Editorial: The continued expansion of the civil service across the UK is a cause for concern

News that the UK Civil Service workforce has grown by 2,000 in the first three months of this year – reaching its highest level for nearly two decades – is concerning given widespread dissatisfaction about public services, amid a costly bureaucracy.

Earlier this year, the chancellor promised that civil service running costs will be cut by 15% by the end of the decade, yet the new figures show staff numbers continuing to rise under Labour.

As part of those plans the government announced that it would cut around 2,100 staff from the Cabinet Office – with 1,200 roles disappearing through redundancies. However, 900 were to be transferred to other departments.

Rachel Reeves said savings would be made from back office and administrative roles rather than front-line services. It will take time to see whether the government is serious about slimming down the service, and doing it in a way that isn’t impacting services we all need.

Most civil servants here work for the separate NI Civil Service (NICS). It is the third largest employer in Northern Ireland, with only the education and healthcare sectors having more staff. There has to be scope for efficiency in NI as well, yet there has been little sign that the executive intends to make similar cutbacks here.

In fact, the size of NICS has grown significantly in recent years. An audit office report in 2019 put the number of staff employed in the nine NICS departments at 22,313. The most recent figure stands at 24,521.

The NICS boss has almost doubled the number of staff in her personal office – with all the associated costs. That is an organisation going in the wrong direction. Jayne Brady and the executive should act to ensure frontline services are prioritised and the bill to the taxpayer is reduced.