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The Cabinet Office has announced it will cut 400 jobs and is examining proposals to hive off some remaining “odds and ends” into a separate arm’s length body.
Cat Little, permanent secretary at the department, unveiled the plans for a voluntary redundancy scheme and other proposed reforms in a call with all civil servants at the department on Thursday morning.
The job cuts are designed to produce cost savings but also streamline the department, where full-time headcount has almost tripled in the past decade, allowing it to focus on its original role as the co-ordination centre of government.
The news came after the Financial Times reported on Wednesday that more than 10,000 job cuts are expected in Whitehall as cabinet ministers grapple with the chancellor’s demand for savings across government under her spending review.
One senior official said the Cabinet Office had “lost its focus” in recent years and the government was determined to seize a “rare opportunity to refocus” its role, which will be central to delivering Sir Keir Starmer’s six milestone pledges.
Pat McFadden, the minister in charge of the Cabinet Office, set out his vision for reforming the public sector this week, which will also involve greater use of technology such as AI.
“We are reforming the way the Cabinet Office works, moving to a smaller, clearer structure,” the department said.
The plan will “remove duplication and unnecessary bureaucracy, empower teams and individuals to be creative and innovative in their work, and improve the delivery of Cabinet Office core activities”, it added.
The department has swelled from 1,990 full-time staff, plus 560 additional employees in agencies in 2014, to 6,315 full-time staff, with a further 1,045 attached to agencies this year, according to the annual civil service statistics.
Several thousand additional officials are technically employed by the Cabinet Office but work in other departments.
Only about 3,500 roles in the department are considered “core” to its operations helping to ensure the effective development, co-ordination and implementation of policy.
Several thousand other officials are employed in the department’s “functions” — working across government to provide human resources, commercial, legal and other services.
While senior strategy roles in these areas are set to remain within the Cabinet Office, Little told officials she would now look at proposals to transfer some related services out of the department to a separate arm’s length body. This may include the body that conducts Whitehall security vetting, the government property agency that runs the office estate, and recruitment services.
Critics have long complained that the Cabinet Office has become a dumping ground for disparate units and policy areas that other departments have deemed too difficult to solve.
Last week Little told MPs that she wanted to streamline the department to its “core parts”, adding: “We have ended up being the place where, if no one else puts their hand up and you want something done in the centre, it comes to us.”
The department has informed civil service trade unions of the proposals and will engage with staff on the changes. The Cabinet Office restructuring is set to be completed by the end of 2027.