Alma Economics was commissioned by Government Skills (Cabinet Office) to assess what makes professional development effective in the civil service. The goal was to guide future investment by identifying interventions that improve workforce skills, knowledge, performance, and productivity.

We conducted a rigorous systematic review of experimental evidence (RCTs and quasi-experiments) from OECD countries for civil service and comparable contexts. Using structured search methods, citation tracking, and a public call for evidence, we screened thousands of sources and identified 27 relevant studies, mainly from North America and focused on operational roles such as probation officers and call centre staff.

The majority of papers (94%) found a positive effect of professional development, particularly in skill development. However, few studies assessed impact on work performance or productivity, with only one showing a clear improvement. As part of our review, we also created a tailored taxonomy of intervention mechanisms for the civil service context, adapted from the Behaviour Change Technique taxonomy.

These findings and the taxonomy are now informing the UK civil service’s learning and development strategy, supporting evidence-based decisions to improve workforce capability and outcomes.

The report and the taxonomy have been published on the gov.uk website.