The civil service grew under the Tories. Can Starmer reduce it without further harming morale?

With departments required to make 5% budget cuts, civil servants are in for a demanding future Many civil servants breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the back of the Conservatives in July – a hoped-for end to long-running pay disputes, the looming axe of job cuts and a sense of overall chaos.The past decade has seen a churn of ministers, with three different prime ministers in 2022 alone and 67 cabinet appointments. The civil service endured being dismissed as “the blob” by ministers and Jacob Rees-Mogg pushing for up to 90,000 jobs to be cut. Continue reading...

The civil service grew under the Tories. Can Starmer reduce it without further harming morale?

With departments required to make 5% budget cuts, civil servants are in for a demanding future

Many civil servants breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the back of the Conservatives in July – a hoped-for end to long-running pay disputes, the looming axe of job cuts and a sense of overall chaos.

The past decade has seen a churn of ministers, with three different prime ministers in 2022 alone and 67 cabinet appointments. The civil service endured being dismissed as “the blob” by ministers and Jacob Rees-Mogg pushing for up to 90,000 jobs to be cut. Continue reading...