A new Civil Service Code

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Criticisms of the Civil Service seem to be a constant feature of our politics, with government after government promising to drive  reforms to modernise a Whitehall machine that is too slow, too siloed, too skewed towards generalists, and too closed (to new ideas, to outside talent, and to a changing world around it). Many of these complaints stem from structural defects affecting how departments work together, grade structure, and accountability.  

But the challenges are also cultural: risk aversion, process-obsession, and bias towards the status quo. Reforming any culture is a challenge, and comes down to the expectations that are set for all officials. 

These expectations are set out in the Civil Service Code. But the current Code . It only sets the bare minimum institutional, legal and ethical rules to govern civil service impartiality – all the things they can’t do – and doesn’t set expectations about the values that civil servants should be practicing.  

The Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo has set herself the objective of reviewing the Code. Comprehensive civil service reform will require more than just a new draft Code, but revising the Code is an essential starting point. Written with ambitious values and behaviours in mind, the revised Code sets clear cultural expectations that facilitate broad and long-overdue Whitehall reforms.  

Our draft Civil Service Code is an attempt to kickstart this cultural change.  Revising the Code would send a clear message to the civil service and the public that the Government expects civil servants to not only act ethically and professionally, obey the law, and embrace objectivity and impartiality, but to also embrace new values of excellence, openness, ownership, and courage.  

At a time of economic stagnation, geopolitical uncertainty, degrading public services, and tepid reform it is critical that civil servants know that they work in an institution that will hold them accountable for modelling values which go beyond the bare minimum. Our draft Code not only outlines new value pillars. It also requires civil servants to put it into practice, with signing the Code being a precondition of civil service employment and the Code playing a prominent role in performance reviews.  

Now is the time for the comprehensive overdue Whitehall reform governments have long-promised. A New Civil Service Code points the way and offers a radical and new approach to an out-of-date system that is no longer fit for purpose.