The first year

The Recruitment Principles have been well received and we have had much positive feedback and comment from human resources colleagues in departments.

The Recruitment Principles introduced a new approved exception that allows departments to offer permanent appointments to administrative and industrial grades who have previously been appointed to temporary positions without fair and open competition. The offer of a permanent position may be made after 12 months of the temporary appointment.  The decision to offer permanent employment must be made “on the basis of a fair and objective process approved by the Commissioners and subject to their audit”.

 This new exception seems to be working well and a number of departments have made use of it.

Another, long standing, exception allows transfers of individuals into the Home Civil Service from other civil services and (subject to the Commissioners’ approval) Non-Departmental Public Bodies, to allow departments to make use of their expertise. The Cabinet Office is reviewing its scheme for staff who wish to transfer from NDPBs, and the Commissioners are currently reviewing our policy on this exception.

The Recruitment Principles include, in Annex A, some explanation of how departments may go about running campaigns to recruit large numbers of staff.

When a department or agency is running a campaign to recruit a large number of staff, it may be impractical to wait until the end of the competition and offer jobs in a strict merit order.  Departments and agencies may offer jobs out of strict merit order, but in doing so must ensure that the individuals appointed are likely to be towards the top of the final merit list.  Candidates who will probably be further down the list or borderline will have to wait until the end of the process before an appointment can be confirmed.  This is to ensure that the most meritorious candidates will be appointed by the end of the competition.” 

A few departments and agencies have encountered difficulties with volume exercises.  They have assumed the number of staff they plan to recruit will not change.  They have offered jobs out of strict merit order, without ensuring that that the individuals appointed were clearly towards the top of the final merit list. Circumstances, usually due to fiscal restrictions, have then left them unable to appoint everyone on the final merit list.  They have been left potentially in breach of the Recruitment Principles.

It is important that organisations that decide to offer jobs out of strict merit order are aware of the risks, and that they only appoint individuals near the top of the merit list until the exercise is finished.