The ‘unwritten rules’ of getting ahead in the civil service: Latin jokes and a posh accent

The key to success in the civil service is an arsenal of Latin jokes, received pronunciation and an obsession with Twitter, a new government-backed report claims.

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC), which advises ministers on how to make Britain fairer, has said a series of unwritten rules – including having the “right accent” – prevent many staff from progressing up the ranks in Whitehall.

The report, entitled Navigating the labyrinth: Socio-economic background and career progression within the Civil Service, describes a culture within the civil service that favours “polish over performance”, the BBC reports. It says an invisible “class ceiling” prevents people from lower socio-economic backgrounds landing its top jobs.

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Whitehall chiefs are “even posher today than in the 1960s”, the broadcaster adds, with the report revealing that almost three-quarters (72%) of the most senior civil servants are from privileged homes, up from two-thirds (67%) in 1967.

Civil servants complained to the commission that working-class accents held them back, commenting that there was a “definite style of speaking” in the senior ranks.

One civil servant said she resorted to putting on “a bit of an accent” and trying to enunciate better to improve her prospects. This, she told the report, was ”ridiculous and humiliating”.

Another civil servant from a less affluent background described how he felt there was a “secret code as to how to get on” while working in the Treasury, telling the commission that only those who “knew about ‘the velvet drainpipe’” could work their way “up and through” the department.

The report also heard how officials would sometimes break into Latin during meetings. “I know that is a bit of a stereotype, but it is so real,” one civil servant said. “You’ll be in a ministerial meeting and they’ll sort of talk in Latin, but they’re making what you’ll realise later is a sort of joke about Brussels that everyone sort of understands, and laughs.”

The report also reveals a preoccupation with social media site Twitter, with one senior official divulging that a common piece of feedback was that conversations focused too much on politics “and about people on Twitter that everyone’s following”.

“You know, the majority of the country are not reading these tweets. Probably the entire audience for this tweet that we’re discussing at the moment is in this room!” he said.

The SMC also found huge disparities between social class in different departments, as well as between London and the rest of the country. In the Treasury, only 12% of civil servants are from lower socio-economic backgrounds, compared with 45% in the Department for Work and Pensions, reports The Times.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “While we may not agree with everything in the report, we accept that there’s more to do. We are making progress and 15 civil service organisations are ranked in the top 75 of the Social Mobility Foundation’s employer index.”