As of March 2014, there are 405,070 civil servants (Full time equivalent – FTE), down 73,060 since Spending Review 2010. In the June 2012 Civil Service Reform Plan, the Coalition committed to reducing the size of the Civil Service by some 23% over the course of this parliament. The Government remains on track to meet this target – headcount has fallen for a third successive quarter. Our graph has staff numbers falling by 1,630 (from 406,710) from the last quarter, while the figures released today by the ONS give a fall of 5,620 (from 410,690). This is because they have revised the results for that quarter to include around 4,000 staff at the National Crime Agency, which became fully operational in October 2013. Both sets of figures arrive at a current level of 405,070. The only quarter since the Spending Review that saw headcount rise overall was Q2 (June) 2013. This was because two new executive agencies were created, meaning over 6000 employees were counted as civil servants for the first time. Even then, the underlying direction of change was still a cut. Departments vary in size – DWP has just under 90,000 staff, DCMS under 500. Four delivery departments […]
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