Civil Service in the news

Message from Sir Gus O'Donnell, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service

Sir Gus O'Donnell

Welcome to the Civil Service website. Whether you are a Civil Servant or just want to know more about the Civil Service I hope you will find this site helpful and interesting.

First of all I wanted to dispel a few myths about the Civil Service such as that we all have boring jobs pushing bits of paper around. Try telling that to my colleagues on the front line at the Prison Service, Serious and Organised Crime Agency, in customs or immigration who are dealing with real-life constantly changing situations every day or colleagues working on the Olympics and climate change policy.

Also, most civil servants do not work in London and the South East. There are opportunities to join the Civil Service across the UK and abroad in a variety of roles from front line citizen-facing delivery roles to policy making and corporate services.

We are a very diverse group reflecting our diverse society. In an environment of new technologies, climate change, security threats, migration and a huge diversity in users of public services, we must be ready to respond to changes faster than ever before. To meet these challenges we are constantly improving our skills, capability and performance.

I am proud that we do attract the most talented people in our society to carry out jobs we see as a privilege to do. We were No 4 in the 2007 Times Top 100 Graduate Employers.

I would strongly recommend a career in the service for anyone who wants to work in a challenging and demanding environment. You go home each day feeling you 'make a difference'. We want to attract the best people and ensure that our workforce reflects the society we serve. We work in partnership with the wider public sector and private sector organisations, striving to deliver first class public services.

Join us and help make a difference.

Gus O'Donnell