Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Latest NewsEconomics, government & businessHR strategyJob creation and losses

CIPD public sector job cut figures questioned by employment experts

by Personnel Today 22 Apr 2010
by Personnel Today 22 Apr 2010

Employment experts have cast doubt over Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) predictions that half a million public sector jobs could be shed over the next five years as the new government begins to tackle the £167bn deficit.

The CIPD said its analysis of the three main political party election manifestos concluded that it is “probable” that the 5.8 million core public sector workforce will be reduced by 10% by 2015. This figure could be even higher in the event of a Conservative victory, chief economic adviser John Philpott said.

But Nigel Meager, director of the Institute of Employment Studies, said that, while the CIPD was right to draw attention to the fact that public sector employment will fall after the election, it is “wrong to try and quantify this with dramatic claims of half a million job losses”.

“None of the parties’ spending reduction plans contain nearly enough detail of where and when they will wield the axe for us to be able to conclude this,” he told Personnel Today.

Previous experience suggests that politicians, particularly from opposition parties, tend to overestimate the scope for job loss through efficiency gains, rather than underestimate them, according to Meager. “Once in office, they find it much harder to secure these gains, and realise they cannot deliver many of their own pet policies while cutting headcount dramatically,” he said.

Meager also dismissed the CIPD’s claim that it was “misleading” to suggest that the volume of likely job losses in the public sector could be eased by a combination of pay cuts or short-time working. “These are precisely the areas where early reductions in public payroll costs are likely to be most feasible, along with recruitment freezes,” he said.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Alan Warner, lead officer on communications at the Public Sector People Managers’ Association, described the CIPD’s prediction as “speculative”.

“There is no doubt that there are challenging times ahead and all organisations are doing all they can to mitigate the impact on services and jobs,” he said. “The numbers of any possible job reductions have not been quantified, and we therefore view the figure suggested by the CIPD as speculative.”

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Six key post-election issues for employers
next post
Social Media Week: How HR can get involved

You may also like

Ministers loosen fire and rehire proposals in Employment...

10 Jul 2025

£188k tribunal award for director sacked after cardiac...

10 Jul 2025

It’s no secret – parity in the workplace...

10 Jul 2025

Firms’ salary secrecy means ‘they lose out on...

10 Jul 2025

Court of Appeal rules that Ryanair agency pilot...

9 Jul 2025

Teacher recruitment goals ‘lack coherent plan’

9 Jul 2025

Gregg Wallace sacked amid fresh misconduct allegations

9 Jul 2025

Doctors vote for return to strike action

8 Jul 2025

‘Frustrating’ that NHS Plan has overlooked OH, warns...

8 Jul 2025

Employment Rights Bill set to ban employer NDAs

8 Jul 2025

  • Empower and engage for the future: A revolution in talent development (webinar) WEBINAR | As organisations strive...Read more
  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+