Class war in the civil service

‘The Civil Service must be a magnet for the best and brightest,’ writes cabinet secretary Antonia Romeo on the civil service website. But Mr S has been wondering if the stats stand up to the slogan… It turns out that 70 per cent of those applying to the civil service summer internship programme in 2026 were barred because they were deemed to be in the wrong social class. That amounted to 4,148 young people. Those whose parents were in ‘higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations’ or ‘intermediate occupations’ when the applicant was aged 14, along with those who did not provide parental occupation information, were automatically rejected from the scheme. This would include the children of nursery nurses, call centre agents or secretaries, which are classed as ‘intermediate occupations’. While the ‘high’, ‘privileged’ or ‘advantaged’ includes the children of teachers, accountants or physiotherapists. All of whom would be barred from the internship. Replying to a parliamentary question from Tory MP Mike Wood, minister for the Cabinet Office Mark Ferguson said : ‘The Fast Stream Summer Internship Programme is only open to penultimate and final year undergraduates from Lower Socioeconomic backgrounds as determined through their parental occupation at age 14. Any candidate who is not eligible under this criteria is automatically rejected before progressing their application.’ So much for being open to the best and brightest.