To wonder why civil service haters don't understand that cutting 10,000 jobs is going to hurt everyone

[Everythingisnumbersnow]

I can't believe Labour is doing what they're doing

The number of people employed in the UK in the last quarter of 2024 was 33.86 million! 10,000 jobs is a lot but less than 0.03% of that total. I have family who are affected but even they can see there are areas where cuts should be made.

I don't know where these people who he's going sack off are going to work? There are transferrable skills from public sector to private but they will have to compete with those with experience in profit making businesses.
He's out to get a his 'own' staff and trying to tell disabled people they're a bunch of lying workshy scum who don't deserve any money anymore.
But equally this government seems to hate businesses, so who does he actually want to help?!

And for that reason, they should remain in post?

Now that’s what I call fuzzy logic….

Wrong. I got a £50k increase by moving to a US company!

Agree. They should have a target for amount of savings, not number of staff- that'd create a focus on the vastly overpaid.

I think you underestimate the power of the vastly overpaid at the top to justify their own existence at the expense of those who work below them.

Lol it's hilarious that you think they'll get rid of the useless middle managers and idiot seat fillers.

They will get rid of the lower paid staff that really do the actual work. Every service will get even shitter

Sadly I think that you have very little understanding of how corporation tax and global businesses actually work, your’e spouting utter rubbish. When I think of ‘greed and selfishness’ I think of all of those people who could work but opt out and settle for a life on benefits. There is too much government support, it makes it too easy, benefits should be reserved for the people who really, really need them and not the feckless wasters.

It is the same old, same old. Cut swathes of civil service jobs. Pay out millions in redundancy. 18 months later start recruiting again. Staff recruited are much cheaper of course, but skills and knowledge have been lost.

Seen it all before. Shame on Labour for not having more imagination.

@BobbyBiscuits

Its very unlikely that there will be 10000 actual redundancies.
Depts will have recruitment freezes, there will be people at retirement who won't be replaced, people who were moving on naturally who won't be replaced.
I took redundancy last year. I'm now a full time foster carer. My best friend who went at the same time now works part time in M&S. Both of us are mortgage free, children grown up. We have taken pensions early. We still need to work but don't need the salaries we did. Some just retired or went free lance.
People will get all sorts of different jobs.
If I remember rightly about 2500 of us went at the same time across 5 or 6 city sites, including London. Not a lot to be absorbed into local employment markets.
Part of the reason I took VR was I was fed up of the constant villification of the CS. Most civil servants are decent hardworking people delivering essential public services. But there is always room for improvement

Yes, I'm aware that international tax planning is international. At the same time it's true that HMRC doesn't offer a competitive rate to attract talent, and there are other ways of taxing these firms than corporation tax itself. Nothing is impossible, there's always a way.

And there are other ways (short of invasion) to bring the Cayman Islands etc. into line.

Pretty sure a lot of the jobs will be lower paid admin roles that they can replace with AI.

@Ted27 yes you are right, there won't be 10,000 actual redundancies.

Yes, I'm aware of how it works (Ireland, Luxembourg, various BOTs). Perhaps the EU should be pushing for harmonisation of corporation tax rates. They did of course fine Apple a few years ago.

Well, it’s the NHS not the USA so presumably cuts will be made after deciding what roles are really needed and which aren’t and then those people will go through redundancy processes and be given plenty of notice and payments.
its well over due- this actually gives me MORE faith in Labour, not less.

@PandoraSox

Yes, Depts are most likely to be given targets eg reduce headcount by 5% or work within x budget
Lots of ways of achieving that short of redundancy

There will be literally thousands of people who have lengthy service rubbing their hands together in glee waiting to receive their massively inflated redundancy packages plus augmented pensions. This will cost an absolute fortune but in the long run will hopefully save money and make things more efficient.

Employing people to do things like send out patient satisfaction surveys is an absolute waste of time and tax payers money, The essential roles will be TUPEd.

I carried out a VS project in a public sector organisation recently. We had to reject applicants due to the volume of applicants (from over 55s in particular) and had people putting in grievances because we wouldn’t make them redundant.. Everyone over 55 was desperate to take voluntary severance because they got immediate access to their full pension. Why wouldn’t you want that.

🤣Spending time working for a City law firm many years ago gave me plenty of insight into how greedy, powerful and selfish people and businesses operate. There was never more truth in the saying that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It was sociopath-central.

We have added a huge number of public sector workers to cope with Brexit. Customs, product standards, compliance . The biggest win would be a re-allignment of regulation with Brussels and a customs union

What I actually have very little experience of is people on benefits.

@haufbiskiy
I agree with some of what you say.

I certainly did not leave with augmented pension. If you take pension before your pension date it is reduced. I had a preserved pension from a previous period of service under a different scheme to the current one. I'm 60 this year and took my pension last year a year early. It just, only just covers my essential living costs. 20 years full time service. I have a later civil service pension but I cannot access that until I'm 68. I still need to work.
I will need that pension because as a foster carer if you have no child in place you have no income, I had a gap of 4 months last year - I was forced to claim the pension and UC to survive.
It's a myth that all civil service pensions are huge. As a single person I will be OK at 67/68. OK as in caravan in Wales for a week, not multiple luxury long haul holidays a year OK.

Based on personal experience, the problem with civil service numbers cuts and worsening conditions is that it is often not the ones you would want that leave. The great people that can get better paid jobs and/or better conditions leave, with voluntary redundancy payments being an added incentive. Those that can’t get jobs elsewhere stay. So in the past few years in some departments it has acted like a filter, with the less effective workers now left.

Unemployment benefit is only just under £400 a month.

I know! I agree ... and if anyone from the civil service was looking, I was being explicit on my demands ;)

BEPs Pillar Two is doing a lot of this work, probably more effectively than the EU alone could.

However, my manifesto promise would be to abolish corporation tax - I truly don't think taxing companies is the right answer if we're looking for growth.