Sir Keir Starmer has ordered 12,000 civil servants to leave their London offices under plans to save money and shift Government roles away from the capital.
Under new relocation plans, 11 Whitehall offices will be shut, which the Government hopes will save them £94million a year by 2032.
Two new Government campuses will be created in Manchester and Aberdeen, specialising in AI and energy, respectively.
Other areas where civil servants will be relocated to include Birmingham, Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow, Darlington, Newcastle and Tyneside, Sheffield, Bristol, Edinburgh, Belfast and York.
Some 12,000 civil servants will be asked to leave their London offices under plans to save money
PA
The relocations will take the number of full-time government staff working in Whitehall down from 95,000 to about 83,000.
One of the 11 offices in the capital that will shut is 102 Petty France, which is one of the largest Government offices and home to approximately 7,000 staff.
The Department of Health and Social Care at Victoria Street, as well as the Department for Work and Pensions at Caxton House will also be closed.
Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, said he plans to set a target for 50 per cent of all senior civil servants to be based outside London within five years.
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Thee Government hopes the relocations will save them £94million a year by 2032
PA
He said it was about, “taking more decision-making out of Whitehall and moving it closer to communities all across the UK”.
“By relocating thousands of civil service roles we will not only save taxpayers money, we will make this government one that better reflects the country it serves. We will also be making sure that government jobs support economic growth throughout the country,” he said.
McFadden has written to all Government departments as part of an ongoing spending review to emphasise that they must move staff out of London.
Each department will need to respond within the coming weeks and indicate how many people it intends to relocate.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has urged the Government to ensure no compulsory redundancies would take place and guarantee fair terms and conditions for those who choose to make the move.
One of the 11 offices in the capital that will shut is 102 Petty France, which is one of the largest Government offices and home to approximately 7,000 staff
Wikimedia Commons
Fran Heathcote, PCS’s general secretary, said: “PCS believes the civil service has a vital role to play in rebuilding the nation. We consider there should be improved access for workers to higher grade roles in the civil service across regions and nations.
“This will allow those workers to develop their careers without having to uproot from their families and communities; and it will assist economic regeneration in areas that need it.
“If these government proposals are to be successful, however, it’s important they do the right thing by workers currently based in London. That must include guarantees of no compulsory redundancies, no compulsory relocations and access to more flexible working arrangements to enable them to continue their careers should they wish to do so.”
Shadow Conservative Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart said the plans showed Labour was “fundamentally unserious about reducing the size of the state and working more efficiently on behalf of taxpayers”.
Burghart accused Starmer’s party of “shuffling things around and making empty promises”.
“Only the Conservatives are serious about reducing the size of the state and making it work more efficiently for British taxpayers,” he said.
