RECRUITMENT IN THE NORTHERN IRELAND CIVIL SERVICE

1. Recruitment in the Northern Ireland Civil Service

1 January 2025 - 31 December 2025

Publication Date: 26 March 2026

Next publication: March 2027

Introduction

This output provides a high-level statistical summary, from an equality perspective, of the recruitment of staff to the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) through competitions which closed to further activity during 2025. It compares the profile of applicants and appointees at different stages in recruitment competitions. Outputs up to 2022 examined competitions which closed to applications within a particular calendar year.

The Background Quality Report is available on the NISRA website.

This is an Official Statistics Publication

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

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Media enquiries should be addressed to the Department of Finance Press Office on Tel: 028 9081 6724 or email dof.pressoffice@finance-ni.gov.uk

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2. Definitions

Things you need to know

Basis for analysis - This year’s report is an analysis of Recruitment competitions in the Northern Ireland Civil Service which closed to activity during the period 1 January 2025 - 31 December 2025. Previous reports (up to 2022) examined competitions which closed to applications within a particular calendar year. The primary advantage of this change is that figures are final and do not have to be updated over subsequent reports.

Permanent employees are employees with a contract with no agreed expiry date or a fixed-term contract of more than 12 months.

Temporary/casual employees are those with a fixed term contract of twelve months or less or employed on a casual basis.

Senior Civil Service posts are defined as those at Grade 5 and above.

Grade Level and Abbreviation

Grade 5 (Assistant Secretary) and higher - G5+
Grade 6 (Senior Principal) & Grade 7 (Principal) - G6/G7
Deputy Principal - DP
Staff Officer - SO
Executive Officer I & Executive Officer II - EOI/EOII
Administrative Officer - AO
Administrative Assistant - AA

External Sources
Comparative data sourced from Census 2021. Census Office apply statistical disclosure control methods to ensure individuals cannot be identified. For more information see Statistical disclosure control methodology. These disclosure control methods can also mean that the totals in Census comparator tables may vary slightly.

Data can be accessed by clicking on any of the following section 75 categories:

3. Monitoring Questions

Community Background

Community Background data is based on the answers of each applicant to the monitoring question on the Equal Opportunities Monitoring form with the options being:

I have a Protestant community background
I have a Roman Catholic community background
I have neither a Protestant or Roman Catholic community background

The ‘Not Determined’ category within tables relates to those who have selected the ‘I have neither a Protestant or Roman Catholic community background’ on the equality form. This does not include missing data.

Ethnicity

Ethnicity: Ethnicity data is based on the answers of each applicant to the monitoring questions:

Are you:

White
Of Black Caribbean origin
Of Chinese origin
Of Pakistani origin
Of Black African Origin
Of Bangladeshi origin
Of Indian origin
Other (please specify)

Are you a member of a mixed ethnic group?

Yes/ No

Are you a member of the Irish Travelling Community?

Yes/ No

Sexual Orientation

Sexual Orientation data is based on the answers of each applicant to the following question on the Equal Opportunities Monitoring form:

My sexual orientation is towards someone:

Of the same sex (this covers gay men and lesbians)
Of a different sex (this covers heterosexual men and women)
Of the same sex and the opposite sex (this covers bisexual men and women)

4. Overview

All Permanent jobs

In 2025, 139 NICS recruitment competitions closed to further activity, having attracted 33,477 valid applications. By 31 December 2025, 4,073 appointments had been made over six years. The competition which attracted the highest volume of applicants was for Executive Officer I (11,013 valid applicants).

Senior Civil Service jobs

There were were 15 competitions for Senior Civil Service jobs which closed to further activity in 2025, attracting 328 valid applications. By 31 December 2025, 23 appointments had been made from these competitions.

Temporary Jobs

There was 1 competition for temporary posts which closed during this year, attracting 582 valid applications and making 97 appointments.

5. Flowchart

Flowchart of stages for all NICS competitions for permanent jobs which closed to further activity in 2025, as of 31 December 2025.

Flowchart of stages for all NICS competitions for temporary jobs which closed to further activity in 2025, as of 31 December 2025.

6. Sex

Comparator populations are working age population aged 16-64 years who are economically active from Census 2021, with Level 1 qualifications or above. i.e. at least GCSE (grades D-G), CSE (grades 2-5, 1-4 CSEs (grade 1), 1-4 GCSEs (grades A-C), 1-4 ‘O’ level passes, NVQ, level 1, GNVQ Foundation or equivalents.

Sex Tabs

All Permanent Jobs


All Permanent	Male	Female	Total
Eligible Applicants	13,851	14,439	28,290
Invited to Interview	6,522	5,858	12,380
Passed Interview	2,874	2,672	5,546
Appointed	2,116	1,956	4,072
Economically Active aged 16-64	385,921	378,151	764,072

Sex is missing for 4 applicants who were eligible, 2 applicants who were invited to interview, 1 applicant who passed interview and 1 applicant who was appointed.

Download data:

Table 1a.CSV (1kB)

Table 1a.XLSX (7kB)

SCS Permanent Jobs

Where totals are less than 100, please treat percentages with caution.


SCS Permanent	Male	Female	Total
Eligible Applicants	45	41	86
Invited to Interview	45	41	86
Passed Interview	20	19	39
Appointed	12	11	23
Economically Active aged 16-64	385,921	378,151	764,072

Download data:

Table 1b.CSV (1kB)

Table 1b.XLSX (7kB)

All Temporary Jobs

Where totals are less than 100, please treat percentages with caution.


All Temporary	Male	Female	Total
Eligible Applicants	259	275	534
Invited to Interview	259	275	534
Passed Interview	148	155	303
Appointed	54	43	97
Economically Active aged 16-64	385,921	378,151	764,072

Download data:

Table 1c.CSV (1kB)

Table 1c.XLSX (7kB)

End tabs

7. Community Background

Comparator populations are working age population aged 16-64 years who are economically active from Census 2021, with Level 1 qualifications or above. i.e. at least GCSE (grades D-G), CSE (grades 2-5, 1-4 CSEs (grade 1), 1-4 GCSEs (grades A-C), 1-4 ‘O’ level passes, NVQ, level 1, GNVQ Foundation or equivalents.

Community Background Tabs

All Permanent Jobs


All Permanent	Protestant	Catholic	Not Determined	Total
Eligible Applicants	11,836	13,861	2,597	28,294
Invited to Interview	5,390	5,860	1,132	12,382
Passed Interview	2,404	2,661	482	5,547
Appointed	1,697	2,062	314	4,073
Economically Active aged 16-64	334,095	356,470	73,503	764,068

Download data:

Table 2a.CSV (1kB)

Table 2a.XLSX (7kB)

SCS Permanent Jobs

Some figures on this graph have been suppressed, please see table below for further details. Where totals are less than 100, please treat percentages with caution.


SCS Permanent	Protestant	Catholic	Not Determined	Total
Eligible Applicants	45	35	6	86
Invited to Interview	45	35	6	86
Passed Interview	19	#	*	39
Appointed	13	#	*	23
Economically Active aged 16-64	334,095	356,470	73,503	764,068

Suppression is applied to prevent identification of personal information of individual applicants. Cells with counts below 5 are denoted by ‘*’. Other cells which could lead to identification of small counts are also suppressed and are denoted by ‘#’. Where figures are redacted from the tables, the corresponding sections of the graph have also been removed.

Download data:

Table 2b.CSV (1kB)

Table 2b.XLSX (7kB)

All Temporary Jobs

Where totals are less than 100, please treat percentages with caution.


All Temporary	Protestant	Catholic	Not Determined	Total
Eligible Applicants	183	250	101	534
Invited to Interview	183	250	101	534
Passed Interview	109	132	62	303
Appointed	35	41	21	97
Economically Active aged 16-64	334,095	356,470	73,503	764,068

Download data:

Table 2c.CSV (1kB)

Table 2c.XLSX (7kB)

End tabs

8. Ethnicity

Comparator populations are working age population aged 16-64 years who are economically active from Census 2021, with Level 1 qualifications or above. i.e. at least GCSE (grades D-G), CSE (grades 2-5, 1-4 CSEs (grade 1), 1-4 GCSEs (grades A-C), 1-4 ‘O’ level passes, NVQ, level 1, GNVQ Foundation or equivalents.

Ethnicity Tabs

All Permanent Jobs


All Permanent	White	Other (inc Mixed and Traveller)	Total
Eligible Applicants	27,585	709	28,294
Invited to Interview	12,091	291	12,382
Passed Interview	5,428	119	5,547
Appointed	3,989	84	4,073
Economically Active aged 16-64	741,113	22,961	764,074

Download data:

Table 3a.CSV (1kB)

Table 3a.XLSX (7kB)

SCS Permanent Jobs

Where totals are less than 100, please treat percentages with caution.


SCS Permanent	White	Other (inc Mixed and Traveller)	Total
Eligible Applicants	86	0	86
Invited to Interview	86	0	86
Passed Interview	39	0	39
Appointed	23	0	23
Economically Active aged 16-64	741,113	22,961	764,074

Download data:

Table 3b.CSV (1kB)

Table 3b.XLSX (7kB)

All Temporary Jobs

Where totals are less than 100, please treat percentages with caution.


All Temporary	White	Other (inc Mixed and Traveller)	Total
Eligible Applicants	501	33	534
Invited to Interview	501	33	534
Passed Interview	287	16	303
Appointed	92	5	97
Economically Active aged 16-64	741,113	22,961	764,074

Download data:

Table 3c.CSV (1kB)

Table 3c.XLSX (7kB)

End tabs

9. Disability

NICS Employees whose disability information is missing in the NICS are allocated to the ‘Not Declared Disabled’ category.

Comparator populations are working age population aged 16-64 years who are economically active from Census 2021, with Level 1 qualifications or above. i.e. at least GCSE (grades D-G), CSE (grades 2-5, 1-4 CSEs (grade 1), 1-4 GCSEs (grades A-C), 1-4 ‘O’ level passes, NVQ, level 1, GNVQ Foundation or equivalents.

Disability Tabs

All Permanent Jobs


All Permanent	Not Declared Disabled	Declared Disabled	Total
Eligible Applicants	25,569	2,725	28,294
Invited to Interview	11,188	1,194	12,382
Passed Interview	5,053	494	5,547
Appointed	3,708	365	4,073
Economically Active aged 16-64	686,319	77,753	764,072

Download data:

Table 4a.CSV (1kB)

Table 4a.XLSX (7kB)

SCS Permanent Jobs

Some figures on this graph have been suppressed, please see table below for further details. Where totals are less than 100, please treat percentages with caution.


SCS Permanent	Not Declared Disabled	Declared Disabled	Total
Eligible Applicants	78	8	86
Invited to Interview	78	8	86
Passed Interview	#	*	39
Appointed	#	*	23
Economically Active aged 16-64	686,319	77,753	764,072

Suppression is applied to prevent identification of personal information of individual applicants. Cells with counts below 5 are denoted by ‘*’. Other cells which could lead to identification of small counts are also suppressed and are denoted by ‘#’. Where figures are redacted from the tables, the corresponding sections of the graph have also been removed.

Download data:

Table 4b.CSV (1kB)

Table 4b.XLSX (7kB)

All Temporary Jobs

Where totals are less than 100, please treat percentages with caution.


All Temporary	Not Declared Disabled	Declared Disabled	Total
Eligible Applicants	490	44	534
Invited to Interview	490	44	534
Passed Interview	279	24	303
Appointed	88	9	97
Economically Active aged 16-64	686,319	77,753	764,072

Download data:

Table 4c.CSV (1kB)

Table 4c.XLSX (7kB)

End tabs

10. Agegroup

Comparator populations are working age population aged 16-65+ years who are economically active from Census 2021, with Level 1 qualifications or above. i.e. at least GCSE (grades D-G), CSE (grades 2-5, 1-4 CSEs (grade 1), 1-4 GCSEs (grades A-C), 1-4 ‘O’ level passes, NVQ, level 1, GNVQ Foundation or equivalents.

Agegroup Tabs

All Permanent Jobs


All Permanent	16-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+	Total
Eligible Applicants	4,010	9,022	8,967	4,950	1,308	18	28,275
Invited to Interview	1,764	3,974	4,045	2,076	510	8	12,377
Passed Interview	671	1,811	1,952	921	188	4	5,547
Appointed	440	1,319	1,483	691	138	2	4,073
Economically Active aged 16-65+	107,596	186,482	187,119	170,321	112,557	22,848	786,923

Agegroup is missing for 19 applicants who were eligible and 5 applicants who were invited to interview.

Download data:

Table 5a.CSV (1kB)

Table 5a.XLSX (8kB)

SCS Permanent Jobs

Where totals are less than 100, please treat percentages with caution.


SCS Permanent	16-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+	Total
Eligible Applicants	0	0	20	49	17	0	86
Invited to Interview	0	0	20	49	17	0	86
Passed Interview	0	0	11	20	8	0	39
Appointed	0	0	6	14	3	0	23
Economically Active aged 16-65+	107,596	186,482	187,119	170,321	112,557	22,848	786,923

Download data:

Table 5b.CSV (1kB)

Table 5b.XLSX (8kB)

All Temporary Jobs

Where totals are less than 100, please treat percentages with caution.


All Temporary	16-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+	Total
Eligible Applicants	513	18	2	0	1	0	534
Invited to Interview	513	18	2	0	1	0	534
Passed Interview	291	11	0	0	1	0	303
Appointed	92	5	0	0	0	0	97
Economically Active aged 16-65+	107,596	186,482	187,119	170,321	112,557	22,848	786,923

Download data:

Table 5c.CSV (1kB)

Table 5c.XLSX (8kB)

End tabs

11. Sexual Orientation

Sexual Orientation Tabs

All Permanent Jobs


All Permanent	Different Sex	Both Sexes	Same Sex	Total
Eligible Applicants	25,938	1,006	1,345	28,289
Invited to Interview	11,361	467	551	12,379
Passed Interview	5,110	202	232	5,544
Appointed	3,767	140	165	4,072

Sexual Orientation is missing for 5 applicants who were eligible, 3 applicants who were invited to interview, 3 applicants who passed interview and 1 applicant who was appointed.

Download data:

Table 6a.CSV (1kB)

Table 6a.XLSX (7kB)

SCS Permanent Jobs

Some figures on this graph have been suppressed, please see table below for further details. Where totals are less than 100, please treat percentages with caution.


All Permanent	Different Sex	Same Sex	Total
Eligible Applicants	#	*	86
Invited to Interview	#	*	86
Passed Interview	39	0	39
Appointed	23	0	23

Suppression is applied to prevent identification of personal information of individual applicants. Cells with counts below 5 are denoted by ‘*’. Other cells which could lead to identification of small counts are also suppressed and are denoted by ‘#’. Where figures are redacted from the tables, the corresponding sections of the graph have also been removed.

Download data:

Table 6b.CSV (1kB)

Table 6b.XLSX (7kB)

All Temporary Jobs

Some figures on this graph have been suppressed, please see table below for further details. Where totals are less than 100, please treat percentages with caution.


All Permanent	Different Sex	Both Sexes	Same Sex	Total
Eligible Applicants	474	41	19	534
Invited to Interview	474	41	19	534
Passed Interview	262	29	12	303
Appointed	80	#	*	97

Suppression is applied to prevent identification of personal information of individual applicants. Cells with counts below 5 are denoted by ‘*’. Other cells which could lead to identification of small counts are also suppressed and are denoted by ‘#’. Where figures are redacted from the tables, the corresponding sections of the graph have also been removed.

Download data:

Table 6c.CSV (1kB)

Table 6c.XLSX (7kB)

End tabs

Economically Active aged 16-64

Sexual Orientation is only available as Different Sex/ Other Sexual Orientation from Census 2021. These figures exclude Prefer not to say/ Not stated and are presented for information only.

Comparator populations are working age population aged 16-64 years who are economically active from Census 2021, with Level 1 qualifications or above. i.e. at least GCSE (grades D-G), CSE (grades 2-5, 1-4 CSEs (grade 1), 1-4 GCSEs (grades A-C), 1-4 ‘O’ level passes, NVQ, level 1, GNVQ Foundation or equivalents.


Census 2021	Different Sex	Other Sexual Orientation	Total
Economically Active aged 16-64	706,847	20,963	727,810

Download data:

Table 6d.CSV (1kB)

Table 6d.XLSX (7kB)

12. Employment History

Employment History Tabs

All Permanent Jobs


All Permanent	Current	Previous	Never	Total
Eligible Applicants	11,425	2,001	14,581	28,007
Invited to Interview	5,874	840	5,525	12,239
Passed Interview	3,172	281	2,043	5,496
Appointed	2,734	144	1,173	4,051

Employment History is missing for 287 applicants who were eligible, 143 applicants who were invited to interview, 51 applicants who passed interview and 22 applicants who were appointed.

Download data:

Table 7a.CSV (1kB)

Table 7a.XLSX (7kB)

SCS Permanent Jobs

Where totals are less than 100, please treat percentages with caution.


SCS Permanent	Current	Previous	Never	Total
Eligible Applicants	53	8	25	86
Invited to Interview	53	8	25	86
Passed Interview	28	3	8	39
Appointed	18	1	4	23

Download data:

Table 7b.CSV (1kB)

Table 7b.XLSX (7kB)

All Temporary Jobs

Where totals are less than 100, please treat percentages with caution.


All Temporary	Current	Previous	Never	Total
Eligible Applicants	2	2	530	534
Invited to Interview	2	2	530	534
Passed Interview	2	1	300	303
Appointed	0	0	97	97

Download data:

Table 7c.CSV (1kB)

Table 7c.XLSX (7kB)

End tabs

13. Contact Details

Further statistical information can be obtained from:

Christopher Baird,
Workforce Statistics and Analysis,
People & Organisational Development,
Bruce Street, Belfast,
BT2 7JD
Telephone: 028 9038 8433 or email: workforcestatisticsandanalysis@finance-ni.gov.uk

Accessibility contact

Please contact Dissemination Branch for assistance with accessibility requirements or alternative formats. Contact details are:

Email: info@nisra.gov.uk

Telephone: +44 (0)300 200 7836

Dissemination Branch
NISRA
Colby House
Stranmillis Court
BELFAST
BT9 5RR