Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Spring Statement announcement to cut 10,000 back-office civil service roles has drawn support from leading policy recruitment experts, who see the move as a long-overdue correction that could increase public sector efficiency and create new career pathways.
Lauren Maddocks, Associate Director at specialist recruiter Policy by Murray, described the planned reductions as a chance to modernise and reshape the public sector for the future.
“While the headline-grabbing news has been around proposed job cuts, these are long overdue, and could dramatically cut wastage in what has become a ‘flabby’ public sector,” she said. “Both Brexit and the pandemic led to huge increases in the size of the public sector workforce. The planned reductions represent a correction of that growth and will help to drive greater efficiency and better use of public funds.”
Maddocks pointed to previous examples of successful public sector reform — such as the 1980s Next Steps programme and the 2004 Gershon Review — which demonstrated how workforce restructuring can deliver substantial efficiency gains. She believes the same is possible now, particularly if the civil service embraces new technology and agile ways of working.
As the government moves to modernise public services, Maddocks expects to see a rising demand for professionals skilled in change management, innovation and digital transformation. “We anticipate that as the public sector undergoes this transformation, there will be an increased demand for professionals who are adept at managing change, implementing innovative solutions, and driving efficiency.”
She also noted that reforms to planning policy, outlined elsewhere in the Spring Statement, will likely fuel demand for infrastructure, planning and construction professionals across all levels of government.
“While the reductions do present some initial challenges, they also offer an opportunity to reassess and redesign public sector operations so they are fit for 2025 and beyond,” Maddocks added. “By embracing this change, the public sector can emerge more agile, responsive, and better equipped to serve the needs of the country.”
The government’s wider plan includes a £3.25 billion Whitehall transformation fund, which will support workforce restructuring and investment in new technologies, including AI, as part of a broader strategy to reduce inefficiencies and future-proof public services.
