Career development
The 2025 Public Service Census shows that just over half (51%) of public servants continued to feel that they were encouraged and supported to apply for developmental opportunities. Close to two-thirds (63%) reported that they had access to the learning and development they need to do their job well, almost unchanged from 2021.
Work intentions over the next 12 months
In the 2025 Public Service Census, 54% of respondents said they had no immediate plans to leave their current position, down slightly from 59% in 2021. By comparison, 10% said they were actively applying for another role’. Over the next 12 months, 17% expected to apply for a different role while a further 9% wanted to do a secondment or temporary move, either within their agency or into another agency.
A small number (6%) reported they would like to change jobs but didn’t think they could.
Reasons to consider leaving
In the 2025 Public Service Census, anyone who said they were considering leaving their current role (either permanently or temporarily) was asked why. Lack of career progression opportunities (42.4%), being unsatisfied with pay/remuneration (39.4%) and wanting more interesting work (32.7%) were the top 3 reasons.
Reasons for considering leaving
Turnover and tenure
Unplanned turnover measures the rate that organisations lose permanent staff due to reasons they hadn’t planned for such as resignations, retirements and dismissals. The 2026 figure is 10.8%, which is up from 9.9% in 2025. The slight increase in turnover is due to a range of factors, including labour market conditions, organisational change, and individual tenure and circumstances. Unplanned turnover has been fairly consistent over the longer term, excluding the peak in 2022 and 2023 that were a response to post-Covid labour market condition.
Health measures by occupation and age group
The 2026 Workforce Data shows that the average length of service of Public Service employees increased slightly by 0.1 of a year to 8.4 years. This measure is based on tenure within a single organisation, not the Public Service as a whole, and excludes those on fixed-term employment agreements. The average length of tenure for Public Service employees peaked at 9.5 years in 2016, declined to 7.9 years in 2023, and has since risen again. The decline in average tenure between 2016 and 2023 was largely driven by a rising influx of new recruits into agencies, which peaked at 21.3% of the workforce in 2023. The increase in tenure since 2024 may reflect changes in labour market conditions, increased job security considerations, and lower recruitment activity. While the share of new recruits fell to 12.5% in 2025, it increased again to 14.2% in 2026, suggesting recruitment activity may be beginning to recover.
Context on the sick leave figures contained in the visualisation above are available in this part of our website: