To now be terrified of losing my job on top of everything else (Civil Service Cuts)

[Themidnightpig]

Like many families we are feeling the pinch of the cost of living crisis. Our fuel and food prices have gone insane and I'm currently only getting maternity pay.

I'm just returning to work from mat leave amid all the news about the cuts of 90,000 civil servants and now I'm feeling utterly terrified that I will be one of them.

AIBU to think this is a terribly irresponsible thing for the government to be doing when we are at the beginning of what's promised to be one of the worst economic crises ever? I feel sick frankly.

I’m not surprised by the government’s lack of morals at all. I’m due to start a CS job in August though so I am worried.

I thought the cuts were going to be by natural wastage, and less entry level recruitment.

The majority will be through hiring freezes and natural wastage. There may be some reorganisations with voluntary redundancy programmes. Involuntary redundancies will be unlikely as older and more experienced staff will take the good packages and go elsewhere, leaving the departments with massive skills gaps. Later, they will realise this and go on a mass hiring programme.

Twas ever thus.

OP this is similar to me. I return in august after a year Mat leave as a CS and can't say am not thinking about the cuts. However we are still protected since coming from Mat leave for a while.

Also cuts will be for like Brexit and covid roles that are no longer fulfilling the purpose as it's all over if this makes sense x

If you were in a permanent role prior to going on Mat leave you should be alright.

As others have said I think they’ll make the numbers by freezing recruitment, end of short term contracts (there were loads of job coaches who had temp contracts during covid and didn’t get renewed- bet they count them in the numbers despite it being before the announcement!), people retiring etc etc. I strongly doubt they’ll be axing people on permanent contracts who don’t want to go.

The ending of the fast track scheme this year at least for new entrants suggests that it will be by natural wastage. It won't be 90,000 job losses in any case, it is another 'dead cat' story designed to put off more coverage of the parties in Downing Street.

The civil service has on the face of it grown massively since 2016 but this is in large part down to roles specifically created to manage Brexit and Covid - many, many of these were only ever temporary so will naturally fall away anyway, and you'd know if yours was one of those jobs. If you're in a stable department/job that existed pre 2016 and is still doing its thing, you're likely absolutely fine.

Even in departments which may need to make cost savings, if redundancies are needed at all (and likely they can simply reduce recruitment/freeze vacancies), it's pretty much universally true across the CS that because CS redundancies are so generous for long servers, departments will have their hands snapped off as soon as they open a scheme. It's always been my experience in the CS (in the complete reverse of how it is everywhere else lol!) that it's far more of a problem having to turn lots of people down who desperately want to be made redundant (usually because they're near retirement age and eligible for a lucrative early retirement option, but these are the skilled and experienced staff you really want to keep on) than it is having to compulsorily select someone who wants to stay in the job. So I wouldn't panic OP, even if you are tremendously unlucky and do end up in a role that goes you will definitely get plenty of notice of it, nothing happens quickly in the CS!

OP, this month, for the first time since records began, there are more vacancies than there are unemployed people, so try not to worry too much.

If you have any transferable skills at all, you'll be snapped up. We have vacancies in admin, accounts and sales that we are struggling to fill.

Plus, if you are returning from mat. leave, you should be ok.

I'm a civil servant and it hasn't crossed my mind to be honest. As others have already said , it will be covered by natural wastage, accommodation changes etc.

As a fellow CS, I know how you feel. It's easy to say, but try not to worry too much,a lot of it will probably be done by natural wastage. What Department do you work in?

Indeed.
OP have you not worked in CS for very long? These things come round every few years.

It’s absolute window dressing to please the tub thumping anti-public sector teeds. As others have said, the number will come from the end of Covid roles and natural wastage. There’ll be a recruitment freeze. And then we all get on with things.

It’s very depressing.

I’m a civil servant, but not Westminster, I work for a government agency.

We worked all through out the pandemic without any option of furlough. Those with children had to home school whilst wfh as at least in the first lockdown there was no prospect of being classed as key workers.

Weve had a real terms pay cut over the course of many years.

Its so depressing and now we’re being told our jobs aren’t even secure.

Isn't this just the case with any job at the moment though? Certainly everything you say applies to my job too (private sector, profession). I don't think anyone feels safe at the moment.

OP, as PPs have said most will be through hiring freezes and potentialyl voluntary redundancy schemes - this is a far cheaper and less risky way to cut work force than actual redundancies. Also there's an awful lot of demand for employees and only a limited number of employees around with skills and experience (thanks to Brexit). While of course not ideal, it's not the worst time in history to be unemployed, even if things do go the wrong way for you. But I'd not worry too much unless your specific department is at high risk.

When these cuts were first announced, I read an article that said iro 70k staff had been appointed on temp contracts to work on Covid-related stuff, so the bulk of the jobs would go by simply not renewing those contracts. I strongly suspect that the other 20k will be voluntary redundancies.

Mind you, if they stick with the bonkers notion of going to the imperial system of measurement, they'll need loads of staff!

You can actually 'save' jobs by designing a new function/team and then not recruiting to it. Top tip.

They won't need to do VER in most places. The civil service is huge so 20,000 people will leave or retire in the next few months regardless.

Defence. I initially read natural wastage too but that isn't the rumours going around.

Thing is that there’s no such thing as a job for life any more.

The civil service has been one of those organisations where your job was likely more secure than others, but a lot of roles have been created to fill Brexit and COVID jobs so those will automatically go.

Plus recruitment freezes and the freezing of the fast track scheme.

And there’s an awful lot of dead wood in the civil service who will snap their hands off for redundancy. Rarely are there compulsory redundancies in the civil service, because people are clammering for voluntary.

This does seem very unfair. However many industries are doing similar.There are very few "safe " jobs out there ATM. If you were to be made redundant could you get redundancy ? If you have been in your job a while then you have built up good skills .These would be welcomed by a new employer .Hopefully your job will be safe ,but if not you should have a good chance of a new one

As an economy we need to boost the private sector. We have a huge public sector some of whom have very good t&cs compared to the private sector. As a nation we can’t afford to be ‘top-heavy’.

You should be okay coming back from maternity leave given the focus will be natural wastage and those in temp posts.

@Themidnightpig . Snap! I'm MOD as well. I don't think we have grown as much as some of the other departments have in the past few years. I remember when they last had a VERS programme and they were overwhelmed! As other posters have said a lot of it will probably be natural wastage.

They announced this to throw read meat to their base. The truth is not a penny will be saved. Costs will go up. They’ll get rid of the 90,000 then those same people plus more will return to their departments as contractors or consultants earning two or three times as much as before.

This is because those jobs are required to get us through Brexit transition and the additional red tape and to prevent services truly falling over as we don’t have a proper functioning government. However, their headcount won’t be counted as they aren’t perm staff. It’s all bollocks.

I'd imagine Defense is not an area that is of high risk of cuts at the moment....