EUROPEAN UNION

Cutting 91,000 civil servants: 'Efficiency' at what cost?

Against a backdrop of unprecedented strain, it is difficult to see how a radical reduction in civil service numbers will increase efficiency or improve the quality of public services, says Lucy Woods.

Earlier this month, the Government announced the proposal to cut 91,000 civil service jobs, likely to be achieved through recruitment freezes, abolishing vacancies and enforcing redundancies.

This proposal is a bid to save £3.5bn of public money by reducing the number of civil servants back down to 2016 figures (384,000), prior to Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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