Civil Service Behaviours: All 9 Explained, by Grade, With How They Are Scored
Civil Service behaviours are the nine sets of actions the Civil Service uses to judge how you work, from Seeing the Big Picture to Delivering at Pace. Most adverts ask for two to six of them, usually as a short written example for each (often 250 words), and a panel scores every example on a 1-7 scale against what your grade is expected to show. This guide covers all nine, what changes from grade to grade, and how the scoring works.
The 9 Civil Service behaviours
The behaviours are one of the five elements of the Civil Service Success Profiles framework (with Ability, Technical, Strengths and Experience). The recruiting manager picks the ones that matter for the role, and the advert lists them. You will not be asked for all nine. The definitions below are the official ones from GOV.UK.
| Behaviour | What it means (GOV.UK definition) |
|---|---|
| Seeing the Big Picture | Understand how your role fits with and supports organisational objectives. Recognise the wider Civil Service priorities and ensure work is in the national interest. |
| Changing and Improving | Seek out opportunities to create effective change and suggest innovative ideas for improvement. Review ways of working, including seeking and providing feedback. |
| Making Effective Decisions | Use evidence and knowledge to support accurate, expert decisions and advice. Carefully consider alternative options, implications and risks of decisions. |
| Leadership | Show pride and passion for public service. Create and engage others in delivering a shared vision. Value difference, diversity and inclusion, ensuring fairness and opportunity for all. |
| Communicating and Influencing | Communicate purpose and direction with clarity, integrity and enthusiasm. Respect the needs, responses and opinions of others. |
| Working Together | Form effective partnerships and relationships with people both internally and externally, from a range of diverse backgrounds, sharing information, resources and support. |
| Developing Self and Others | Focus on continuous learning and development for self, others and the organisation as a whole. |
| Managing a Quality Service | Deliver service objectives with professional excellence, expertise and efficiency, taking account of diverse customer needs. |
| Delivering at Pace | Take responsibility for delivering timely and quality results with focus and drive. |
What changes from grade to grade
Each behaviour is described separately for each grade group, so the same behaviour asks for more as you go up. At AA and AO level, Delivering at Pace is about organising your own work and keeping people updated. At EO it adds reviewing the team's progress and supporting colleagues. At HEO and SEO it is about setting goals, monitoring workloads and reassessing priorities. At Grade 7 and Grade 6 it is about building a culture of delivery and giving people the space and authority to meet objectives.
This is why an example that would score well for an EO post can score 3 for a Grade 7 post: the panel reads it against the descriptors for the grade you applied for. Pick examples whose scope (the size of the problem, the people involved, your responsibility) matches that grade.
How behaviour statements are scored
Panels score each behaviour on its own, usually on this 7-point scale (the wording below is how departments such as the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service publish it). Most campaigns need at least 4 in every behaviour to get through the sift; competitive ones set a higher bar. If many people apply, adverts often say the first sift will use only the lead behaviour, the first one listed.
| Score | Label | What the panel saw |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Not demonstrated | No positive evidence, or substantial negative evidence |
| 2 | Minimal demonstration | Limited positive evidence, or mainly negative evidence |
| 3 | Moderate demonstration | Moderate positive evidence but some negative evidence |
| 4 | Acceptable demonstration | Adequate positive evidence; any negative evidence would not cause concern |
| 5 | Good demonstration | Substantial positive evidence of the behaviour |
| 6 | Strong demonstration | Substantial positive evidence, including some evidence of exceeding expectations at this level |
| 7 | Outstanding demonstration | The evidence wholly exceeds expectations at this level |
What earns points, and what loses them
- One real example, developed properly. A list of several short examples rarely gets past 3.
- Your own actions, in the first person. "We cleared the backlog" tells the panel nothing about what you did.
- Why you chose each action. Reasons show judgement, which is what most descriptors are about.
- A result, ideally with a number: time saved, cases cleared, complaints down, people helped. "It went well" scores nothing.
- Several of the grade's descriptors shown with depth. You don't need all of them.
- Most of the words on the Action part of STAR (about 60%), with one or two sentences of situation.
- Within the word limit. The online form cuts you off, and anything past the limit is not read.
- Not the descriptors copied back. Panels see the same phrases all day and score evidence, not claims.
A strong example, and why
As an HEO in a schools funding team, I was given four weeks to set up a new £6 million grant so that 300 schools could receive money before the start of term, with two of my team on leave.
I broke the work into a timeline with weekly milestones and identified the risks: the application form needed legal sign-off, and finance needed bank details verified before any payment. I agreed deadlines with both teams on day one and booked their review time in advance.
I set clear goals for each of my three team members and checked workloads twice a week, moving the data checks to me when one colleague was struggling with a family emergency. When legal sign-off was delayed by four days, I took corrective action: I asked finance to start verifying bank details in parallel using the draft form, which recovered the lost time without adding risk.
I kept my Grade 7 and the policy team updated with a short weekly note showing progress against each milestone.
All 300 schools were paid two days before the deadline, and our post-payment audit found no errors. The headteachers' association thanked the department for the speed of the scheme. My timeline template is now used for all new grants in the directorate. I learned to agree review slots early, because waiting for sign-off is where projects lose time.
- Clear, brief situation and task: four weeks, £6 million, 300 schools, two people away.
- Almost every sentence is an action of the candidate's own, with the reason behind it (booking review time early, running checks in parallel).
- It shows several HEO descriptors: clear goals and areas of responsibility, assessing workloads with individual needs in mind, corrective action, supporting a colleague.
- A measurable result (paid two days early, no errors in the audit) and a lasting change (the template is reused), plus one line of reflection.
The same behaviour, weaker
In my previous role I was part of a team responsible for delivering a new IT system for our department. The project was very high profile and had a tight deadline set by ministers.
We worked very hard to deliver the system on time. We held daily stand-up meetings to track progress and we made sure that any issues were escalated quickly. There were several problems along the way, including delays from the supplier, but we worked through them together. I was responsible for testing some parts of the system and for keeping a log of any defects.
As the deadline got closer, we all put in extra hours to make sure everything was ready. We kept our senior responsible owner updated on progress through weekly reports.
The system went live on the date that had been agreed, and it has been working well since. Our Director thanked the team for our efforts. This experience shows that I can deliver at pace under pressure and take responsibility for delivering timely and quality results.
- "We" throughout: the panel cannot tell what this candidate did beyond testing and keeping a log.
- The scope (testing and logging defects) is below what Grade 7 descriptors ask for, such as building a culture of delivery or giving others the space and authority to meet objectives.
- The result is real but not linked to the candidate's own actions.
- The last sentence restates the behaviour definition, which earns nothing.
Checking your own statement
Read it as a panel member would: underline every action that is yours, circle every number in the result, and tick each descriptor for your grade that the example clearly shows. If you have fewer than three ticks, no numbers or mostly "we", that is where the points are. Our checker does the same against the published descriptors for your grade and gives a likely score range, the descriptors you've shown and missed, and the three fixes that matter most. It never rewrites your text: Civil Service guidance allows AI to check your answers and recommend improvements, not to write them.
Related guides
- Success Profiles explainedThe five elements, how they are assessed at each stage, and what it means for your application
- Civil Service personal statementHow it is scored, how to structure 500, 750 and 1,250 words, with a scored example
- Civil Service interview questionsBehaviour and strength questions for each of the 9 behaviours, and how answers are scored
- Statement of suitabilityWhat a statement of suitability is, how panels read it and how to structure it