For Keiron Ringwood, being able to build a career on his home turf has always been a big priority.
So, after joining the Civil Service straight from university, he wanted to be able to grow his career while continuing to live in his beloved North East of England.
After working as an administration officer for HMRC in Durham and an executive officer for DEFRA in Newcastle, he applied for the Civil Service’s prestigious Fast Stream accelerated development scheme and secured a place on his second attempt.
Though it’s best known as one of the UK’s top graduate employers, the Civil Service’s Fast Stream is also open to existing civil servants who made up around one in nine of successful applicants in 2024.
Keiron’s role as a Fast Stream policy advisor in His Majesty’s Treasury in Darlington has broadened his horizons in ways he never imagined.
Its combination of formal training and enriched workplace opportunity has set him on a path which should see him become a Grade 7 at the end of three years.
“What I enjoy most is the chance the Fast Stream gives you to learn about the way the government works and to meet people from different backgrounds and from different parts of the country,” he said.
“I’m making the most of the experience and learning as much as I can from the people, the training and workplace opportunities I’m getting.”
Keiron was brought up in Hartlepool. After getting Cs and Bs in his GCSEs at his local comprehensive school, he came into his own during his Sixth Form years and achieved distinctions in BTEC business and law qualifications. Throughout his studies he also managed to support himself through hospitality jobs at his local McDonalds and Hartlepool Catholic Club.
Despite gaining a First Class degree in journalism at nearby Sunderland University, he decided against a career in the media and opted instead to follow his parents into the Civil Service.
“My mum and step dad have been administration officers in DWP for more than 30 years and I was attracted to the structure and security of a Civil Service role,” he said.
“I put a lot into all my posts, but securing a place on the Fast Stream gave me confidence that the Civil Service was an organisation in which I could progress. If it hadn’t been, I would have left and gone elsewhere.”
While Keiron did not get into the Fast Stream on his first try, he succeeded on his second attempt and could not have been more delighted to learn the scheme could, in his case, accommodate his request for a local placement
“My friends and family are in the region so staying where my roots are is a non-negotiable for me,” he said.
Keiron currently leads on the policy relating to tax-free childcare, developing the policy in a way that improves take-up.
Being on the Fast Stream has set him on a steep development path that has seen his confidence increase.
“I used to feel inferior because of my background and accent,” he said.
“But I’m learning alongside people with very different upbringings and feel I fit in as I am just fine.”
Find out more about the Fast Stream here.
