THE UK Government is set to announce plans to reform the civil service by introducing performance-related pay and an accelerated exit process for under-performing civil servants.
Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said the Labour Government will “fundamentally reshape” the civil service, with a set of reforms set to be announced next week.
The plans have previously been dubbed “Trumpian” by the head of the senior civil servants’ union.
McFadden is expected to promise a new “mutually agreed exits” process which will incentivise civil servants performing below their requirements to leave their jobs.
Meanwhile, under-performing senior civil servants will be put on development plans, with the possibility of being sacked if there is no improvement within six months.
McFadden is also expected to say that the most senior officials will have their pay linked to performance outcomes.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, McFadden said the Government was making changes because “we need to reform the state”, pointing towards an increase in the number of civil servants partly due to Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic.
McFadden would not give specific numbers on how many staff could be cut from the civil service, instead saying: “I think the central civil service would and can become smaller.
“I want to see more civil servants working outside London, where I think the state can get better value for money.
“For example, my own department – the Cabinet Office – has got a second headquarters in Glasgow. It’s a fantastic team of people working there, I’ve visited them twice.”
McFadden denied that the announcement was “ideological”, as Kuenssberg drew comparisons with US president Donald Trump’s decision to set up a Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) run by billionaire Twitter/X owner Elon Musk to reduce spending and increase performance.
“We’re a centre-left government, we believe in good public provision,” he said.
“That’s why we fought the election saying we wanted to have more teachers in schools, more neighbourhood police officers, why we want 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 upfront in our policies.
“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.”
Dave Penman, the head of the senior civil servants’ union, the FDA, previously wrote to Keir Starmer urging him to rethink his position on reform, suggesting he had invoked “Trumpian” language by saying that “too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline”.
Responding to the latest announcement, Penman said: “If the government is serious about transforming public services they must set out what the substance of reform looks like, not just the re-treading of failed ideas and narratives.
“In the absence of big ideas, we have seen previous governments peddle the narrative that public services are being held back by a handful of poor performers in the senior civil service.”
He added: "[The] government should get on with the difficult job of setting those priorities rather than announcing a new performance management process for civil servants every other month.”
