Darren Jones to make it easier to sack senior civil servants under plans to rewire' Whitehall

"He said performance indicators for senior officials would be set by ministers and those civil servants not meeting expectations would be shown the door. Instead of the sideways shimmy to another team or department if you fail to perform, I'm afraid you will be sacked, he said, adding that the doers, not the talkers would be in line for promotion."

"Jones gave the keynote speech at a tech company in west London, standing in front of a move fast, fix things slogan in neon letters, as he argued the British state was broken and needed a complete digital transformation. He said small task forces would be set up to deal with specific problems, with cabinet ministers bidding for extra help in their departments."

"Jones, who is chief secretary to the prime minister, said civil servants should feel jeopardy if they are underperforming highlighting that only seven out of 7,000 senior civil servants are on improvement plans. As part of plans to rewire Whitehall, he said big bonuses would in future be reserved for those who showed exceptional achievement. He said performance indicators for senior officials would be set by ministers and those civil servants not meeting expectations would be shown the door."

Plans introduce small, agile task forces to tackle specific Whitehall problems and apply a startup "two pizza" size test to ensure teams remain nimble. Performance indicators for senior officials will be set by ministers and underperforming senior civil servants will face dismissal rather than lateral moves. Big bonuses will be reserved for exceptional achievement to incentivise delivery. Current accountability is limited, with only seven of 7,000 senior civil servants on improvement plans. Target areas for improvement include childcare policy and the management of driving tests and licences, alongside a broader digital transformation to reduce bureaucracy.

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