Thu, 31 Jul 2025

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 Civil service interns must be working class, government says

Internships will only go to students from poorer families in a push to make Whitehall more working class.

* The government will restrict civil service internships to students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, judged by their parents' jobs at age 14.
* The main internship scheme will now only be available for students from "lower socio-economic backgrounds".
* Those who are successful on the internship will then be prioritized for entry into the Fast Stream graduate programme.
* The change aims to make Whitehall more representative of the country and harness a broader range of talent.
* Currently, around 12% of successful Fast Stream applicants come from lower socio-economic backgrounds, despite making up around 25% of higher education students.
* The government is also trying to establish more career paths into the senior ranks of the civil service outside of London.
* Critics have argued that the scheme will lead to "leftist social engineering" and that opportunity should be based on ability rather than background.
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