A policy campus for around 1,000 Government staff has been launched in Sheffield as part of aims to level up the civil service and offer opportunities outside London.
Cabinet Secretary Simon Case said the move was an attempt to remove barriers to people who do not want to leave their home town or city to join Whitehall.
It comes as the Government announces the pilot of a new regional fast stream, which it claims will prevent graduates from having to leave Yorkshire to take up roles.
For too long in the Civil Service, talented people wanting to build careers in specific policy areas within government have needed to leave their home town or city and move to the South East to get on— Cabinet Secretary Simon Case
Some 12,000 jobs have been relocated out of the capital and across the UK so far under the Places for Growth programme, which aims to move 22,000 out of London by 2030.
Around 1,000 civil servants from departments including the Department for Education (DfE), the Home Office and the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) are based at the Sheffield site, the Cabinet Office said.
Mr Case said: “For too long in the Civil Service, talented people wanting to build careers in specific policy areas within government have needed to leave their home town or city and move to the South East to get on.
“Initiatives such as this are absolutely critical if we’re going to remove that barrier and spread fulfilling career opportunities across the whole of the UK.
“We need people with a broad range of experiences, backgrounds and insights if we are going to deliver for the whole of the UK and initiatives such as the Sheffield Policy Campus will allow us to do exactly that.”
