The civil service headcount has gone down for the first time since 2022.
New quarterly public sector employment data for December 2024, published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics, shows the civil service headcount (full-time equivalent) decreased from 515,000 in September 2024 to 514,000 at the end of the calendar year.
This is the first decrease in the size of the civil service since June 2022, when the headcount also dipped by around 1,000.
Department-by-department figures show the biggest reduction in permanent staff is in the Ministry of Defence, which has reduced its headcount by 510 as it continues its drive to reduce its workforce size by 10%. For temporary staff, the biggest change is in the Home Office, which has reduced its numbers of casual employees by 580.
Going against the overall grain, staffing numbers in agencies accountable to the Cabinet Office increased by 270, while the Department for Business and Trade’s headcount went up by 265.
The size of the civil service has risen each year since 2016, partly due to Brexit and then the Covid-19 pandemic. In September 2016, the headcount was 384,000. It has grown by 130,000 since then, a 34% increase over the last eight years. In the last year, it has gone up by 12,000 - a 2.4% increase.
The current headcount is 20,000 below its peak during Tony Blair’s premiership of 534,000.
Keir Starmer pledged last week to use AI and automation to cut "flab" from the civil service, saying his government does not want “a bigger state”.
And technology secretary Peter Kyle said he was “almost certain” that the civil service headcount “will go down” as more public services are digitised and automated.
Kyle said ministers would not set an “artificial… arbitrary, overall figure”, however, unlike previous plans under Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.
Briefings in December suggested that up to 10,000 jobs across the civil service could go as departments strive to deliver 5% efficiencies over the course of the next Spending Review period.
A government spokesperson said: "Under our Plan for Change, we are making sure every part of government is delivering on working people's priorities. Delivering growth, putting more money in people’s pockets, getting the NHS back on its feet, rebuilding Britain and securing our borders in a decade of national renewal.
“We are committed to making the civil service more efficient and effective, with bold measures to improve skills and harness new technologies."