ABSTRACT
In many countries, such as the United States of America, the Civil Service is a semipermanent body, the most senior posts of which change hands with a change in government. A variation on this model, which is employed in Germany and France, involves incoming ministers bringing into the department a small body of hand picked professional advisers. Under the constitution of the United Kingdom, civil servants hold permanent posts, in law ‘holding office at the pleasure of the Crown’. Many aspects of employment protection legislation55 apply to the Civil Service, but such rights as, for example, the right of appeal against unfair dismissal and the right to belong to a trades union, may be revoked under the royal prerogative.56 Moreover, at common law, the position of civil servants is precarious. Being a servant of the Crown, they may be dismissed with no common law action for wrongful dismissal.57 However, while the formal position is insecure, in practical terms civil servants enjoy a high degree of security. Terms and conditions of employment are regulated under the prerogative, and the Minister for the Civil Service has power to make regulations relating to the conditions of service of all civil servants.58
