Employing civil servants

Civil servants are employed by the Crown, excluding those who are employed by Parliament and other public bodies. Therefore while there are close to six million public sector employees in the UK, only about 500,000 of these are civil servants. See Office for National Statistics: Public sector employment, UK Statistical bulletins.

The Civil Service is an integral and key part of the government of the UK. It supports the government of the day in developing and implementing its policies, and in delivering public services. Civil servants are accountable to ministers, who in turn are accountable to Parliament.

Servants of the Crown are treated in common law as a separate category of employee, ie traditionally they were regarded as not having a contract of service and, in terms of constitutional theory, can be dismissed at will. However, case law has established that civil servants do have contractual rights (R v Lord Chancellor’s Department, ex parte Nangle). Section 191 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 extends statutory protection to civil servants, and section 205 of the Equality