Using AI in NHS and Civil Service job applications: what is allowed

Updated · By the Tick the Spec team

You can generally use AI tools to help you understand a job, organise your own examples and check your spelling and clarity. You should not use AI to write your answers for you, to invent or exaggerate experience, or to answer tests or interview questions. The Civil Service's candidate guidance says applications should accurately and authentically reflect your own skills and experience, and that applications using AI inappropriately may be rejected. NHS Employers has told NHS organisations that AI-generated answers are often generic and can contain false information, and suggests employers ask candidates to declare AI use. Rules differ by employer, so always read the advert and any AI statement on the employer's website.

What the Civil Service says

Civil Service Careers publishes A candidate's guide to artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment. As reported when it was published in 2025, and as reflected in departmental versions, it says:

  • Acceptable: researching the Civil Service and the employing organisation; organising and presenting your own work experience more clearly; improving the wording of your answers while keeping them accurate; preparing for interviews, for example by generating practice questions from the job description and preparing answers based on your own experience.
  • Not acceptable: inventing or exaggerating skills and experience; creating generic responses and copying them into your application; using AI during tests (such as personality, situational judgement or numeracy tests); using AI to answer questions in live or recorded interviews.
  • Your statements should be truthful, factually accurate and taken from your own experience. The Cabinet Office has said applications "should not use AI to generate full or false responses".

Departments may publish their own versions (for example DWP), and the Scottish Government has similar guidance for its own recruitment, which also warns against giving AI tools sensitive information about your organisation, such as figures or personal details.

What the NHS says

There is no single national NHS rule for candidates. In August 2025 NHS Employers published guidance for employers on AI in candidate applications. It:

  • warns that over-reliance on AI-generated content is discouraged, and that personalisation is essential to convey individual skills and experience;
  • notes there is no proven technology to detect AI, and does not recommend automatically rejecting applications on suspicion of AI alone;
  • suggests employers consider an AI policy, add a statement to adverts and forms that AI use is monitored, and ask candidates to declare whether they used AI, which tools and for what;
  • suggests employers use structured, role-specific questions and robust interviews to test what candidates wrote.

Many trusts and boards now publish their own candidate statements. Some ask a yes/no question about AI use on the form. Answer it honestly.

A practical rule of thumb

Generally fine (check the employer's rules)Not fine
Asking AI to explain a person specification or a Civil Service behaviourAsking AI to "write my supporting statement"
Brainstorming which of your real experiences might fit a criterionAccepting examples the AI suggests that did not happen
Organising your own notes into a STAR structureAdding results, figures or responsibilities you did not have
Checking spelling, grammar and word countUsing AI during an online test or interview
Practising interview questionsPasting in confidential data, patient details or colleagues' names

Step by step: using AI honestly

  1. Read the advert and the employer's AI statement first.
  2. Write your own rough notes for each criterion: what you did, where, and what happened.
  3. If you use a tool, give it only your own facts and ask for structure or clarity, not new content.
  4. Remove anything you did not do, any word you would not use, and any figure you cannot back up.
  5. Read the final text aloud. It should sound like you, and you should be able to talk about every line at interview.
  6. If the form asks whether you used AI, say yes and what for.

Worked example (fictional)

Invented for illustration. Leah has rough notes for "experience of managing a diary": "I do diary for 3 managers. lots of clashes. I colour code + check every Friday." She asks a tool to put her notes in a clear paragraph without adding anything. It returns:

I manage the diaries of three senior managers. Clashes are frequent, so I colour-code meetings by priority and review the following week's diaries every Friday to resolve conflicts before they happen.

Every fact is hers. If the tool had added "reducing missed meetings by 40%", she would delete it, because she never measured that.

Common mistakes

  • Submitting text that sounds polished but generic. Panels see the same phrases repeatedly.
  • Keeping AI "examples" because they sound good.
  • Not declaring AI use when the form asks.
  • Pasting sensitive information into a tool.
  • Being unable to explain your own statement at interview.

Tick the Spec is built around this approach: it shows which criteria your evidence covers, asks you for your real examples, and helps structure them within the word limit. It is designed not to invent experience and highlights any sentence it can't trace back to what you told it; the final words are yours to check and approve.

Read next: How to write a supporting statement (UK guide with example) · Supporting statement vs personal statement vs cover letter

Sources

All guides