Frequently asked questions

The PSG competency framework is a skills framework for the whole of the Civil Service. At the key career gateways of Grade 7, SCS Pay Band 1 and SCS Pay Band 3, there are common requirements that all departments use for recruitment, promotion and performance appraisal.

Below Grade 7, departments are responsible for integrating the PSG competency framework into their own human resources systems. If you want more information on your individual department, contact your line manager or HR team.

If you are part of an HR team and want advice on the development of skills frameworks for staff below Grade 7, contact Government Skills.

This document is for advisory purposes only and should not be taken as a centrally defined PSG competency framework for staff below Grade 7

Mid-year reviews, end-of-year appraisals and discussions about your objectives are the most obvious opportunities to identify your skills development needs. Your end-of-year and pay appraisals will increasingly focus on whether you have demonstrated the core skills in meeting your objectives. And in future, recruitment and promotion will also rely on your demonstration of these skills, although the way that happens may vary between organisations.

You have time to develop them. You can and should consider personal development at any time, but it makes sense to use the PSG competency framework at key stages of the appraisal cycle. If you are looking to move jobs or apply for promotion soon, you need to be aware of the skills required. Individuals who do not quite meet all the requirements straight away can still be appointed, providing they demonstrate the aptitude to develop all the skills needed within a reasonable timeframe (up to two years).

At Grade 7 and above, demonstration of the core skills is now an integral part of the performance management framework.

At below Grade 7, your performance management framework will include the core skills by 2012, if it doesn’t already.

Yes. When your line manager works with you to review what training you need to meet your objectives, you should also focus on developing your skills. Remember that in addition to formal training, on-the-job experience, working on cross-team projects, job shadowing, attachments and secondments are all valuable development opportunities.

The Cabinet Office provides advice and guidance for departments on the performance management and pay framework for civil servants. At SCS level, the arrangements are centrally determined. This document sets out the principles of SCS performance and reward (including the approach in 2006–07).

SCS performance management system

For staff below Grade 7, departments have delegated responsibility for these arrangements, although they still must take into account guidance from the centre.

Improving skills is important for everyone, not only new entrants to the grade, or people who want to move posts. Staff perform better if they have all the skills they need for their job. They will also be able to move into a wider range of posts, and be better equipped to adapt to any changes within their current role.

Depth and breadth of experience are important if you are working in the SCS or aspire to the SCS. Deep professional knowledge accumulated progressively during the course of a career is essential to operate at senior levels within any profession.

Government Skills is working in partnership with departments and government professions to develop a statement of intent for broader experience that will set out the principles of what is expected for all promotions to the Senior Civil Service (SCS) from 2012. In addition to this, specific criteria for each profession will be developed where there is a requirement. Professions will stipulate whether the use of these criteria is mandatory or optional.

The statement of intent will be used to guide career choices that individuals make, particularly if they aspire to the SCS. It will, with further guidance, form part of the material used in selecting and recruiting people to the SCS from 2012. It will be a general statement. The reason for this is because previous approaches to defining what is meant by broader experience and how it should be gained have in the main been reduced to a tick-box exercise.

Government Skills would like to see people genuinely seek and benefit from the development that comes with working in a different organisation and context to broaden their professional experience.

In the first instance you should contact the learning and development team within your department or agency, who may be able to provide information on qualifications that the organisation supports or recommends. Government Skills is also beginning a programme of work with government Heads of Profession to support them in setting professional standards and qualifications.

For a range of more general information about qualifications that are already accredited:

• England, Wales and Northern Ireland – National Database of Accredited Qualifications
• Scotland – Scottish Qualifications Authority

All departments are committed to the Skills Strategy, which emphasises the importance of having a workforce with the appropriate skills. However, individual departments or agencies make their own decisions on funding. For advice on funding, you should contact your learning and development team

Your department has its own training and development priorities informed by the Skills Strategy for central government and its own capability review. Your first port of call is generally to your own department or unit’s learning and development team. Other sources include the National School of Government.

Government Skills is working with employers to ensure the PSG competency framework is underpinned by recognised National Occupational Standards. We aim to have a complete qualifications framework supporting the whole of the PSG competency framework at all grades by 2010.

Yes. Past experience (often from previous roles, possibly outside the Civil Service) is one of many ways to demonstrate your skills. The key is to agree with your line manager that you can demonstrate the required skills. You may need to discuss the interpretation of the core skills if you work in a very specific area. For instance, you may:

• be able to demonstrate many of the people management skills without having any direct reports
• have had significant experience of effective staff management in the past in a previous role or
• be able to demonstrate the same types of staff management skills through working with contractors or supervising the work of other staff managed by colleagues

It is for you and your line manager to determine whether you have any development needs in relation to each of the core skills.