UK civil service staff turnover ‘worryingly’ high amid fall in morale

Union members on a picket line outside the Treasury in February 2023. Turnover is highest in the Treasury and the Cabinet Office. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

Churn in the UK’s civil service is at its highest level since 2010 aside from its post-pandemic peak, with almost 12% of Whitehall staff changing department or leaving the government workforce in the year to the end of March, according to an analysis.

The Institute for Government’s annual Whitehall monitor found there had been a drop since 2022 when, after the worst of the Covid crisis, 13.6% of civil servants left their jobs – but it remained higher than at any point since the Conservatives took power 14 years ago.