The NSW Public Sector Capability Framework is designed to help attract, develop and retain a responsive and capable public sector workforce. 

It gives the large and diverse public sector a common language to describe the capabilities and behaviours expected of employees across the public sector. Capabilities are transferable knowledge, skills and abilities relevant to a role.

The Capability Framework has 16 core capabilities organised into four groups:

1. Personal Attributes
2. Relationships
3. Results
4. Business Enablers

There is an additional group of four People Management capabilities for people managers 

Capability Levels

Each capability has five levels:  foundational; intermediate; adept; advanced and highly advanced. 

Roles may require capabilities at varying levels, depending on the work the role does.

Behavioural indicators illustrate the degree of knowledge, skill and ability required for effective performance at each level These indicators are not an exhaustive list, nor is every indicator necessarily relevant to every role.

Occupation specific capability sets

Occupation specific capability sets describe specialised capabilities for professional, technical or trade-related roles. These can be used to complement the Capability Framework where roles require specialised capabilities. 

The Capability Framework was introduced in 2013. It was updated in 2020 to reflect changes in public sector work and service delivery models, and to improve the capability descriptors and behavioural indicators based on agency feedback.