Civil service employees

The civil service employee figures provide the number of civil servants employed by the departments of national government. These figures include all employees in-post in the 'home' Civil Service only, which excludes employees of the Northern Ireland Civil Service. The figures are published at International Territorial Level 3 (ITL3) and above and are no longer available at the local authority geographies.

The latest figures are for March 2025.

Key figures

• There were 11,380 civil service employees in Lancashire-12.
• There were 15,825 civil service employees in Lancashire-14.
• The largest number of civil servants was in the Mid Lancashire area (6,395), comprising Fylde, Ribble Valley, Preston and South Ribble. Blackburn with Darwen (445) had the fewest.
• The Department for Work and Pensions employed the largest number of civil servants in Lancashire-12, at 4,265 employees, followed by the Ministry of Justice (3,005), HM Revenue and Customs (1,680) and the Ministry of Defence (1,190).
• The Department for Work and Pensions employed the largest number of civil servants in Blackpool (3,765), largely accounting for the difference in employees between Lancashire-12 and Lancashire-14.
• Compared to the previous year, the number of civil service employees increased in both Lancashire-12 (+85) and Lancashire-14 (+155).

Source: Civil service employees from the Cabinet Office.

Things you need to know about the data

Annual civil service employee figures are published by the Cabinet Office and sourced from the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey (ACSES). These figures include all home Civil Service employees, excluding the Northern Ireland Civil Service, other Crown servants and employees of the wider public sector (for example, employees of non-departmental public bodies and the National Health Service). The figures are classed as accredited official statistics.

All ‘staff in post’ are included in the figures, which includes all employees with an employment contract who are being paid by the organisation. Employees can be permanent, on a fixed-term contractor or employed on a casual basis. The self-employed and contract workers are excluded.

The employee figures are headcounts. Headcount totals may not equal the sum of components due to some staff working in more than one role.

Figures are rounded to the nearest five and are suppressed if they are below five. Totals may not sum due to suppression.

Page updated 3 September 2025