How to apply for a Government Social Research sandwich student placement
Source: gov.uk (2025-10-10)

Our 12-month sandwich student placement scheme is aimed at students who are considering a career in the Government Social Research (GSR) profession after graduation.

Applications for our 2026 scheme are now closed.

Notify me when applications open (https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=xUQW7eAF5km8Ofz3rFHBjETWjdV45AZFtE9XwuXpjyBUOUNVM0tZQUwyTkM4MzI2QVdRQk5QMVZPMy4u)

Are you a social science undergraduate in your penultimate year? Do you want to gain practical experience and use your research skills to make a difference? Join the UK Government for a paid student placement.

You would spend a year working alongside social researchers and policy officials before returning to your studies. The job could involve analysing research data to help government decision making, evaluating the impact of policies, and providing social research advice to help shape government strategy.

Placement students may also get an early-access interview for a government role upon graduation and many return to work for us. We offer:

Meaningful work that benefits society

Chance to gain professional social research experience, apply your knowledge and sharpen your skills

Diverse and inclusive workplace

Flexible working

For further information, please refer to the to the job descriptions and the application guidance notes.

Salary

Minimum salaries for our 2026 scheme: £27,800 for London and £23,800 nationally

Salaries vary according to department and location. Please refer to the job descriptions for full details.

Locations

Locations for our 2026 scheme included: Birmingham, Bristol, Darlington, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Sheffield, York

Locations vary according to government department. Please refer to the job descriptions for full details and learn more about the Government Social Research profession here. (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/civil-service-government-social-research-profession)

Eligibility Requirements

The Sandwich Student scheme is only open to students in their penultimate year of undergraduate study (i.e. the year before their final year) and who are on track to achieve a minimum of a 2:2 in their honours degree as indicated by their results so far.

To avoid disappointment please do not apply if you are due to graduate in the summer, but plan to continue your studies with a post undergraduate degree, such as a Masters.

To be eligible you must meet the following academic requirements:

Be on course for a. 2:2 or above outcome. This is indicated by your exam results so far.

Be studying an honours 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]) as well as at least three of the following areas:

Qualitative methods, including research design, data collection (e.g., interviewing, focus groups, ethnographic), data analysis (e.g. thematic analysis)

Study design, hypothesis formation, testing and evaluation, application of ethics to research

Systematic/literature reviews

Interpretation of data (qualitative & quantitative), presentation of results, provision of recommendations/ conclusions

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.

You will also need to demonstrate that you meet the relevant immigration requirements and that you are eligible under the Civil Service Nationality Rules (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules).

Applicants who have visa status must ensure they include all the details of their visa status in the application. If successful at sift, you will be asked at a later date to provide a copy of your visa that covers the period of the placement.

Please note: We do not offer visa sponsorships for our schemes.

Application process

The application process involves the following steps. Full details on each step can be found in the application guidance document.

Short application Form (part 1)

Civil Service Numerical Test

Full application form (part 2)

Pre-sift - Online test review and pass mark set

Sift

Interview

Offer and allocation to a government department.

Please note – steps 1-3 must be completed by the application deadline

Information on each of the stages are outlined below:

1. Short application Form (part 1)

The short application form (part 1) only captures your personal and contact details.

2. Civil Service Numerical 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. Practice tests can be found here (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/civil-service-online-tests). There is also a video guide to the numerical test (https://youtu.be/wYzpZKxJpwo?feature=shared) which you can use to help you prepare.

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, hopefully you should therefore not need to request extra time to complete this test as a disability reasonable adjustment. Read more about reasonable adjustments. (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/reasonable-adjustments-for-online-tests-a-candidate-guide)

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.

3. Full application form (part 2)

In the full (part 2) application form we have asked for details of your degree. 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 honours degree and its start date

Your first-year degree grade (plus second-year degree grade for 4-year Scottish degrees).

All modules studied as part of your honours degree by year, including grades achieved thus far.

3 years if studying in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 4 years if studying in Scotland

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.

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 based on the information you provide on the application so please ensure you complete the form as fully as possible. Once submitted applicants will be unable to amend their application.

4. Pre-sift - Online test review and pass mark set

Once applications for the scheme have closed, we will set a pass mark for the numerical test. At this point 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.

5. Sift

If you pass the numerical test, your application will be sent anonymously for sifting (assessing). Sifters will decide which applications will be progressed to interview.

Candidates who are successful at the sift stage will be considered for interview at any of the participating departments. Candidates who are unsuccessful at the sift stage will not be given any feedback or comments.

6. Interview

Candidates who are successful at the sift stage for the 2026 scheme will be invited for an online interview with one of the participating departments.

You will be asked to provide a reference from your university tutor, confirming your suitability for a social researcher placement at the ‘invitation to interview’ stage.

At the interview you will be asked questions regarding social research methods and the Civil Service behaviour ‘Working Together’. There is guidance to help you understand how to answer behaviour questions (https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/behaviours/) so please do use it to help you!

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application and performance at interview, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.civil-service-careers.gov.uk%2Fartificial-intelligence-and-recruitment%2F&data=05%7C02%7CTerryann.Farnworth%40hmtreasury.gov.uk%7C8a915d475e234981bfb108ddf4610524%7Ced1644c505e049e6bc39fcf7ac51c18c%7C0%7C0%7C638935419715729271%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=lvAzSgTgqWjin14pKD3tkHdBRv72qsxfAtFTOeU%2BJzY%3D&reserved=0) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Candidates will be notified by the Civil Service Jobs portal whether they have been successful or unsuccessful. All candidates who attend an interview, successful or otherwise, will be given feedback by the interview panel.

7. Offer and allocation to a government department.

If you are successful at interview, you will be allocated to one of the government departments participating in the scheme. Allocations will be made in merit order based on interview score. We will endeavour to place you into one of your top three locations, however due to large numbers of applications this is not always possible.

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.

If you are offered a role with a government department, you will be sent an email with the contact details of your department. Your department will then be in touch to commission pre-appointment checks. You cannot start your placement until all the pre-appointment checks have been completed.

You should address any questions regarding your role and contract to the department in the first instance.

Recruitment timetable

The expected timetable for the 2026 scheme is outlined below. Please note that dates for sifting, interviews and offers are subject to change.

Contact point for applicants

GESR Recruitment Team: xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)

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