A study has found that many UK citizens regard Whitehall as bureaucratic, while many others harbour doubts about the ability of the government and its employees to meet national challenges

Only one in 10 citizens would describe the civil service as innovative, a new survey has revealed.

The headline finding of the study from Ipsos and the Institute for Government was that 57% of the UK public lack confidence that the civil service can solve the most important issues facing the country today. Some 53% do not believe civil servants can deliver major projects on time and on budget and 54% feel that officials lack understanding of the needs of local communities.

On the issue of government’s ability to harness new technology, there was a fairly even split – with 34% of respondents saying that they are confident the civil service can get the most out of artificial intelligence, while 36% lack such confidence.

About a third of research participants believe that government employees work from home more often than private-sector counterparts, while a quarter felt than civil servants worked remotely more often.

The online poll of 1,095 British adults aged 16-75, carried out from 19-22 September, found that 41% of the public would describe Whitehall officials as bureaucratic – a higher proportion than for any of the other 15 adjectives listed in the survey. Other top choices included professional on 36%, political with 33%, and  and stuck in their ways on 30%.

But, whatever the results reveal elsewhere, the study also showed that 56% of people said they know “not very much or nothing” about the civil service. 

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Gideon Skinner, senior director of UK politics at Ipsos, said: “The wider lack of public faith in government is impacting views of the civil service too.  While Britons trust civil servants more than they do politicians, and public confidence has been lower in the past, the UK civil service still faces a challenge to convince an ambivalent public both of its professional standards and of its ability to make a real difference to the problems the country faces. In part this reflects a lack of awareness among most people about the civil service, but that is not the only issue. The civil service is seen as bureaucratic, with doubts over its capability to manage major projects, and how it has an impact on improving people’s day-to-day lives.”

He added: “More positively, civil servants are broadly seen as professional, acting with integrity and with an ability to serve all parties equally, but underneath this there is a clear division in political views, with Conservative and Reform voters much more critical.  And just as important are the attributes which are not associated strongly with the civil service – innovative, accessible, and in touch with people’s local communities.”

Alex Thomas, the Institute for Government’s programme director for the civil service, added: “This fascinating polling should be read closely by civil servants and all those who care about the civil service. It’s encouraging that many members of the public see the civil service as professional, competent and trustworthy, and back public officials to act with integrity. But far too many people see civil servants as remote and unable to solve the most important issues facing Britain today. The civil service needs to do much more to improve its capability, to encourage innovation and to become more accountable to the public. It’s especially notable that older British people seem to be falling out of love with the civil service; the institution needs to prove its worth to all sectors of the public.”