The news that the civil service strategic workforce plan will not be published until later in the year is “disappointing”, the head of the FDA union has said.
The government had been expected to publish the much-anticipated workforce plan alongside today’s Phase 2 Spending Review announcement.
But the Red Book, published immediately after the chancellor’s speech this afternoon, says the workforce plan will come out “later this year”.
FDA general secretary Dave Penman said the cuts Rachel Reeves announced in her Spending Review speech – including a 16% cut to departmental administration budgets by 2029-30 – “will have a significant impact on what the civil service is able to deliver for ministers and the country”.
“The chancellor needs to ensure that the commitments that she has today made to the country will match the resources available within public services,” he said.
“That’s why it’s disappointing to see the civil service strategic workforce plan, promised at the same time as the Spending Review, will now not be published until later this year. This lack of detail leaves civil servants with more questions than answers as to how these cuts are to be implemented.”
The Red Book promises that the government will “take action to build capability across the civil service and ensure it can attract, develop and retain a high-performing workforce”.
It said this will include efforts to recruit specialist digital talent, pointing to the goal set out in March to have one in 10 civil servants working in digital roles by 2030.
Once the workforce plan is published, the government will monitor progress against it “to ensure that departments are successful in delivering an efficient and cost-effective workforce”, the Red Book adds.
The Spending Review also allocated £50m to the Cabinet Office from the £3.25bn Transformation Fund Reeves announced at the Spring Statement to help make the civil service more “productive and agile”.
Some of this funding will be used to “transform the model of civil service learning and development”, the Red Book says.