Civil Service internship. Only children of the "working class"

[Quirkswork]

If your child is coming up for 14 and interested in a career in the Civil Service and you have a job in a profession or that means you pay a lot of tax, I suggest you down tools now.

As reported in the Telegraph,

Civil Service internships will only be offered to students from lower income families in a bid to make Whitehall more working class, ministers have announced.

Only young people from “lower socio-economic backgrounds” will be able to apply to Whitehall’s internship programme, the Cabinet Office has said.

A student will be judged eligible depending on what jobs their parents did when they were 14. Students with parents who are receptionists, electricians, plumbers, butchers or van drivers would be among those eligible for the programme.

So working parents bad, unless working in a particular range of trades? And then they must be bad at it because most plumbers or electricians wouldn’t qualify for FSM?

Any measurables you can give me? Can you change class? Can your children be a different class to you?

Your family can only have one person who is first gen uni once!! With 50% going to uni these days that will soon be a very small pool.

Can the amount I have spent on childcare over the years in order to work be deducted from any calculation of whether my children are middle class?

Then you should be delighted with a scheme set up to repair some of the social engineering which has kept internships and the upper layers of the civil service firmly in the hands of the middle and upper classes for decades. With, as you say, the natural consequences for competence when jobs are given for who you are rather than ability or originality of thought.

The vast majority of civil service jobs go to direct application, not through the tiny number of internships. Those applicants will still be able to draw on all their privilege and cultural capital through the process. You can still be assured that departments such as the FO will remain firmly public school dominated with any plebs being shuffled into the DoT or similar over time.

I find it amazing how many people hate social engineering when it focuses on historically disadvantaged groups but are quite happy with a status quo which engineers the opposite.

It's discrimination.

Exactly.

• Students from lower-income backgrounds to get paid government placements.
• Programme to support the recruitment of more working class youngsters into Civil Service so it better reflects the people it serves.

from the actual government site...... So no.... Not a Torygraph article

Yes, its’s blatant discrimination. But apparently it’s ‘good’ discrimination so that’s ok. Vote Labour.

I already gave you measurables.

Yes you can transcend your class, at the least by measurables such as wealth, household income etc. It's called social mobility. By extension, so can your children.

I grew up very much working class. My children can't say the same.

I think it’s a good idea. It kicks back at the nepo baby privileged types getting internships because daddy knows somebody

But say, someone does get a job in the civil service this way then is it ok that their children/grandchildren will never be able to follow in their footsteps because they will be privileged nepo babies?

Good! I don't belong in that group but someone needs to help these kids move forward. They have far fewer other privileges.

Oh, I'm sure they'll find a way when the next Conservative government gets in.

It’s a summer internship so people can get experience and get their foot in the door, not a legal policy.

Some people really don’t get how hard working class people have it trying to get into certain jobs, and it shows.

Privilege is subjective? It’s really not, OP. You aren’t coming off well here and it’s actually quite embarrassing. I would be keen to hear what your background is.

Measurables would be something quantifiable, for example you’re working class until you earn 50k at £50000.01 you transcend to middle class, £101k trancend upper middle class etc. Can you also descend class? for example you lost your job

Why wouldn’t they be able to follow in their footsteps? This doesn’t ban people from applying to, or getting a job in, the CS. Don’t be dramatic.

And what if people lie ? How can you check ?

by the way they’ve been doing this for years. The last few times I’ve been job hunting (2024 and 2020) I’ve been asked on applications what my parents did for a living at 14, whether I received free school meals and what kind of secondary school I went to.

Absolutely nothing wrong with it, stop whinging.

If privilege is not subjective then what is the objective measure of it?

Your assumption is based on one, when I've already made clear wealth, income, status etc are a few out of a host factors.

If you grew up with wealthy parents in a wealthy suburban area, attended private school and a Russell Group university. Clearly you would not consider yourself working class because your income was zero once you graduated uni.

Intelligent parents will temporarily job change when their child is 14.

Best thing I ever did was take a sabbatical just before mine started primary school now they get free lunch every day until they leave primary and loads of free fun summer camps. Thank me later 😉

Why is banning the children of nurses and teachers from applying ‘kicking back nepotism baby privileged types’ rather than having recruitment criteria that ensures financial or cultural factors of those from ‘working class’ backgrounds do not negatively impact their application or selection?

That’s just not true. The jobs listed are examples, not an exhaustive list.

The way it works is you are asked which category of work your parents did at 14, with some examples given of what is included in each category. Someone with a working class background whose parents happened not to have the jobs listed by the Telegraph would still be eligible.