things you need to know

24% of civil servants didn’t report their ethnicity and weren’t included in the data.

The Annual Civil Service Employment Survey doesn’t include people working for:

• the NHS
• non-departmental public bodies
• the Civil Service abroad
• the Northern Ireland Civil Service, which supports the devolved government in Northern Ireland
• central government in security posts

It doesn’t include people not on the payroll or not being paid during the time period covered, for example staff taking unpaid leave or contractors.

Senior civil servants

There are two types of senior civil servants – those with a grade of ‘Senior Civil Service level’ (or ‘SCS Level’), and those working for the Senior Civil Service.

This data measures SCS Level employees, which includes a number of health professionals, military personnel and senior diplomats who aren’t part of the Senior Civil Service.

As a result, these statistics may be different to those used for monitoring diversity of the Senior Civil Service.

What the data measures

This data measures the percentage of people working for the Civil Service from different ethnic groups. It also analyses this information by area, gender, age, seniority and pay.

Median pay is the middle pay in a range that has been ordered by size from lowest to highest.

The data includes Civil Service staff working in the UK as at 31 March 2016.

It was collected as part of the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey, which counts how many people are employed in the Civil Service, and how diverse the workforce is.

As of 31 March 2016, the total Civil Service workforce was 418,343 (316,792 full-time staff and 101,551 part-time).

The data includes the actual number of staff employed by the Civil Service (known as ‘headcount’) regardless of whether they’re full-time or part-time staff.

Data on pay has been calculated using each civil servant’s full-time equivalent (FTE) salary. For example, if someone works 2.5 days per week and earns £12,000, their FTE salary is £24,000.

The ethnic categories used in this data

For this data, the number of people from specific ethnic categories surveyed (the ‘sample size’) was too small to draw any firm conclusions when analysed by ethnicity and another factor (for example area or gender). Therefore, the data is broken down into the following 6 broad groups:

• Asian/Asian British
• Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
• Chinese
• Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
• White
• Other ethnic group

2. Civil Service workforce by ethnicity

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: 2016
• Source: Annual Civil Service Employment Survey, 2016

Percentage of civil service staff by ethnicity

Ethnicity	%
Asian	5.8
Black	3.1
Chinese	0.3
Mixed	1.4
White	88.8
Other	0.5

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Civil Service Workforce Civil Service workforce by ethnicity Summary

This data shows that:

• as of March 2016, 88.8% of civil servants were White

• Asian staff represented the next largest group, at 5.8% of civil servants

• Chinese staff were the smallest group, accounting for 0.3% of civil servants

3. Civil Service workforce by ethnicity and area

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: 2016
• Source: Annual Civil Service Employment Survey, 2016

Percentage of staff by ethnicity and area

Region	White	Mixed	Asian	Black	Chinese	Other
	Value	Value	Value	Value	Value	Value
All regions	88.8	1.4	5.8	3.1	0.3	0.5
North East	97.8	0.6	0.9	0.3	0.1	0.2
North West	94.3	1.1	3.2	0.8	0.2	0.3
Yorkshire and the Humber	91.8	1.1	5.4	1.2	0.2	0.4
East Midlands	88.2	1.3	8.2	1.9	0.1	0.3
West Midlands	82.4	1.4	11.8	3.8	0.1	0.5

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Civil Service Workforce Civil Service workforce by ethnicity and area Summary

This data shows that:

• London had the highest percentage of staff who were Asian (16.3%), Black (11.8%), Mixed (3.0%), Chinese (0.7%) and from the Other ethnic group (1.2%), compared to all other regions in the UK

• by comparison, 18.5% of the London population at the 2011 Census described themselves as Asian, 13.3% Black, 5.0% Mixed, and 3.4% from the Other ethnic group

• Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland typically had the lowest percentage of staff from ethnic minorities (excluding White minorities)

• the North East was the English region with the lowest percentage of staff who were Asian (0.9%), Black (0.3%) and Mixed (0.6%) – by comparison, in 2011, 95.3% of the population of the North East was White and 4.7% came from other ethnic groups

• the regions with the highest percentage of Asian civil servants were London (at 16.3% of the workforce), the West Midlands (11.8%) and the East Midlands (8.2%)

4. Civil Service workforce by ethnicity and gender

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: 2016
• Source: Annual Civil Service Employment Survey, 2016

Percentage of staff by ethnicity and gender

Ethnicity	All	Male	Female
Asian	5.8	5.3	6.3
Black	3.1	2.4	3.7
Chinese	0.3	0.3	0.3
Mixed	1.4	1.3	1.5
White	88.8	90.1	87.8
Other	0.5	0.6	0.5

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Civil Service Workforce Civil Service workforce by ethnicity and gender Summary

This data shows that:

• as at 31 March 2016, 9 out of 10 male civil servants were White

• the percentage of female staff was higher than males for Black staff (3.7% women, 2.4% men), Asian (6.3% women, 5.3% men) and Mixed (1.5% women, 1.3% men)

5. Civil Service workforce by ethnicity and age group

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: 2016
• Source: Annual Civil Service Employment Survey, 2016

Percentage of staff by ethnicity and age group

Age	Asian	Black	Chinese	Mixed	White	Other
All Ages	5.8	3.1	0.3	1.4	88.8	0.5
Aged 16-19	7.2	0.0	0.0	2.9	89.9
Aged 20-29	9.5	2.7	0.4	2.6	84.2	0.5
Aged 30-39	8.5	2.7	0.4	1.9	85.9	0.6
Aged 40-49	5.9	3.7	0.3	1.3	88.4	0.5
Aged 50-59	3.6	3.3	0.2	1.0	91.4	0.5
Aged 60-64	4.0	1.9	0.2	0.7	92.5	0.6
Aged 65 & Over	6.7	2.1	0.2	0.7	89.7	0.7

Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Civil Service Workforce Civil Service workforce by ethnicity and age group Summary

This data shows that:

• 92.5% of staff aged 60 to 64 years were White (the highest percentage of White staff in any age group) – by comparison, 84.2% of staff aged 20 to 29 years were White (the lowest percentage)

• the age group with the highest percentage of Asian staff was 20 to 29 years (9.5%)

• the age group with the highest percentage of Black staff was 40 to 49 years (3.7%)

6. Civil Service workforce by ethnicity and grade

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: 2016
• Source: Annual Civil Service Employment Survey, 2016

Percentage of staff by ethnicity and grade

Grade	Asian	Black	Chinese	Mixed	White	Other
Administrative officers and assistants	6.5	3.3	0.2	1.2	88.3	0.5
Executive officer	6.8	3.8	0.3	1.4	87.2	0.5
Senior and higher executive officer	4.9	2.7	0.3	1.5	90.1	0.5
Grades 6 & 7	3.8	1.6	0.3	1.7	91.8	0.7
Senior Civil Service	3.4	1.3	0.3	1.3	93.1	0.5

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Civil Service Workforce Civil Service workforce by ethnicity and grade Summary

This data shows that:

• Asian and Black staff made up 3.4% and 1.3% respectively of staff at Senior Civil Service grade (the highest grade), compared with 6.5% and 3.3% respectively of administrative officers and assistants (the most junior grade)

• the executive officer grade (the second most junior grade) had the highest percentage of both Asian staff (6.8%) and Black staff (3.8%)

7. Civil servants' median pay by ethnicity and grade

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: 2016
• Source: Annual Civil Service Employment Survey, 2016

Civil servants' median pay by ethnicity and grade

Grade	All Groups	Asian	Black	Chinese	Mixed	White	Other
	£	£	£	£	£	£	£
All Grades	25,400	25,000	26,500	27,200	27,000	25,600	28,000
Administrative officers and assistants	19,500	20,100	22,200	19,600	19,900	19,500	20,600
Executive officer	25,200	26,400	26,800	26,100	25,500	25,200	26,000
Senior and higher executive officer	33,800	33,900	34,400	35,300	34,300	33,700	35,100
Grades 6 & 7	54,500	54,500	55,300	53,700	55,000	54,500	55,400
Senior Civil Service	80,600	88,500	88,700	90,600	76,600	80,600	89,100

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Civil Service Workforce Civil servants' median pay by ethnicity and grade Summary

Median pay is the middle pay in a range of pay within each ethnic group that has been ordered by size from lowest to highest.

This data shows that:

• as of 31 March 2016, the median pay for all civil servants was £25,400

• median pay was lowest for Asian staff (£25,000) and highest for staff from the Other ethnic group (£28,000)

• White staff had the lowest median pay at the 3 lowest grades (administrative officers and assistants, executive officers, and senior and higher executive officers) – perhaps because a lower percentage of White staff work in London, where pay rates are higher

• at Senior Civil Service level, median pay was highest for Chinese staff (£90,600) and lowest for staff of Mixed ethnicity (£76,600)

8. Civil servants' median pay by ethnicity and area

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: 2016
• Source: Annual Civil Service Employment Survey, 2016

Civil servants' median pay by ethnicity and region

Region	All Groups	Asian	Black	Chinese	Mixed	White	Other
	£	£	£	£	£	£	£
All Regions	25,400	25,000	26,500	27,200	27,000	25,600	28,000
North East	20,190	20,100	19,800	19,800	21,600	22,200	22,800
North West	23,200	19,800	20,200	20,200	22,400	23,500	23,500
Yorkshire and The Humber	24,700	20,300	23,200	23,200	23,400	25,200	28,100
East Midlands	24,000	19,800	21,100	22,300	22,400	24,400	23,900
West Midlands	24,200	20,300	22,400	23,800	22,400	25,000	24,400
East	25,300	23,200	25,900	30,800	25,500	25,900	27,000
London	33,000	27,800	27,300	31,700	31,200	36,700	30,400
South East	26,200	24,200	24,400	24,000	25,700	26,400	26,100
South West	28,300	28,000	25,100	30,400	29,200	29,200	30,000
Wales	23,600	22,200	21,700	23,400	23,500	24,300	22,200
Scotland	23,500	20,400	18,600	20,200	24,800	24,400	25,200
Northern Ireland	23,200	26,600			23,600	23,200

Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Civil Service Workforce Civil servants' median pay by ethnicity and area Summary

Median pay is the middle pay in a range of pay within each ethnic group that has been ordered by size from lowest to highest.

This data shows that:

• White staff had the highest median salaries in all English regions except the South West and the East – probably due to a higher percentage of staff in senior grades being White

• in almost all cases, median salaries for different ethnic groups were highest in London – probably due to both ‘London weighting’ and the concentration of specialist and senior civil servants who tend to receive higher salaries

• median salaries for most ethnic groups were lowest in the North East

9. Methodology

All Civil Service departments are asked for details of all their employees on the payroll on a certain date in the year (currently 31st March). They are are also asked to provide leavers in the last 12 months. All Civil Service employees are included, so no weighting is required.

The grade categories, from senior to junior are:

• Senior Civil Service (SCS)
• grades 6 and 7
• higher and senior executive officers
• executive officers
• administrative officers and assistants

Government departments use different ways of grading staff - some use numbers, some use pay bands, and others use descriptors (for example, Senior Policy Advisor). The concept of broad ‘responsibility levels’ is therefore used, in which departmental grades have been assigned to levels which are broadly equivalent in terms of pay and job weight.

Headcount statistics are based on the number of employees with an employment contract who are being paid by a Civil Service department. Employees can be permanent, on a fixed-term contract or employed on a casual basis.

Self-employed workers, contract workers and agency workers are excluded. Employees not on the payroll and not being paid as at 31 March 2016 are also excluded, for example, those on unpaid maternity leave, unpaid sick absence and career breaks.

Median gross salary includes basic pay (including consolidated performance pay) and pay-related allowances such as regional and skills allowances. It does not include bonuses.

Suppression rules and disclosure control

Values based on fewer than 5 responses have been suppressed.

‘Suppression’ means these figures have not been included in the data, to protect confidentiality and because the numbers involved are too small to draw any reliable conclusions.

Rounding

Total staff numbers are rounded to the nearest 10.

Pay data is rounded to the nearest £100.

Quality and methodology information

10. Data sources

Source

Annual Civil Service Employment Survey, 2016

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Office for National Statistics

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

The Annual Civil Service Employment Survey (ACSES) is carried out to measure the numbers employed in the Civil Service, and to measure diversity across the workforce.

11. Download the data

civil_service_flatfile - Spreadsheet (csv) 12 KB

This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, gender, geography, age group, median pay, grade

Publication release date: 10 October 2017

Updated: 22 February 2018

full page history

1. 22 February 2018 Minor updates for style and accuracy
2. 30 November 2017 Minor updates for style and accuracy
3. 10 October 2017 First published

From: Office for National Statistics

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