Cyber graduate roles emerge as Whitehall’s most hotly contested

Tevye Markson October 2, 2025 in Cyber Security Hub, News - 2 Minutes

Having once again been given its own dedicated segment of the Civil Service Fast Stream programme, the IT security area was only able to offer roles one in 500 applicants

Applications to the Civil Service Fast Stream have soared this year to more than 70,000, the highest on record – with the newly re-established cyber track emerging as one of the most sought-after areas of specialism.

Newly-published data for the 2025 intake of the graduate scheme shows there were 72,691 applicants – measured through applications by first preference – in 2025. This is a 64% increase on the 44,362 applicants in 2024, and a 170% uptick on the 26,899 who applied in 2023.

There were 676 vacancies for this year’s Fast Stream, but the scheme ended up recommending 754 for appointment.

Unsurprisingly given the rising competition, the average success rate for applicants of 1% is the lowest ever.

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This is the second year in a row that the number of applicants has risen significantly and comes after a period between 2020 and 2023 where applicant numbers tumbled from a then-record 64,697 to 26,899 – which was the lowest level since 2015.

This year’s most popular scheme was Government Policy which received 32,805 applications, but the Diplomatic and Development pathway had the most applications by first preference: 13,828.

Diplomatic and Development was also the most competitive, along with Cyber, with both having a 0.2% success rate – the number of applicants recommended for appointment as a proportion of applications by first preference.

Until this year, cyber was incorporated into a broader tech strand, alongside Digital, Data, Technology. Government announced a year ago that the security specialism – which, prior to 2016, had previously had its own track – was to be re-established as its own dedicated strand.