Government Policy Profession

The Policy Profession consists of around 38,500 policy professionals from across the UK Civil Service[1] who develop and deliver public policy for ministers and citizens. There are also civil servants from a wide range of professions (including economists, lawyers, finance) who engage in the policy making process and identify as policy makers in addition to their primary profession. Policy professionals may often specialise in a specific policy domain, such as environment or foreign policy.

Policy professionals’ work centres around three activities - developing and improving government strategies, supporting democratic governance and overseeing delivery. These activities are outlined by the three pillars of the Policy Profession Standards.

The Policy Profession has developed a wide-ranging offer to support policy professionals’ learning and development in line with the Policy Profession Standards, including:

To find out more about the profession and our learning offer please visit the Policy Profession website.

[1] Civil Service Statistics. Data correct as of 31 March 2024. This figure includes additional data provided by Scottish Government on the number of policy professionals in Scottish Government and SG agencies. This does not include policy professionals in the Northern Ireland Civil Service.

The current Learning Frameworks contract is ending on 30 April 2026. This change will impact when you can book learning linked to our Professions pages. To support you with this transition, any courses impacted by the change will display a notice.

The final date for bookings is 30 April 2026, with learning required to start by 31 July 2026 and finish by 31 January 2027. After this deadline, new bookings will resume after the new contract starts.

These changes are happening across a series of waves and more information can be found here. The products in Wave 1 will not be available to book from 30 June 2025, and products in Wave 2 will not be available to book from 1 November 2025. The products in Wave 3 will need to start by 30 April 2026 and therefore we recommend bookings are made six weeks before this, by 19 March 2026.