Reeves takes axe to Civil Service jobs

Rachel Reeves will this week order the Civil Service to save £2 billion a year in a move that unions said could result in tens of thousands of government jobs being axed.

The Chancellor and Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, will tell all government departments they must cut administrative costs by 15 per cent over the next five years.

Mr McFadden will set out in a letter that the cuts must target roles in HR, office management and government communications to spare front-line services.

Union bosses said the size of the cuts represented about 10 per cent of the entire Civil Service salary bill, raising the prospect of tens of thousands of redundancies.

The efficiency drive is set to cover about a third of the spending cuts the Chancellor will announce in her spring statement this week, outside of welfare.

A Cabinet Office source told The Telegraph: “To deliver our Plan for Change, we will reshape the state so it is fit for the future. We cannot stick to business as usual.

“By cutting administrative costs we can target resources at front-line services – with more teachers in classrooms, extra hospital appointments and police back on the beat.”

Economists have said Ms Reeves will need to tighten departmental budgets by £5-6 billion a year, in addition to last week’s net £4 billion in cuts to benefits, to avoid breaking her fiscal rules.

More here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/03/22/reeves-to-axe-thousands-of-civil-service-jobs/