Civil Service reforms will be radical, minister vows

The Civil Service will be reformed under "radical" plans to be announced this week, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden has told the BBC.

Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he said parts of the Civil Service "would and can" be smaller, with the government expected to prioritise frontline jobs, like border guards and prison officers. He did not give a figure for reducing staff levels.

As part of the measures, senior staff will have performance-related pay and those failing to meet required standards could be dismissed if they do not improve within six months.

Public sector union, the FDA, accused the government of delivering a "soundbite, not a credible plan for change", describing it as a "re-treading of failed narratives".

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Labour's plans were "weak and anaemic" compared to what his party had been planning.

He said before losing power in the general election, Conservative ministers had begun a process to reduce the Civil Service by 12%.

Philp added that the previous government, in which he served, had made a mistake in letting the Civil Service get "too big".

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McFadden is aiming to redirect resources from the backrooms to frontline roles, such as border guards and prison officers.

While he avoided setting a figure on how big the Civil Service should be in the future, arguing it "narrows the discussion too much" he did say "the central Civil Service would and can become smaller".

He also said he wanted to see more civil servants working outside London "where the state can get better value for money".

As part of the measures any civil servants performing below expectations may be "incentivised" to leave their jobs, with McFadden promising a new "mutually agreed exits" process.

For senior civil servants there will be performance-related pay and new measures to tackle poor performance. This will include putting those found to be under-performing on development plans. If there is no improvement in their performance after six months senior civil servants could then be dismissed.

Higher number of digital and data apprenticeships

The proposals will also see one in 10 civil servants employed in a digital or data role within five years, to be delivered through apprenticeships and retraining staff.

Currently there are 25,000 digital and data civil servants, making up 5% of the civil service workforce.

No timescale has been given by the government on when they want to bring in the wider changes to the Civil Service.

Asked if he wanted more civil servants to return to office working, McFadden said he personally thought there was "value to being in the office" and it was "generally a good thing".

Asked if the government was copying Elon Musk's efforts to reduce the US state, McFadden said: "Performance management is part of every big organisation, but it's an important thing for you and your viewers to remember: we're a centre-left government.

"We believe in good public provision, that's why we fought the election, saying we wanted to have more teachers in schools, more neighbourhood police officers, why we wanted to get waiting lists down.

"That will guide us in our actions, it's up front in our policies, so we will be radical about this, but it's about getting bang for our buck in terms of the outcomes for the public, it isn't an ideological approach to stripping back the state."

But Dave Penman, general secretary of the civil servants union FDA, said: "If the government is serious about transforming public services they must set out what the substance of reform looks like, not just the retreading of failed ideas and narratives."

He added meaningful reform "must put substance before headlines", and that if McFadden wanted civil servants to focus on delivery - while government departments simultaneously cut resources - "ministers need to set realistic priorities".

"[The] government should get on with the difficult job of setting those priorities rather than announcing a new performance management process for civil servants every other month," Mr Penman explained.

Mike Clancy, head of the Prospect union which represents more than 32,000 civil servants, said: "Nobody would say the Civil Service is perfect, and our members are willing partners in reform, but this government must end the tradition of treating the Civil Service as a political punchbag.

"A serious reform agenda must start not from blunt headcount targets, but from an appraisal of the specialist skills needed in areas like science and data, and a realisation that the current pay system does not compete with the private sector for these skills."

In 2016, the Civil Service headcount stood at 384,000 - the lowest level since World War Two.

However, over the past decade that number has steadily risen, with the Institute for Government (IfG) think tank putting the figure for 2024 at 515,085.

The rise was partly driven by Brexit and making preparations for the UK to leave the EU, and the government's response to the Covid pandemic.

In the coming week, the government is also expected to set out changes to the welfare system, aimed at cutting the overall bill.

Asked on the programme if the government were planning to make changes to disability benefits, McFadden said: "They will be part of this discussion."

"We don't believe it is good that if somebody could work with a bit of support that they're left to live a life on benefits."

He said 2.8 million people were currently on long-term sickness benefits and added that, if the government did not act, the level would rise to more than four million.

"We can't allow that to happen," he said.