The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has announced an immediate cap on civil servant headcount across Whitehall to stop any further expansion, together with a review of spending on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).
Introduced with immediate effect, the “civil service numbers cap” limits headcount at the current level, with a focus on a “leaner and more effective workforce”.
The civil service workforce has grown every year since 2016, with the headcount in June 2023 at around 457,000 full-time equivalent employees.
The cap on headcount could save up to £1bn by March 2025 compared to the current growth trends. However, the Treasury claimed that the cap “does not equate to a recruitment freeze” and that current recruitment campaigns will continue.
“We have the best civil servants in the world and they saved many lives in the pandemic by working night and day,” said Hunt. “But even after that pandemic is over we still have 66,000 more civil servants than before.”
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“New policies should not always mean new people. So today I’m freezing the expansion of the civil service and putting in place a plan to reduce its numbers to pre-pandemic levels.”
A spokesman for Hunt told reporters the plan would focus on “low-priority” roles, such as those focused on EDI.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union said: “Thirty seconds after praising civil servants for their work during the pandemic, Jeremy Hunt announced a freeze on recruitment.
“Shrinking an already-overstretched and under-resourced civil service will inevitably result in cuts to vital services that people depend on.
“We have long argued cuts have consequences, so if ministers want fast-moving border controls at our ports and airports, an end to backlogs for those seeking driving licences or applying for driving tests, they must employ more civil servants, not less.
“Our hardworking members do an invaluable job keeping the country running and we won’t stand by and watch the Conservatives make them scapegoats for a failing economy.”
In November last year, the prime minister scrapped a target of 91,000 civil service job cuts set by Boris Johnson and ordered departments to find efficiency savings instead.
Government departments will now be asked to produce plans on driving down headcount over the long-term to pre-pandemic levels, as part of the Public Sector Productivity Programme being carried out by John Glen, chief secretary to the Treasury.
FDA general secretary Dave Penman said: “Jeremy Hunt may pride himself on being on the pragmatic wing of his party, but his announcement on civil service number is straight out of the Jacob Ress-Mogg playbook.”
He added: “Picking a point in time in the past and deciding that is the right number of staff to deal with the public service challenges of the future is intellectually bereft. It is so glaringly arbitrary that all it does is demonstrate that this is not a serious government.”
A value-for-money audit of EDI spending in the civil service will separately inform the productivity review, with the findings and actions to be announced by the chancellor in the Autumn.
The Cabinet Office has written to over 100 organisations in the civil service, including government departments and executive agencies, to confirm how many staff work on EDI and how that work supports government priorities.
Hunt, Cabinet Office minister Jeremy Quin and Kemi Badenoch, minister for women and equalities, will jointly scrutinise whether EDI spending offers taxpayers value for money.
Departmental plans are expected to include detail on how they will use modern technology to drive efficiencies and deliver better services for the public at lower costs – across both the civil service and the wider public sector. This process will also prioritise the protection of critical frontline services, said the Treasury.
It said the civil service headcount cap will apply to all government departments and their arm’s length bodies. The Civil Service Fast Stream will continue as planned in recognition of the importance of the talent pipeline.
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