Cyprus’ civil service is predominantly female, increasingly well qualified and, on paper at least, almost uniformly excellent. That last point is what concerns the Public Service Commission (PSC), whose chairman, Georgios Papageorgiou, has warned that civil servants’ appraisal scores are rising so steadily that the system risks returning to the days when nearly everyone was rated excellent.
Mr Papageorgiou presented the PSC’s Annual Report for 2025 at a press conference at the Press and Information Office, after submitting it to the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides. He described 2025 as a year of particular challenges, the first in which the Commission applied all the new provisions of the public service reform in full, alongside a heavy volume of recruitment procedures and a significant number of disciplinary cases.
A workforce led by women
According to the report, women make up 63% of the civil service and men 37%.
Mr Papageorgiou noted that women outnumber men at every level, including management posts and Director-General positions, which until a few years ago were regarded as predominantly male.
Highly qualified, often overqualified
The data also show a steady rise in qualifications. Around 72% of civil servants hold a postgraduate or university degree: 41.44% have a postgraduate qualification and 29.86% a university degree.
By contrast, only about 30% of posts require a university qualification. According to Mr Papageorgiou, this means a significant proportion of staff hold more academic qualifications than their posts require.
Age profile
Based on data up to 15 September 2026, 7.67% of civil servants were aged 18 to 34, 65.95% were between 35 and 54, and 26.38% were 55 or older.
The average age was reported at 35.5 years in 2025, compared with 34.16 in 2024, 34.17 in 2023, 35.17 in 2022 and 37 in 2021.
Appraisal scores keep climbing
Mr Papageorgiou was particularly critical of the appraisal of civil servants, describing the picture emerging from recent scores as disappointing.
Average scores have risen every year since the new appraisal system was introduced. In 2023, its first year, the average was 8.7 out of 10. It rose to 9.01 in 2024 and reached 9.12 in 2025.
“Gradually, steadily, over time, we are heading back to the previous phenomenon where everyone was rated as excellent in every respect,” he said.
In his view, the trend effectively defeats the purpose of appraisal, as it limits the ability to distinguish between employees according to their actual performance.
Where appraisals still count
Mr Papageorgiou explained that appraisals still matter for certain categories of promotion, though their weight varies across the service.
Scores affect promotions for staff in the non-scientific structure and promotions up to Scale A11+II. They carry limited weight for Scale A13 posts and are not taken into account for posts at A14 and above.
Despite these limits, he described the issue as important, saying appraisals should genuinely reflect employees’ performance and distinguish between different levels of achievement.
Responsibility of supervisors
The PSC chairman placed significant responsibility on supervisors and Directors-General. He stressed that everyone responsible for appraisals must make a systematic effort to ensure that scores reflect the real picture of performance.
Merit over seniority in promotions
On the other side of the ledger, Mr Papageorgiou highlighted what he described as one of the reform’s most important results. In 70% of interdepartmental promotions, the posts went to candidates who would not have been promoted under the previous system, because of the weight it gave to seniority.
He explained that the new system allows candidates to compete for and secure posts on the basis of ability and performance, regardless of seniority. Candidates with differing lengths of service achieved high results at the Examination Centres, he said, allowing capable employees to stand out and win the posts they apply for.
According to the figures presented, only 12% of posts were filled by people from outside the department.
Mr Papageorgiou stressed, however, that the new system must be systematically monitored and evaluated to establish its effectiveness and identify any weaknesses.
How the Examination Centres work
A central part of the presentation concerned the reform of how candidates are assessed for senior and top posts.
In 2025, all provisions for examining candidates through Examination Centres, using modern assessment methods, were applied in full for the first time. The centres were selected through a tender procedure.
During the year, 4,065 candidates sat examinations, and the PSC handled procedures for 142 posts at Scale A13 and above. A further 335 candidates for interdepartmental promotion posts were referred to the Examination Centres.
The new system has three stages, each carrying a different weight: an aptitude test (10%), a subject-knowledge examination (30%) and assessment at an Assessment Centre (60%).
The average time from advertising a post to filling it now stands at 7.5 months. Previously, some cases took as long as two or three years.
A record year for interviews
The PSC met 237 times in 2025. Recruitment procedures accounted for 56% of its time, while disciplinary cases made up 2% of the matters examined.
During the year, the Commission made 541 appointments and 707 promotions. By 15 September 2026, there had been 313 appointments and 447 promotions.
It also conducted 894 interviews in 2025, which Mr Papageorgiou described as an all-time record for the Commission. By 15 September 2026, 629 interviews had been held.
Seventeen civil servants were suspended in 2025, while the figure for 2026 had reached 21 by the reference date.
Mr Papageorgiou said the Commission and its staff had responded adequately to the demands placed on them, despite the increased workload.
A fully digital commission
According to Mr Papageorgiou, the PSC now operates in a fully digitised environment. Since 2026, its meetings have been held through the “e-Synergasia” system, applications are submitted and managed electronically, and the files and records kept by the office have been digitised.
The move to online applications has contributed, he said, to a rise in the number of applications. In 2025, the PSC received 34,452 applications, compared with an average of around 24,473 in previous years.
He pointed out that receiving, filing and managing such volumes had previously been done by hand, at considerable cost in time and staff.
One gap remains: the submission of staff appraisal reports is still outside the digital system, an issue he said still needs to be addressed.
What changes from 1 November
From 1 November 2026, the online application will be upgraded and submitted through CyLogin. The PSC plans an information campaign, with the support of the Press and Information Office, to inform the public of the change.
From the same date, candidates for appointment posts will be informed electronically of their detailed scores against the PSC’s criteria, as well as their final ranking.
Mr Papageorgiou said this will soon be extended to promotion posts, so that candidates know how they were assessed, what score they achieved and where they were ranked. He described the change as a significant innovation, responding to repeated requests from candidates for greater transparency in selection procedures.
The Commission’s redesigned website, developed by the Department of Information Technology Services, is also expected to go live on 1 November.
Source: CNA
