The lowest-ranked civil servants spend almost two-thirds of their time on routine tasks that could be automated, according to analysis by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
DSIT has estimated that automating routine tasks in the public sector could deliver savings of £36bn.
According to DSIT documents obtained by Politico through a Freedom of Information request, this projection is based on an assessment by the department of the percentages of work done in the civil service at each seniority level that are routine and therefore automatable.
The most senior officials do no routine work, according to the analysis.
DSIT’s research found, according to Politico’s breakdown, that:
- 62% of tasks done by administrative assistants, the lowest grade in the civil service, are routine
- 48% of tasks by executive officers are routine
- 43% of tasks by senior executive officers are routine
- 23% of tasks by higher executive officers are routine
- 0% of tasks by the most senior civil servants are routine
A methodology note on the analysis released last month to parliament's Science, Innovation and Technology Committee said DSIT’s analysis “solely considers the routine nature of tasks and does not assess the current feasibility of automating them using existing AI capabilities – given the system challenges of delivering in the public sector, specific implementation assessments should be at a local level, factoring the current digital maturity of each organisation”.
It also says the potential savings “do not have a specific timeframe for realisation, but they are anticipated to be realised over the long term”.
The £36bn savings figure – which DSIT described as "conservative" – was calculated by analysing public sector roles using civil service data, and scaling estimated productivity savings from automating or augmenting routine tasks to the wider public sector workforce.
It is part of a total anticipated £45bn in productivity gains from better digital services spelled out in DSIT’s State of digital government review.
DSIT did not share details of the full model used to calculate the £45bn figure, on the basis that doing so would exceed “cost and resource limits” under the FoI Act.
The department told Politico it is “currently working towards making a more accessible version” of its methodology available “to support transparency and understanding of the approach used”.
When the review was published in January, technology secretary Peter Kyle described the £45bn figure as a "jackpot for the public sector if we get technology adoption right” and “not an opportunity we can let pass us by".
Keir Starmer pledged in March to use AI and automation to to cut "flab" from the civil service, but added that ministers would not set an “arbitrary" target. Giving examples of where savings could be found, the prime minister said DVLA officials open 45,000 envelopes every single day, while HM Revenue and Customs staff answer 100,000 phone calls a day.
“This is not the way we should be doing government," Starmer said. "This is not the way we should be running a country in the 2020s."
Later that month, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, pushed on how many civil service jobs could go, said that she is “confident” that the government can “reduce civil service numbers by 10,000” and that "a number” of civil service jobs can be done through technology.
Briefings from senior officials in the FT today ahead of next month’s Spending Review, meanwhile, suggest the government may be targeting a reduction of around 50,000 jobs by the end of the decade.
The newsaper said senior Whitehall officials believed a 10% reduction in the size of the civil service was manageable, without needing compulsory redundancies, if the country "entered a new period of relative political and economic calm".