Cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood has said Brexit will require “an unprecedented collaborative effort” across government and pledged additional resources will be made available to the parts of the civil service most affected by the negotiations.
In an internal message sent to civil servants after the prime minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 yesterday, Heywood said “the clear priority now for the civil service is to support the government in negotiating a smooth and orderly UK exit from the EU and ensuring the best possible deal for the UK as a whole”.
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In the message, seen by CSW, the cabinet secretary acknowledged this would require additional resources with government.
“As well as many brilliant civil servants from across Whitehall and beyond, we are bringing in specialists from outside the civil service, for example, people with experience of negotiating international trade deals where we need to boost our in-house capability. We are also increasing resources for those parts of the civil service facing the greatest pressures,” he wrote to staff.
Getting to the point of triggering Article 50, some nine months after the 23 June vote to leave the bloc, had already required “an enormous amount of hard work”, he said, and the civil service had risen to the challenge.
“I also have every confidence that we have the skills, experience and leadership we need as we move into the next phase of this vital work for the future of our country,” he added.
I have every confidence that the @UKCivilService has the skills & leadership to deliver the next phase of work for the country's future
— Sir Jeremy Heywood, via Twitter
The message came as the three main civil service trade unions have told Heywood and prime minister Theresa May Whitehall must be properly resourced in both staff numbers and pay in order to make a success of the Brexit negotiations.
In statements as the prime minister formally triggered the Article 50 process to leave the EU, the FDA, Prospect and the Public and Commercial Services all warned that stretched resources in Whitehall could imperil the exit talks.
FDA general secretary Dave Penman said that with the countdown to the intensive negotiations now on, May must act now to properly resource the civil service to enter the talks on a strong footing.
“Huge budget cuts in recent years have left the civil service is at its smallest since before the Second World War and the government can no longer ignore mounting calls from the likes of Lord Kerslake, the Institute for Government and the National Audit Office to review civil service capacity,” he said.
Penman accused the government of “blindly continuing with outdated spending plans and efficiency targets set by the previous chancellor [George Osborne]” in spite of significantly different circumstances since the Brexit vote.
“Civil servants will now be at the heart of delivering new trade relationships, transposing EU laws into British ones and overhauling immigration, customs and agricultural policies currently handled by the EU,” he said.
“If the government wants to retain the talented civil servants it already has, as well as attract the new skills required to prepare for a post-Brexit Britain, now is the time to seriously review its approach to departmental spending, workforce planning and civil service pay.”
At the PCS, general secretary Mark Serwotka said “it is clear to everyone that the civil service is woefully understaffed and underprepared for Brexit”.
He added: “While we engage in the long, complex process of withdrawal from the EU, there will be no let-up in the demand for existing services. All cuts plans must be halted immediately to allow us to properly discuss the staffing and resources that are needed.”
Garry Graham, the deputy general secretary at the Prospect union, highlighted a poll that found under a quarter of their members who are set to be involved in negotiating the exit terms believed their organisation had the necessary skills to do so.
In addition, half of respondents to the poll of civil servants, scientists and engineers, said Brexit had impacted negatively on their organisation’s work.
Graham said this showed “the UK could lose out in negotiations to leave the European Union because of a lack of resources and expertise in Whitehall and beyond”.
Concerns went beyond areas such as access to the single market once Brexit is complete into areas like how much Whitehall capacity there would be to implement policies in areas such as environmental regulation and nature protections that will be returned to the UK.
“Our fear is that our members in public service will be so tied up in redrafting legislation they will have less time to do their jobs – from ensuring ships are safe to go to sea, protecting our rivers, testing our lorries and buses or registering our patents,” Graham said.
“The government is heading into the two-year exit period after Article 50 is triggered without giving civil servants the tools they need to handle the negotiations. With many of our members already facing increasing workloads, we fear that fewer staff and less money could hamper UK efforts.”