Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden insisted the Government’s focus was not on people losing their jobs but was on being ‘radical’ in reforming the civil service
Labour has been warned not to use the civil service as a “political punchbag” amid fears it plans to mimic an Elon Musk drive to sack government workers.
Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden did not deny reports that the Government plans to make it easier to oust civil servants. He insisted the Government’s focus was not on people losing their jobs but was on being “radical” in reforming the civil service. He said he wants to see more civil servants working in the UK’s regions, instead of in London, and an increase in using technology to make processes more efficient.
Mr McFadden will this week say the Government is “willing to disrupt the status quo” to create a more productive civil service. He will announce plans for under-performing civil servants to be incentivised to leave their roles and for performance-related pay to be introduced for some senior officials. And a new target will be introduced to have one in 10 civil servants working in a digital or data role within five years.
Asked about plans to make it easier to sack civil servants, Ms McFadden told BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: “Performance management is part of every big organisation. But it is 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 want to have more teachers in schools, more neighbourhood police officers, why we wanted to get waiting lists down. It is part of what we believe in that the state can provide both security and opportunity for people.
“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 the plans are facing a backlash from unions, as well as some within Labour. One Labour MP told the Mirror the plans were “another knee-jerk reaction, mimicking [Elon] Musk DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency]. Not a good look.” Mr Musk, who is Donald Trump’s efficiency tsar, has come under fire after launching a wave of sackings since the Republican Party’s return to the White House.
TUC boss Paul Nowak said “Trumpian language” from the Government is “not helpful”. He said: “I think these are a set of proposals that look more about grabbing headlines rather than about a serious plan for reforming our public services.
“Our members are absolutely up for that debate about delivering effective public services, interesting and serious discussions about things like how you deploy digital technology, AI, about workload, about flexible working. But you’ve got to have those conversations with the staff involved. What I want is a government that’s going to help rebuild and repair our public services, bring public service workers with them while they do that.”
Prospect General Secretary Mike Clancy 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.”
