More than 10,000 civil service jobs in the UK will be cut

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More than 10,000 civil service jobs will be cut under ministers’ plans to save their departments 5% during a spending review, according to government figures.

Ministers are looking at rolling out voluntary redundancy schemes across various agencies to achieve the savings that chancellor Rachel Reeves has demanded as part of her comprehensive review of spending.

The number of employees in the civil service reached 513,000 this year, an increase of 34% compared to 2016 and the eighth consecutive year the total has increased.

However, the plan to reduce the overall number of civil servants risks denting the morale of officials after Sir Keir Starmer last week declared that “too many people in Whitehall feel comfortable in a warm bath of decline.” managed reduction”.

The prime minister appeared to counter that sentiment on Tuesday with a letter to all officials praising their “dedication and professionalism,” while blaming “bureaucratic obstacles, barriers, processes about processes” causing any poor performance.

Some departments have indicated the scale of their expected cuts. The Ministry of Defense is considering a 10% cut to its 56,800-strong civil service workforce during this parliamentary session, permanent secretary David Williams told MPs at the defense select committee last month.

Echoing Defense Secretary John Healey’s comments that the Department must become “leaner,” Williams said increased productivity would help address some expected civilian staffing cuts. He also emphasized that some areas, such as digital defense, will require higher staffing levels.

In his speech on public sector reform on Monday, Pat McFadden, Minister for the Cabinet Office, said that “technology will help us become more productive and efficient” in the civil service. the.

Greater use of AI in tasks such as drafting correspondence and taking minutes of meetings will reduce the need for some administrative staff, Whitehall figures say.

However, McFadden – who will not publicly answer questions about the growing number of civil service workers this week – has no plans to impose top-down cuts or hiring freezes on other parts, like the last Conservative government.

“We will not come up with an arbitrary number and set a limit, because we know what happened when that was tried before: the government ended up spending,” said a government official. So much for consultants.”

Labor has vowed to halve state spending on external consultants.

“There is a general feeling that we cannot continue to grow,” the person added. “The number of civil servants in recent years has been increasing. . . The reality is that ministries will have to find ways to deal with spending cuts.”

Reeves sets spending limits for 2026-29 in the Budget in October. The spending review, which begins on Tuesday and is expected to end next June, will see ministers arguing over every budget line of their ministries.

Whitehall figures say there is currently no discussion of mandatory redundancies.

In addition, small but strategic changes in the government apparatus are also expected in the coming months. The Cabinet Office has transferred government digital services and other data units to the Department of Science and Technology.

Last week Cat Little, permanent secretary of the Cabinet Office, set out her intention to “return to the core” of her department.

She told MPs on the public administration committee: “We have finally become the place where if no one else raises their hand and you want something done centrally, it will come with us”.