Recruitment standards and policies

We carry out all our permanent recruitment exercises under fair and open competition and we monitor the procedures carefully to make sure that they do not unfairly discriminate against anyone.

We are committed to equality and value diversity among the people who work for us.

• Our Diversity and equality processes

We are a Disability Symbol user, and operate the Guaranteed Interview Scheme for disabled candidates. If you have special needs, we aim to supply whatever you require to ensure you have a fair and equal chance when applying for jobs.

To work for DWP you must:

• be aged 16 or over
• satisfy the Civil Service nationality requirements

If you are successful with your application, we will ask you for permission to carry out pre-appointment enquiries before formally offering you the job.

As part of the health enquiries, if you are made an offer of a job you will be asked to complete a health declaration form. This will be used to assess whether reasonable adjustments will be necessary to help you carry out the role.

Probationary period

If you join the DWP on a permanent or fixed term appointment, you will need to serve a six months probationary period that we may extend for an extra three months.

We will usually expect new recruits for a permanent appointment to have stayed in their post for two years before applying for another post on promotion or level transfer. This is to make sure that we maintain a good balance between operational effectiveness and delivering business objectives.

Complaints

DWP recruitment processes are underpinned by the principle of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles (This link will take you to the Civil Service Commission website)

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Code and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact the person responsible for the recruitment exercise in the first instance.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from DWP, you can contact the Office of the Civil Service Commission (This link will take you to the Civil Service Commission website.)