Staff recruitment and attrition

Key successes

• 426 campaigns (incl. expression of interests) in last 12-months, 315 new joiners to FSA (excluding internal moves)
• 100% of our Senior Civil Servants (SCS) vacancies filled first time round, with reserves
• 64% of our SCS are located outside of London and the South-East. 34% higher than across CS (Institute for Government, 2022)
• 11.1% Attrition (all leavers, annualised by quarter), 1% increase since end June 2021. Across the CS, between March 2021 and March 2022, 13.6% of workforce has either left the CS or moved Departments (Institute for Government, 2022).

Concerns/risks

• 34.1%* (46 of 135) of leavers left within 2 years of joining. Of these, 50% (23 of 46) were in 16-29 age bracket (including a small number of fast streamers)(44% resigned, 52% transferred to OGD). We have also had some anecdotal evidence that a significant factor is pay and promotion opportunities
• 12% of staff recruited (last 12-months) are contractually linked to the London office whilst our future footprint is yet to be agreed
• 49.5% of the field operations workforce are age 55 and over, increasing the potential for higher absence, retirement and encouragement to stay on. 

Next steps

• posts advertised with links to the London Office will be subject to a business case
• latest pay policy allows adverts to include full salary range for difficult to fill roles
• introduction In September 2022 of an online exit questionnaire will provide further detail on leaving reasons.

For the 12-month period to 30 June 2022

• 315+ individuals joined the FSA over a 12-month period
• 40.7%* of leavers left on an OGD transfer. Since 1 November 2021, (when more detailed tracking began), 48.4% of these left on promotion and 45.2% on level transfer. 

*excludes career break, end of casual/fixed term appointments and loans out. 

% gross attrition (leavers) annualised by quarter

% leaving reasons* for the 12-month period to 30 June 2022