Under a scheme launched by the Civil Service and the Cabinet Office, recruitment will begin in April for one hundred Civil Service apprentices, aged between 18 and 21.
They will be starting work in various government departments starting this September. According to a spokesman, "The apprenticeships will be advertised as permanent opportunities to join the Civil Service and, subject to satisfactory performance they are guaranteed to be a civil servant once it is over."
Announcements will be made later regarding the grades required and the departments where the apprentices will be working, but in the meantime Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude says: "We are working to reform the civil service, building on its strengths while addressing its weaknesses. Like any big organisation, the success of the civil service depends on its staff. It already employs some of Britain's best and brightest and we have one of the most popular graduate schemes. But we are in a global race and we need to attract more of the best talent, including those who have chosen not to pursue higher education."
The head of the Civil Service, Sir Bob Kerslake, says: "Our graduate fast-stream programme is consistently ranked in the Times top 100 graduate employers and our ambition is for this civil service fast-track apprenticeship scheme to have the same credibility and status. Indeed, the scheme would place the civil service amongst the best in the private sector.
"We are committed to giving more young people a chance to work at the heart of government and to receive first-class training. Just because someone hasn't been to university doesn't mean they shouldn't have a bright career ahead of them."
This scheme coincides with the shedding of thousands of civil service jobs - for example, Education Secretary Michael Gove is planning to cut a quarter of the civil servants at the Department for Education.
Nonetheless, plans are in place to match the fast-track scheme for university graduates by increasing the number of apprenticeship vacancies to five hundred each year.
