The British civil service has paused its flagship graduate plan for at least a year to reduce its staff.
The scheme, known as the rapid flow of the civil service, will not be implemented in 2023 as it has in previous years.
The decision was made at a cabinet meeting on May 19, chaired by Stephen Barclay, the prime minister’s chief of staff.
The move comes after the government said it wanted to cut 91,000 civil servant posts to save money.
The fast flow of the civil service consists of 15 individual programs, and graduates with a minimum grade result of 2: 2 can apply.
Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, had sent a letter to officials acknowledging that while job cuts would be “a challenge”, civil service staffing levels had risen significantly since 2016, in partly due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2016, the state had the lowest number of civil servants since World War II, 384,000, but due to Brexit this figure rose to 475,000 by the end of 2021.
The government also said it had not completely ruled out a freeze on hiring or compulsory layoffs to reduce staffing levels. However, the decision to stop the rapid flow of civil service has been criticized.
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Alex Thomas, program director at the Institute for Government’s thinktank, said: “Stopping the flow is fast as a way for the public service to attract new talent from different backgrounds. digital and project management to improve public services.
“Focusing on downsizing rather than budgeting can create perverse incentives, leaning toward the loss of cheaper, younger talent instead of being more efficient elsewhere.”
The largest civil service union warned of a possible strike after plans to cut jobs were announced, and Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, said the civil service had reached a “turning point” and the strike was realistic.
He added that the civil service was already struggling with a delay in passports, driving licenses, lawsuits and pension payments due to “chronic staff shortages and a recruitment crisis”.
Regarding the planned cuts, a government spokesman said: “Our focus is to have a public service that has the skills and capabilities to continue to provide outstanding public services, and that is exactly why we have changed the procurement rules. to incorporate the best talent and invest in the professional development of our people ”.
The spokesman added that all taxpayer spending should show “efficiency and value for money”.