Civil Service workforce
Published
1. Main facts and figures
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there were around 542,840 people working for the Civil Service at the end of March 2024, and the ethnicity was known for around 441,175 of them (81.3%)
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out of civil servants whose ethnicity was known, 83.4% were white – by comparison, 80.7% of the working age population identified as white in the 2021 Census
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8.9% of civil servants were Asian, 4.5% were black, 2.4% had mixed ethnicity, and 0.8% were from the 'other' ethnic group
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out of all regions, London had the highest percentage of staff from ethnic minority groups (not including white minorities), at 38.0%
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83.9% of men and 83.0% of women working in the Civil Service were white
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in general, the younger staff were, the more likely they were to be from ethnic minority groups
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data shows the number and percentage of civil servants, by ethnicity.
The data includes everyone with a Civil Service employment contract, including employees who are:
- permanent
- on a fixed-term contract
- employed on a casual basis
The data shows the total number of full and part-time civil servants who were ‘in post’ on 31 March each year.
Numbers of civil servants are rounded to the nearest 10 people for 2015 to 2022, and to the nearest 5 for 2023 onwards. This means some figures may not add up to the totals shown.
Not included in the data
The data does not include people working for:
- the NHS
- non-departmental public bodies
- the Northern Ireland Civil Service, which supports the devolved government in Northern Ireland
- central government in security posts
It also does not include people who were:
- not on the payroll, such as contractors
- not paid during the period covered, such as staff taking unpaid leave
Percentages based on fewer than 5 people are not shown. This is to protect people’s confidentiality, and because the numbers are too small to make reliable generalisations. These values are shown as '!' in the data file.
The ethnic groups used in the data
Figures are shown for the following 5 ethnic groups:
- Asian
- black
- mixed
- white
- 'other'
This is because the number of people surveyed was too small to make any reliable conclusions about any of the 19 ethnic groups used in the 2021 Census.
19% of civil servants did not report their ethnicity in 2024. The total headcounts (‘All’ in the table) only include civil servants whose ethnicity was known. The percentages are also based only on staff whose ethnicity was known.
Before 2022, civil servants who identified as Chinese were in a separate Chinese ethnic group. Since 2022, they have been grouped under the ‘Asian’ ethnic group – this may affect comparisons with previous years.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for this data.
Comparisons to the working-age population (people aged 16 to 64 years) in England and Wales are from the 2021 Census. This is a different geographic area to the data on civil servants (UK and abroad), so these comparisons are indicative only.
You can see data on median salary for these ethnic groups in the Civil Service pay.
In the data file
Download the data for:
- the headcount and percentages of civil servants by gender, age group, area and grade
- leavers and joiners
- data on those with unknown ethnicity, and for those that refused to provide their ethnicity
3. By ethnicity over time
| All | Asian | Chinese | Black | Mixed | White | Other | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | All % | All Headcount | Asian % | Asian Headcount | Chinese % | Chinese Headcount | Black % | Black Headcount | Mixed % | Mixed Headcount | White % | White Headcount | Other % | Other Headcount |
| 2015 | 100.0 | 341,660 | 5.4 | 18,560 | 0.3 | 890 | 3.0 | 10,210 | 1.3 | 4,410 | 89.4 | 305,550 | 0.6 | 2,040 |
| 2016 | 100.0 | 319,830 | 5.8 | 18,690 | 0.3 | 880 | 3.1 | 9,950 | 1.4 | 4,460 | 88.8 | 284,140 | 0.5 | 1,710 |
| 2017 | 100.0 | 321,150 | 6.2 | 19,780 | 0.3 | 910 | 3.2 | 10,230 | 1.5 | 4,740 | 88.4 | 283,740 | 0.5 | 1,750 |
| 2018 | 100.0 | 321,770 | 6.4 | 20,470 | 0.3 | 960 | 3.2 | 10,350 | 1.5 | 4,950 | 88.0 | 283,300 | 0.5 | 1,740 |
| 2019 | 100.0 | 349,230 | 6.6 | 23,190 | 0.3 | 1,080 | 3.4 | 11,990 | 1.8 | 6,140 | 87.3 | 304,850 | 0.6 | 1,980 |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 369,390 | 7.0 | 25,870 | 0.3 | 1,110 | 3.5 | 12,800 | 1.8 | 6,800 | 86.8 | 320,580 | 0.6 | 2,230 |
| 2021 | 100.0 | 397,260 | 7.3 | 29,160 | 0.3 | 1,250 | 3.9 | 15,600 | 2.1 | 8,260 | 85.7 | 340,400 | 0.7 | 2,590 |
| 2022 | 100.0 | 417,380 | 8.1 | 33,650 | N/A* | N/A* | 4.1 | 17,080 | 2.2 | 9,170 | 85.0 | 354,830 | 0.6 | 2,650 |
| 2023 | 100.0 | 423,530 | 8.3 | 35,355 | N/A* | N/A* | 4.1 | 17,290 | 2.3 | 9,720 | 84.6 | 358,340 | 0.7 | 2,825 |
| 2024 | 100.0 | 441,175 | 8.9 | 39,395 | N/A* | N/A* | 4.5 | 19,810 | 2.4 | 10,660 | 83.4 | 367,915 | 0.8 | 3,395 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
4. Data sources
Source
Civil Service Statistics: 2024
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Cabinet Office
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The Annual Civil Service Employment Survey (ACSES) measures the number of civil servants and diversity across the workforce.
5. Download the data
This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, time, geography, status, age, gender, grade, headcount, denominator, value