The Department for International Trade needs to make job cuts “in the low hundreds” because of a funding deadlock between the key Brexit department and the Treasury.
The department, which was set up in July 2016 to promote UK exports and develop trade deals across the world after the UK leaves the European Union, has to reduce its workforce due to funding constraints from the Treasury, according to the Financial Times.
The paper reported that the jobs are set to be lost in roles that work in countries overseas to help British companies export their products because of the cost of hiring officials to undertake the technical trade negotiations themselves.
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The department's workforce has expanded by around 1,000 posts in 2017, but will now need to make cuts from its trade promotion employees, who number around 3,000 and are based in 108 countries according to the FT. The department declined to comment on the report when approached by CSW.
“A budget problem has arisen because DIT has not got enough money from the Treasury to do everything it needs,” one person briefed on the budget impasse told the paper. “As a result, hiring trade negotiators is putting a strain on things and means the costs of expansion can only be met by cutting the number of people on the ground.”
Another official at the trade department said this was “obviously the wrong thing to do”, adding: “You are taking away jobs in the low hundreds across the network, especially in China, India and Latin America.”
The department received around £30m in additional funding in the 2017-18 financial year as part of chancellor Philip Hammond’s announcement of additional funds for Brexit, and a further £74m in funding allocations made by the chancellor for 2018-19 in the Spring Statement.