The chancellor Rachel Reeves will cut around 10,000 civil service jobs as part of drastic cuts to government running costs.
She told the BBC this weekend that the civil service must make savings of more than £2 billion a year on administrative spending, and Wednesday’s Spring Statement is expected to include details of how departments must achieve this.
This week, government departments will receive a letter from Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden with instructions on how savings must be made by the end of the decade. The job cuts are expected to be made in back office and adminstrative roles rather than front-line services.
Civil service cuts
Departments must make cuts to running costs of 10% by 2028-29, and then 15% the following year – a saving of £2.2 billion annually. Sectors such as human resources, communications and office management could be set to lose headcount.
Last week, the Cabinet Office instructed government departments and agencies to freeze almost 20,000 credit cards as part of its crackdown on wasteful spending.
The government has also made sweeping changes to the benefits system, alongside abolishing NHS England as a separate entity.
Reeves told the BBC that every department had been asked to rank their spending from the most important to the least.
“We want to put more money into the things that are the most important things for voters, for citizens, and less money on the things that are just not necessary or we should be doing in a different way,” she said.
Union reaction
Unions reacted angrily to Reeves’ statements. Fran Heathcote, PCS general secretary said: “After 15 years of underfunding, any cuts will have an impact on frontline services.
“You hear that every day from the public, that they wait too long on the phone when they try to make tax payments, jobseekers rushed through the system in just ten minutes because there aren’t enough staff to see them, victims of crime waiting until 2027 to have their cases heard in the courts as well as the backlog in the asylum system which results in additional hotel costs.
“The impact of making cuts will not only disadvantage our members but the public we serve and the services they rely on.”
Dave Penman, head of the FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, said the idea that large scale cuts could be made by cuts to HR and communications teams was “for the birds”.
“This plan will require ministers to be honest with the public and their civil servants about the impact this will have on public services,” he added.
Mike Clancy, head of the Prospect union said: “Civil servants in all types of roles help the public and deliver the government’s missions.
“Cutting them will inevitably have an impact that will be noticed by the public.”
Heathcote warned the government that it could “expect a lot of opposition” to its plans.
“We’ve heard this before under Gordon Brown when cuts were made to backroom staff and the consequence of that was chaos,” she said.
“If the last government taught us anything it’s that you can’t cut your way to growth.
“We’re happy to engage with the government over many issues but if they don’t talk to us about what is an arbitrary figure for cuts plucked out of the air in order to make it sound like an efficiency they will meet with a lot of opposition, not just from unions but from the public who will be affected by cuts in the services they receive.”
Kate Palmer, employment services director at Peninsula, said the Cabinet Office would need to ensure it followed a fair process when making redundancies.
“This starts with producing a sound business case to support the decision to make redundancies. There is a duty to consult with staff whose roles are impacted by redundancy and consider all options and alternative employment before any decisions are made. If no alternatives are found and the employee is made redundant, then they are entitled to notice pay and if they have over two years’ service, they also have the right to redundancy pay,” she advised.
“Depending on the numbers involved, collective consultation may be required. If this is the case, and the business fails to consult correctly, a tribunal can apply an additional award to any successful unfair dismissal claim, currently set at up to 90 days’ pay. Therefore, it is essential that businesses follow the correct process, as failure to do so could result in even further costs.”
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