Neurodiversity inclusion within the Civil Service

Recently, we sat down with Iain Forbes (Department for Transport) to hear how his challenge has progressed and why it mattered to him personally. 

Across the Civil Service, awareness and understanding of neurodiversity is growing, but culture change takes more than policy. It takes stories, honesty and connection. 

For Iain , that realisation became the start of something new. Drawing on his own experiences as a manager, a father and a Forward Institute Fellow, Iain set out to open up conversations about neuro-inclusion in a different way. 

The result is 'The Neurocrats’ a podcast series sharing real stories from neurodiverse colleagues across grades and departments. What began as one brave conversation has evolved into a growing movement for understanding and inclusion across government. 

The challenge 

The challenge was partly shaped by my experience as a leader and manager. I felt I was engaging with people in good faith, but something didn’t quite sit right in terms of neurodiversity inclusion. Some people were neurodivergent, and they were finding it more difficult to engage in the culture of what they were learning. We simply weren’t set up for every person to be successful. 

I was also driven by personal experience, as both a leader and a parent. Both of our sons are autistic. I often found myself wondering What does the world of work look like for them? I’m a leader. I have agency. What can I do to improve that? 

That dual perspective, professional curiosity and personal motivation, became the driver behind the work. 

Finding the right path 

My first instinct was process - building guidance for line managers, practical toolkits, clearer policies. But in conversation with colleagues, including a brave senior official who spoke powerfully about her lived experience, my mindset shifted. Made me try to find the thing that will actually influence hearts and minds in a way that will create and build a more inclusive environment. 

That brave colleague spoke about her own advocacy and her framing was extraordinarily powerful ‘the civil service too often doesn’t feel like a welcoming environment to a neurodivergent individual’. 

 Drawing on Fellowship reflections, especially the idea of holding problems open, I slowed down and didn’t rush to solve something. Instead, I started creating connections that allowed a fresh perspective. 

From that, somebody I didn’t know approached me. They had recently been diagnosed as autistic and wanted to share their experience; what they had learned, what had helped and what was hard. They wanted somebody to chair that session which I said yes too. 

We were all overwhelmed with the support and positivity both in the session and afterwards. That meant landing on the thought that perhaps the biggest difference, is to share your platform and create space for people to share their lived experiences. That’s where we landed on the podcast idea, on the back of that one brilliant session. 

It’s been an incredibly rewarding activity, we aren’t quite there, but I have learned a huge amount from the approach we’ve taken and how you genuinely open up a tricky issue and get people aligned with you to try and do something substantial. It hasn’t always been easy, and we’ve zig zagged to get there. 

Putting the plan into action 

We landed on a name ‘the neurocrats’, and I am proud of that one. I reached out to some colleagues, and over time, that turned into a plan. It hasn’t been short process, we all have day jobs, it’s a process that is important and that’s meant people have wanted to spend their discretionary time contributing. 

I hadn’t ever built or planned a podcast before, so I looked to the people around me to do this together. I did a fellowship shoutout for anybody that had ever pulled together a podcast, put in touch with somebody that ran the BBC podcasting department, and another fellow that was running a podcast series. Those conversations really helped figure out what good looked like. 

Challenges and considerations 

There were a lot of things to consider, tricky decisions to manage, how to host it, who should see it, was very thoughtful at every step and am really pleased with the outcome. We’ve had to think really carefully, protecting contributors, holding space responsibly and making sure we don’t talk over people or make it too narrow a conversation. 

Neurodiversity inclusion is increasingly visible in public debate, but it’s complex and often polarised. Working in the Civil Service means everything we do must be intentional and able to withstand scrutiny. That’s why we grounded the work in personal experience and authenticity. 

We’re already thinking about how we could improve it for hopefully season 2. 

The result: The Neurocrats Podcast 

I’m genuinely astounded we’ve come this far. We’ve completed our first season, seven episodes recorded, each featuring brilliant and diverse stories, and they’ll start to be published in November 2025. 

The episodes feature a wide range of voices, from a board member to a chief executive and a former director of comms. Now we’re hoping those stories will find an audience. The momentum is already building – people from other departments are reaching out, wanting to get involved. 

The series started on a private YouTube channel for civil servants only in November 2025 and has recently launched openly on YouTube. With one episode published monthly.  

The original in-person session had 50 people in attendance, and it had a meaningful impact on a large group, both during and after. While the podcast is only just launching, the hope is that by talking about these experiences, we can begin to reshape culture. 

From spontaneous conversations to more visible advocacy, there’s growing momentum around neuro-inclusion, not just in my department, but across government. 

What are your learnings so far 

I’m clearer on what persistence really looks like. It’s one thing to do something once, but gathering momentum and following through is where real impact lies. If we can maintain a coalition of people who want to be involved, I can eventually pass the baton to someone else, and if we build an audience, that’s success.  

I’ve squeezed every ounce out of the Forward Institute Fellowship that I can. Having the confidence to hold the problem open rather than jumping to solutions, that was a big shift, supported by the programme. It also gave me a space to explore challenges with engaged, generous people who genuinely wanted to help. 

I’ve learned to sit with complexity, to create new connections and to keep the work grounded in human experience. Sitting with complexity and creating space for others to lead can be as powerful as finding a solution. 

Leaning on that support network, people going through their own experiments and crises, outside of power structures, has become a lasting anchor. That’s been the most valuable thing from the Fellowship programme. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to put time into my challenge.