UK govt to cut 50,000 civil service jobs

As many as 50,000 of the United Kingdom's civil service workers could lose their jobs over the next five years amid a rigorous government spending review.

Officials briefed on review talks told the Financial Times newspaper they expect about 10 percent of the UK's roughly 500,000 full-time government workers to go.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the number drops to 450,000 by 2030," said one source.

Economists estimate the UK faces a 60-billion-pound ($75.8-billion) budget shortfall, with the Home Office expected to take significant cuts while delivering major policy promises.

The UK's finance minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, announced plans for significant public spending cuts across government departments in her spring budget statement two months ago.

The job cuts are only one part of a wider cost-cutting drive that Reeves wants to have wrapped up by next week.

"It's almost done," said one minister involved in the negotiations.

Reeves' cost-cutting plan aims to lower government operating expenses by 15 percent by 2030 through worker reductions, office consolidation, and decentralizing jobs from London.

Most government departments have now agreed their three-year budgets, Treasury officials said, including major spenders like the Ministry of Justice.

Some senior ministers, including Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, are still lobbying for more funding before Reeves delivers her next spending review on June 11.

The Home Office must fulfill pledges to halve knife crime and violence against women, while adding 13,000 neighborhood police officers with a reduced budget.

Police chiefs are publicly opposing cuts, warning against austerity measures as early prison releases threaten to increase pressure on law enforcement.

According to the FT, a 10 percent reduction in government worker numbers is considered achievable by officials, given the substantial growth in central government employees following Britain's exit from the European Union and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Civil service numbers fell to under 390,000 in 2016 during government austerity cuts, according to the Institute for Government think tank.

Brexit demands pushed the total to 425,000 by early 2020, before COVID-19 led to further increases, reaching 515,000 last year.

Last month, Mike Clancy, general secretary of the Prospect union, which represents civil servants, said: "Cuts to administration budgets sound like an easy win to save money while protecting frontline services. But unfortunately that is not how the public accounts work, administration covers absolutely essential functions.

"There is a real danger that the government is putting the cart before the horse, setting out a savings target before it has worked out the wider reform agenda. Reform should start with a conversation about what the government wants the civil service to do, not just what it wants it to cost."

The Cabinet Office has not commented on the job cuts, but one official told the FT: "A total of about 450,000 civil servants by the end of the decade is about right."