United Kingdom Prime Minister, Liz Truss is reportedly backing off a key plan of predecessor, Boris Johnson to cut 91,000 Public Service jobs over three years.
Instead, she is in favour of reducing the headcount through long-term attrition, reports say.
In May, Mr Johnson announced proposals to cut a fifth of the Public Service workforce to bring it down to levels that existed before the 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union (Brexit).
Mr Johnson said the bureaucracy had grown in recent years to deal with Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic and had become “swollen”.
Ms Truss still wants to return to the 2016 headcount, but is not committed to the 2025 target.
Instead, she is seeking a more gradual approach to reducing the size of the Public Service to avoid redundancies that could cost up to £7 billion ($A13.3 billion) reports said.
The move may not in fact signal a radical change in direction as this is not the first time the Government has suggested attrition would spearhead the reduction.
Following the 91,000 cuts announcement, then-Minister for Government Efficiency, Jacob Rees-Mogg said the easiest way to cut numbers would be to implement a hiring freeze as tens of thousands of Public Servants left their jobs annually.
New Minister for the Cabinet Office, Nadhim Zahawi (pictured), who has oversight of Public Service reform, has concluded that the Johnson target was a “blunt instrument” that should be reviewed.
“Getting back to 2016 levels is still the overall ambition but that will now be done over a different timescale,” a Government source said.
“That target is no longer set in stone.”
The Government is now likely to turn to a hybrid model of efficiency savings and job cuts to reduce Departments’ spending, sources said.
Departments have already been told to find “new efficiencies” and set out how they will contribute to the Government’s flagship agenda of driving growth.
London, 9 October 2022
