Recruitment of the Administrative Class of the British Civil Service

• Published date: 01 September 1949
• Author: Madge M. McKinney
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294900200304
• Date: 01 September 1949
• Subject Matter: Articles

345

RECRUITMENT

OF

THE

ADMINISTRATIVE

CLASS

OF

THE

BRITISH

CIVIL

SERVICE

MADGE

M.

McKINNEY

Hunter

College

HE

EXIGENCIES

of

a

world

war

forced

many

countries

to

venture

into

unexplored

techniques

of

governmental

processes

not

only

in

the

political

but

also

in

the

administrative

field.

The

public

service

in

Great

Britain

was

no

exception.

It

therefore

seemed

appropriate

to

ex,

amine

in

some

particular

the

effects

of

World

War

II

on

a

specific

area

of

the

British

Civil

Service.

The

top

layer-the

Administrative

Class,

which

has

long

enjoyed

an

enviable

reputation-was

chosen

for

the

purposes

of

this

study.

The

pre-war

method

of

qualifying

for

this

class

is

known

to

every

student

of

personnel

management.

The

class

is

divided

into

four

grades:

the

undersecretaries,

assistant

secretaries,

principals,

and

assistant

prin-

cipals.

Recruitment,

by

a

rigorous,

competitive

examination

has

tradition-

ally

been

made

at

the

bottom

level-that

of

assistant

principal.

The

pre-

war

procedure

consisted

of

a

comprehensive

written

examination

on

university

subjects

and

an

interview.

The

written

examination

had

a

total

possible

count

of

one

thousand

marks,

of

which

three

hundred

were

for

general

papers,

compulsory

for

all,

and

seven

hundred

for

optional

papers

upon

subjects

chosen

by

the

candidate

from

a

prescribed

list.

The

inter-

view

had

a

possible

count

of

three

hundred.

All

candidates

had

to

be

between

the

ages

of

twenty

and

twenty-four,

and

all

who

were

accepted

were

started

at

the

assistant

principal

level.’

The

entire

responsibility

for

these

examinations

rested

upon

the

Civil

Service

Commission.

With

the

outbreak

of

the

war,

the

Commission

was

relieved

of

this

responsibility,

permanent

recruitment

(except

in

rare

instances)

was

suspended,

and

responsibility

for

temporary

recruitment

was

placed-at

least

in

theory-in

the

Ministry

of

Labour

and

National

Service.

Because

of

the

tremendous

increase

in

the

number

of

civil

servants

to

be

re-

cruited,

age

limits

were

waived.

Although

most

of

the

recruits

to

the

Administrative

Class

were

college

graduates,

they

were

drawn

from

all.

occupations.

During

the

early

part

of

the

war,

any

central

control

that

1

The

London

salaries

for

the

Administrative

Class,

as

published

in

the

Civil

Estimates

1949-50,

are

given

below.

Provincial

salaries

are

somewhat

lower.

SALARIES

Men

Women

Assistant

Principal.....

£

400—

£

750

£

400 —

£

650

Principal

.....

£

950

—

£

1250 £ 830 —

£

1075

Assistant

Secretary

.....

£ 1320 —

£

1700

£

1160

—

£ 1550

Assistant

Undersecretary......

£

2000

£ 1825

Above

these

are

the

permanent

heads

and

deputy

heads

of

the

Departments,

paid

£

3500

and

£

2500

respectively.

The

normal

starting

salary

for

a

recruit

is

£ 400.

For

further

information

see

the

Chorley

Committee

Report

"Remuneration

of

the

Higher

Civil

Service."

Cmd.

7635.

(1949)