Reform UK will cut the civil service almost in half as part of a radical overhaul designed to deliver a smaller, more effective government.
Danny Kruger, Reform’s Head of Preparing for Government, told the Financial Times that the party would reduce the number of civil servants from more than 520,000 to around 300,000, with changes frontloaded into the early years of a Reform government.
“We’re going to radically reduce the size of the civil service, which has grown so much over the past decade”, Kruger said.
Reform’s plans would create a more streamlined civil service, with higher salaries for the staff who remain. Kruger said the current system had become a “miserable place to work” and that the overhaul would reward serious and hardworking officials.
“We want to communicate to serious, hardworking civil servants that if Reform wins, it will become a better place to work - it will be smaller and there will be significant redundancies”, he said.
Kruger insisted that Reform would approach the changes carefully, ensuring that essential government services continued to function throughout the overhaul.
“It’s not as if we can arrive at day one and start ripping out all the wiring and expect the lights to stay on”, he said.
“We need to change things in a competent way that ensures that the business of government can continue.”
Reform expects civil servants to work constructively with an elected government and help implement the programme endorsed by the British public.
“We expect collaboration, and we’re going to go in with the expectation that there will be goodwill from the great majority of civil servants”, Kruger said.
However, he issued a clear warning to officials who might seek to obstruct Reform’s plans: “People who don’t like the sound of it, they’d better start preparing for another career.”
The party also plans to abolish the Cabinet Office and appoint a new head of the Civil Service from the private sector, transferring power away from unelected officials and restoring the authority of ministers elected to deliver change.
Danny Kruger, Reform’s Head of Preparing for Government, told the Financial Times that the party would reduce the number of civil servants from more than 520,000 to around 300,000, with changes frontloaded into the early years of a Reform government.
“We’re going to radically reduce the size of the civil service, which has grown so much over the past decade”, Kruger said.
Reform’s plans would create a more streamlined civil service, with higher salaries for the staff who remain. Kruger said the current system had become a “miserable place to work” and that the overhaul would reward serious and hardworking officials.
“We want to communicate to serious, hardworking civil servants that if Reform wins, it will become a better place to work - it will be smaller and there will be significant redundancies”, he said.
Kruger insisted that Reform would approach the changes carefully, ensuring that essential government services continued to function throughout the overhaul.
“It’s not as if we can arrive at day one and start ripping out all the wiring and expect the lights to stay on”, he said.
“We need to change things in a competent way that ensures that the business of government can continue.”
Reform expects civil servants to work constructively with an elected government and help implement the programme endorsed by the British public.
“We expect collaboration, and we’re going to go in with the expectation that there will be goodwill from the great majority of civil servants”, Kruger said.
However, he issued a clear warning to officials who might seek to obstruct Reform’s plans: “People who don’t like the sound of it, they’d better start preparing for another career.”
The party also plans to abolish the Cabinet Office and appoint a new head of the Civil Service from the private sector, transferring power away from unelected officials and restoring the authority of ministers elected to deliver change.
