Government Social Research Sandwich Student Placement Scheme 2025 / 26

The Government Social Research (GSR) Sandwich Student Placement scheme is aimed at students who are seriously considering a career in the Government Social Research Profession after graduation. These year-long placements are aimed at those in their penultimate year and should fit in with your academic calendar., As a social research placement student, there will be opportunities to contribute to a range of different research products, including for example literature reviews and evidence summaries, dashboards, drafting surveys and questionnaires, supporting with ad-hoc analytical queries, and shadowing senior researchers.
Please refer to the job description pack for more details.
Question and Answer Session
There will be a Question and Answer (Q&A) session with the GSR Recruitment Team, to chat about the recruitment and application process for this scheme.
Date: Wednesday 9 October 2024
Time: 12:30pm-13:30pm
Place: Virtual, on Microsoft Teams.
Join the meeting now
We will give you:
Information regarding a career in Government social research and in the Civil Service
+ An outline of the recruitment process for the scheme
+ Our tips on filling out the application form, + If a holder of a student visa – be allowed under the conditions of the visa to undertake a full-time paid 12-month sandwich placement in the UK without a work permit.
+ Meet the UK Civil Service Nationality Requirements which operate independently and additionally to the Immigration Rules. Applicants must also meet necessary security and vetting requirements, along with any other relevant pre-employment checks.
All the above eligibility must be demonstrated clearly on your application form, without this information, your application will be discounted.
We do not offer visa sponsorships for our schemes. In addition, some departments including the Cabinet Office and Home Office require candidates to have
resided in the UK for the last 5 years having spent no period longer than 3 months outside of the UK to get security clearance.
2. Recruitment process
The recruitment process involves the following steps:
Stage 1: Short application form (part 1)
Capture of personal details.
Stage 2: Numeracy test:
The numerical test is the only online test you will need to complete before the full application form. You will need access to a laptop/desktop computer.
Please note: The test deadline is the same as the application deadline so please make sure you give yourself time to complete the test and 2nd part of the application form.
The numerical test is not timed. Therefore, you should not need to request extra time to complete this test as a reasonable adjustment. Your final score will also not be affected by how long you take to complete the test. For further information on reasonable adjustments and practice tests please read: Reasonable adjustments for online tests - a candidate guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
If you have recently taken and passed the same Civil Service test when applying for a role at the same grade, you will not have to re-take this test.
The GESR Recruitment Team work Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Therefore, technical support will not be available outside of these hours.
Stage 3: Full application form (part 2)
If the minimum (benchmark) standard of the online test is met, you will be invited to fill out the full online application form.
Please note: You do not need to list your GCSEs or A-Level qualifications under the CV and ‘Your Qualifications’ section. You also do not need to upload or attach a separate CV document.
In Question 3 of the ‘Additional Questions’ section of the full (part 2) application form, please include the following information:
+ The full subject title of your undergraduate degree and the year you started your degree
+ Your first-year degree grade
+ All modules to be studied as part of your undergraduate degree by year, including grades achieved thus far.
+ Number of credits allotted to each module per year
+ Modules studied throughout your degree must include quantitative research methods including research design, data collection (i.e., questionnaire design, sampling, weighting) and data analysis (e.g., statistical analysis)
+ Clearly mark which modules are relevant to social research, with a clear description of the research methods training studied or to be studied next to the modules
+ Your degree’s total number of credits.
In your application, please ensure that you provide full details about the research method training components of your degree. We can only sift on the information you provide on the application so please ensure you complete the form as fully as possible.
Stage 4: Pre-sift - Online test review and pass mark set.
This is an internal recruitment administrative process which will take place after the application deadline. Once the pass mark for the test is set, you will receive your result via Civil Service Jobs. If we receive a large volume of applications, we may set our pass mark higher than the Civil Service online test minimum (benchmark) standard.
Stage 5: Sift
In sifting the applications to decide which candidates to consider for interview, particular weight will be attached to your degree information, especially the social research methods training requirement.
Candidates who are successful at the sift stage will be considered for interview at one of the participating Departments.
Candidates who are unsuccessful at the sift stage will not be given any feedback or comments.
Stage 6: Interview at a GSR department.
Candidates who are successful at the sift stage will be considered for interview at one of the participating departments. Due to the large volume of applications expected, applicants successful at the sift stage will be randomly allocated to any of the participating departments for their interview.
You will be informed of your interview date by the GSR department you are allocated to via an email or telephone call (rather than via your Civil Service Jobs account). Interviews are likely to take place virtually, but please take note that this will be confirmed by the interviewing department.
More information on the interview stage can be found in our Application Guidance Notes.
Candidates will be notified by the Civil Service Jobs portal whether they have been successful or unsuccessful.
Stage 7: Placement Offer
All candidates will be offered a role based on merit. Location preference will be taken into consideration but is not guaranteed.
Occasionally, a department may withdraw from the scheme before placements are offered or we have more successful candidates than available placements. In such cases, applicants will be placed on a reserve list. The reserve list is open for 6 months.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment., If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, please contact gesrrecruitment@hmtreasury.gov.uk, in the first instance.
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you may contact the Civil Service Commission, please see link to their website: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-complaints

• Basic Statistical Principles
• Use and Interpretation of Statistics
• Design, Methodology and Qualitative
• Presentation of Information
More information on the eligibility criteria and completing the application can be found in our Application Guidance Notes, To be eligible applicants must be, in the penultimate year (i.e., year before the final year of study) studying an undergraduate degree which includes around a third of modules in social research methods training and must be on track to achieve a minimum of a 2:2 in their degree as demonstrated by their first-year results., This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Ability, Experience and Technical skills.
To be eligible applicants must be in the penultimate year of undergraduate study for a degree which includes around a third of modules in social research methods and must be on track to achieve a minimum of a 2:2 in their degree.
Please read the application guidance fully before making your application.
1. Essential eligibility requirements
To be eligible you must meet the following academic requirements:
+ Be in the penultimate year (i.e., year before the final year of study) and on track to achieve a minimum of a 2:2 in in your degree as demonstrated by your first-year results
+ Be studying an undergraduate degree which contains a minimum of 30% course credits in social research methods training in your overall degree content. Your degree must include quantitative research methods (i.e., research design, data collection [i.e., questionnaire design, sampling, weighting], data analysis [e.g., statistical analysis, interpretation]). Your degree must also include at least three of the following areas:
o Qualitative methods, including research design, data collection (e.g., interviewing, focus groups, ethnographic), data analysis (e.g., thematic analysis)
o Study design, hypothesis formation, testing and evaluation, application of ethics to research
o Systematic/literature review
o Interpretation of data (qualitative & quantitative), presentation of results, provision of recommendations/ conclusions
o Students are not required to have undertaken research themselves as part of their degree course at time of application, but they should have gained an understanding of the principles and skills needed to design and conduct social research and to be able to critically evaluate research methods, strategies and data used by social scientists.
To be eligible you must also meet the following nationality requirements:
+ Be a national of the UK, Commonwealth or Republic of Ireland or a European Economic Area (EEA) with a right to live and work in the UK.

‘Penultimate’ means that you have one more year at university to complete your undergraduate degree after this placement, To avoid disappointment please do not apply if you are due to graduate in the Summer of 2025, but plan to continue your studies with a post undergraduate degree, such as a Masters.
Please note: You do not need to list your GCSEs or A-Level qualifications under the CV and ‘Your Qualifications’ section. You also do not need to upload or attach a separate CV document.
In Question 3 of the ‘Additional Questions’ section of the full (part 2) application form, please include the following information:
The full subject title of your undergraduate degree and its start date, your first-year degree grade, all modules studied as part of your degree by year, the number of credits per module per year, clearly mark which modules are relevant to social research, with a clear description of the research methods training studied or to be studied next to the modules, and your degree’s total number of credits.
In your application, please ensure that you provide full details about the research method training components of your degree. We can only sift on the information you provide on the application so please ensure you complete the form as fully as possible., + Learning and development tailored to your role
+ An environment with flexible working options
+ A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity