Civil Service Judgement Test case studies
Civil Service Judgement Test · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Civil Service Judgement Test (CSJT) is a situational judgement assessment used in recruitment for many UK Civil Service roles. Rather than testing subject knowledge, it presents realistic workplace scenarios and asks you to judge how effective different possible responses would be. Because there is rarely one obviously correct answer, the test measures practical judgement: reading a situation, weighing competing pressures, and choosing a course of action that serves both your team and the public. It suits candidates applying to grades where behaviours matter more than technical expertise - making effective decisions, delivering at pace and prioritising, working with others, communicating and influencing, managing a quality service, and adapting to change. The Civil Service Judgement Test case studies are 5 cases and about 3,189 words.
1The system that isn't working yet
You lead a team of 12 processing housing benefit claims in a shared service centre. A new case-management system went live three weeks ago.
696 words, about 3 min2Three deadlines on the same Monday
You are the work allocation officer for a council tax team of eight. It is Monday morning and three things land at once.
521 words, about 3 min3Two colleagues, one critical path
You are leading a six-person project to move a face-to-face licensing service onto an online form. Go-live is in four weeks and the web content is on the critical path.
502 words, about 3 min4Forty-five minutes to say the difficult thing
You manage a contact centre of 40 staff. From Monday week, opening hours must change from 8am–8pm to 9am–5pm for at least three months because your directorate must cut £600,000.
716 words, about 4 min5The pilot nobody wants to keep
You manage a 14-person customer service team for a housing association. Complaints have doubled in six months, mostly about repairs not being done when promised.
754 words, about 4 min