Civil service retention and knowledge loss: what 16 years of workforce data show

The civil service has long been seen as one of the most stable employers in the UK, a place where many people spent their whole career. The workforce figures the Cabinet Office publishes each year show much more movement since 2010. The number of people joining in a year has ranged from 12,570 to 69,400, and the number leaving from 27,825 to 46,109. I went through the figures year by year to see what has driven these swings and what they mean for the people responsible for developing the civil service workforce.

Four distinct phases

Period	Average joiners per year	Average leavers per year	Average net change per year
2010-11 to 2015-16	22,800	38,800	-16,000
2016-17 to 2019-20	40,800	32,600	+8,100
2020-21 to 2023-24	61,700	39,400	+22,200
2024-25 to 2025-26	43,600	38,300	+5,300

2010 to 2016: reducing headcount

Public spending reductions from 2010 brought a sharp fall in recruitment. In 2009-10, 39,005 people joined the civil service. A year later the figure was 13,401. Leavers peaked at 46,109 in 2011-12, which the ONS attributed largely to voluntary redundancy schemes and a freeze on external recruitment. Over the six years to 2015-16, around 96,000 more people left the civil service than joined it.

2016 to 2020: building capacity after EU exit

The decision to leave the EU brought responsibilities back to the UK, including trade policy, regulation, and border and customs work, and departments needed people with the skills to deliver them. In 2016-17, joiners outnumbered leavers for the first time in the period covered by the data. Annual intake rose steadily to 44,575 in 2018-19, and the civil service grew by more than 32,000 over four years.

2020 to 2024: the pandemic and its aftermath

While much of the private sector workforce was on furlough, the civil service recruited at scale for the pandemic response. There were 57,195 joiners in 2020-21 (including around 7,000 probation staff who transferred in). The following year brought 69,400, the highest figure in the series. In 2020-21 the leaving rate also fell to 5.9%, the lowest on record.

2024 onwards: structural change

Over the last two years the pattern has shifted again. Annual intake fell by a third between 2023-24 and 2025-26. Departures through voluntary exit schemes rose from 615 to 2,690 in a single year, while compulsory redundancies totalled 10.

Why did people leave

Period	Resigned	Retired	Redundancy	Other
2010-11 to 2015-16	30%	23%	25%	22%
2016-17 to 2019-20	47%	24%	6%	22%
2020-21 to 2023-24	53%	23%	4%	20%
2024-25 to 2025-26	48%	28%	5%	19%

Breakdown by reason is published from 2018-19; the first two rows use 2012-13 and 2018-20 data.

What the numbers show

The workforce has been reshaped through recruitment

Over the sixteen years, the number of people leaving each year has stayed within a fairly narrow range, between about 28,000 and 46,000. The number joining has varied more than fivefold, from 12,570 to 69,400. Each change of direction has come mainly from opening or closing recruitment, so the workforce has been built in very uneven intakes. Around 42,500 people joined in the three years from 2010-11, fewer than joined in 2023-24 alone. Almost 247,000 joined in the four years from 2020-21.

The same number of leavers, for very different reasons

In 2012-13, almost as many people left the civil service through redundancy and severance schemes (7,780) as resigned (9,590). Ten years later, in 2022-23, 26,425 people resigned and 1,475 left through redundancy or exit schemes, almost 18 resignations for every scheme departure. Over that decade, the decision to leave moved from the organisation to the individual.

The largest intake was followed by the highest resignations

Resignations rose from 10,870 in 2020-21 to 26,425 in 2022-23, in the two years after the biggest recruitment drive in the series. The published figures don't show how long those who resigned had been in post, so I can't say how many of them were recent joiners. The timing does suggest a close link between how fast people are recruited and how long they stay.

The experienced core is retiring at a steady and rising rate

Retirement is the one constant through every phase, and it is rising. It went from 8,100 in 2018-19 to around 10,900 in each of the last two years. Many of those retiring now will have spent most of their careers in the civil service. The colleagues with the experience to take over from them are mostly those who joined between 2010 and 2016, when average intake was 22,800 a year, around a third of the 2020-24 level.

What this means for the workforce

Institutional knowledge

Taken together, these patterns describe a workforce made up of three groups: a large experienced group now retiring, a thinner layer who joined during the years of lowest recruitment, and a large group (potentially up to half the current workforce) who have joined since the pandemic in 2020. The published figures don't give the exact service profile, though the pattern of recruitment points in this direction. Much of how work gets done is passed on informally between colleagues who work alongside each other for years. That includes how a policy was developed, who to call in another department, and what was tried before and why it was dropped. With fewer people in the middle, there are fewer people to take that knowledge from those leaving and pass it on to those arriving.

Retention and the employment offer

Resignation is now the largest single reason for leaving, as it has been in every year since 2018-19. Civil servants have traditionally accepted pay below some private sector equivalents in return for job security, a good pension and sustained investment in their development. When any part of that balance feels less certain, staying becomes a more open question for some people. That is the kind of decision behind the shift from organisation-led to individual-led departures.

Uncertainty during change

Large-scale change brings uncertainty for individuals however carefully it is planned, because decisions take time to work through. I've heard many accounts from civil servants who chose voluntary exit or resigned during a restructure, and the period of not knowing often weighed heavily in their decision. Some of these were people who had planned to stay for their whole career, which adds to the knowledge loss described above.

What heads of people and workforce development can do

Build knowledge transfer into exit timelines. When a voluntary exit or retirement is agreed, set aside time for a structured handover. That can include a named successor, shadowing, and recorded walk-throughs of key processes and decisions. Starting this early gives the person leaving time to pass on what they know, and gives the person taking over time to ask questions. Actively try to capture more than just current tasks and processes so that some ways of thinking and working in less-common situations are also included.

Treat induction as a capability programme. With intake at these volumes, many teams are made up of people who joined recently, often from outside the public sector. A structured induction that covers ministerial accountability, spending controls and how work moves between departments helps new joiners contribute sooner. Include cultural elements that go beyond the technicalities of a role.

Equip line managers for conversations during change. Line managers are usually the first people staff turn to, often before they have the answers themselves. Practical preparation for talking about what is known, what is still being decided and when more information will follow helps managers keep trust through a period of uncertainty.

Keep development visible. Investment in people is part of why they choose the civil service, so a protected core development offer, even a modest one, tells staff that investment continues during periods of financial pressure.

Look closely at your own leaver data. Break departures down by reason, grade, length of service and timing relative to change announcements. Adding exit questions about uncertainty and development will show whether the national patterns hold in your organisation, and where to focus.

Looking ahead

The civil service has met very different demands over the last sixteen years, and its workforce has expanded and contracted to meet them. The people who stay and the people who join are the ones who will deliver public services through whatever comes next. The investment made in their knowledge, skills and confidence now will shape how well they can do that.

Source: Cabinet Office, Civil Service Statistics 2019-2026; ONS, Civil Service Statistics 2010-2018; Institute for Government analysis of leaving rates 2010-11 to 2012-13.

At Teamshaper we work with people and workforce development teams across the public sector to design development programmes around their organisation’s priorities and the changes their people are working through. See how we support L&D teams invest in staff.