More than 10,000 UK jobs to be cut

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More than 10,000 public sector jobs are to be cut under ministers’ plans to get a 5 percent cut in their departments’ budgets, according to government figures.

Ministers are looking to implement voluntary redundancy programs in various departments to meet Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ demands for better spending control.

Headcount in the civil service on the 513,000 this year, a 34 percent increase on the levels of 2016 and the eighth year in a row that the number has increased.

Plans to cut the number of civil servants are under fire among senior officials after Sir Keir Starmer said last week that “many people in Whitehall are comfortable with a short-term shower”.

The prime minister appeared to contradict that on Tuesday with a letter to all officials praising their “commitment and expertise”, while criticizing “government obstacles, silos, administrative processes” for any success.

Some departments have already indicated the size of their proposed cuts. The Ministry of Defense is considering a 10 per cent cut to 56,800 civil servants within parliament, its permanent secretary David Williams told MPs at the defense select committee last month.

Echoing defense secretary John Healey’s suggestion that the ministry should be “skinny”, Mr Williams said the benefits would reduce the expected reduction in civilian casualties. He also emphasized that some areas, such as digital security, will need to see high-level staff.

In a statement on public sector reform on Monday, Pat McFadden, the minister responsible for the Cabinet Office, said that “technology should help us be more efficient and productive” in the public sector.

Greater use of AI in tasks such as writing letters and taking minutes of meetings could reduce the need for some managers, Whitehall figures have said.

However, Mr McFadden – who could not be questioned about government staffing levels this week – is not planning to force cuts or layoffs in other departments, like the last Conservative administration.

An official in the government said: “We don’t just take a number to hide the number and put a cap on it, because we know what happened when the case was already tried: the government spent a lot of money buying consultants.”

Labor has pledged to halve the government’s spending on foreign consultants.

“There is a sense of danger that we cannot continue to grow,” the person added. “The number of civil servants in the last few years has increased and increased. . . The reality is that the departments have to find a way to deal with the reduction in spending.”

Reeves set out the spending envelope for 2026-29 in the Budget in October. The spending review, which was launched on Tuesday and is due to end next June, will see ministers debate each of their budgets.

Whitehall figures say there are no reports of forced redundancies at this stage.

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

Last week, Cat Little, the permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, outlined her intention to “get back to what the core components” of her department should be.

He told members of the government’s oversight committee: “We are almost at the point where, if no one puts their hand up and you want it to happen in the middle, it comes to us.”