557,000 people worked in the civil service in June 2026
People working in the civil service, UK, at the end of each quarter, March 1999 to June 2026. Number of people, seasonally adjusted.
Latest figures
| Series | Period | Value |
|---|---|---|
| People working in the civil service | June 2026 | 557,000 |
Findings
Notes
- The civil service is the staff of central government departments and their agencies, such as HM Revenue and Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Prison and Probation Service. It doesn't include the armed forces, NHS staff, teachers, the police or council workers. The Northern Ireland Civil Service is counted separately and isn't included.
- Each figure counts everyone employed, whether full or part time, rounded to the nearest thousand. Counting part-time staff as fractions of a full-time job, the civil service was 523,000 full-time equivalent posts in June 2026.
- The figure for March 2021 includes about 19,000 temporary staff employed to carry out the 2021 Census in England and Wales, who had left by June 2021. In June 2021 about 7,000 probation staff moved into the civil service from private companies when probation services were brought back into HM Prison and Probation Service.
- Figures are seasonally adjusted and may be revised in later releases.
Sources
More on public finances
- A salary of £32,100 pays £5,468 in income tax and National Insurance in 2026-27
- A full-time worker on typical pay of £39,863 paid 19.2% of it in income tax and National Insurance in 2025-26
- Debt interest cost 8.8p for every £1 the government raised in 2025-26
- Public spending on services was £1,228bn in 2025-26
- Income tax made up 26.7p of every £1 the public sector raised in 2025-26
- The top 1% of income tax payers paid 27.2% of all income tax in 2023-24
- The government spent 44.5% of GDP and raised 40.1% in 2025-26
- Social protection and health were the largest areas of public spending in 2025-26
- Public sector net debt was 93.3% of GDP in 2025-26
- Spending on debt interest rose by £79bn after inflation between 2020-21 and 2025-26, more than any other area