Civil service to be told to slash more than £2bn a year from budget by 2030

Departments are expected to receive instructions to cut budgets in a letter from Pat McFadden, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Rex/Shutterstock

The civil service will be told to slash more than £2bn a year from its budget by the end of the decade as part of the government’s spending review, with unions warning of significant job losses, the Guardian understands.

The Cabinet Office will tell departments to cut their administrative budgets by 15%, which is expected to save £2.2bn a year by 2029-30.