JagoBrown91

Fellow civil servant here, and I thought there was only one SpAd at the moment...

It basically means those appointed due to political merit - either working for an MP or directly for the party - rather than through a competitive process. Add onto that Special Advisors (SpAds) which are employed by Ministers, again on political merit (or nepotism). MP's staff are paid out of public funds through an MP's discretionary staff budget, party staff by the party, and SpAds by the Civil Service.

Second to that is Civil Servants who politically neutral staff employed by the Crown to advise the government of the day, either in a Department/ Ministry/ Agency or for the House of Commons/ Lords. Senior civil servants have some degree of political authority in making decisions, but only when not contradicting the Minister's advice.

Key difference is civil servants get their jobs through competitive process - and I mean competitive, the Fast Stream gets something like 100,000 applications and takes on only a fraction - and don't lose their jobs when government changes. These are the people who provide the expert advice. SpAds and MP staff depend on their MP/ Minister having a job and provide the political advice, alongside civil servants' advice, on which the Minister will then make the judgement call.

Ah I was just taking the civil service's own definition! Someone employed by the Crown hired through competitive process. And yeah I know what you mean, I worked for an MP for a year and whenever we'd have a job opening, we'd get about 100 applications. Didn't mean to slate your job!