Civil service morale has risen slightly since Labour took office in 2024, driven by significant improvements in the energy and health departments, according to the Institute for Government's (IfG) annual Whitehall monitor report due this week.
The employee engagement index, which measures civil servants' views on organisational practices and pride in their workplace, increased from 60.7% to 61.2%. This follows a decade of steady improvement from 2010 to a peak of 63.6% in 2020, then three consecutive years of decline from 2021 to 2023.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, led by Ed Miliband, saw the largest morale boost of 7 percentage points, while the Department of Health and Social Care, under Wes Streeting, rose by 5 points. The Cabinet Office also improved by 2 points after a 4-point rise in 2023, reversing four years of decline.
However, four departments recorded falls: the Foreign Office, HM Revenue and Customs, the Ministry of Defence, and the Department for Transport. Transport had the steepest drop of 3 points, with notable declines in questions about change management and staff voice, including a 13-point fall in the belief that changes are usually for the better.
The survey, conducted in autumn 2024, predates Prime Minister Keir Starmer's December comments describing some civil servants as too comfortable in the “tepid bath of managed decline,” which experts say may have strained relations. The IfG noted that the previous three-year decline was largely due to poor scores on leadership and change management, coinciding with departmental reorganisations.
