Nearly 2,000 Foreign Office jobs at risk', says PCS union

"The PCS union, which has about 200,000 members, said it has been told that 1,885 jobs at the second highest level, known as delegated grades, are at risk, in addition to redundancy notices that have already been issued to some senior civil servants. The union linked the cuts to the government's decision to reduce the foreign aid budget and accused the department of failing to follow civil service protocol by putting a number on job cuts before consulting."

"The Foreign Office (FCDO) said it was reducing its headcount to make the department more agile, after its permanent secretary, Olly Robbins, said earlier in the year that the department planned to reduce the size of its workforce by up to 25% as part of wider civil service reforms. The Cabinet Office has previously announced plans to lose tens of thousands of roles in the civil service, but most attempted cuts so far have been through not replacing staff and voluntary, rather than compulsory, redundancy programmes."

"The PCS said it had serious concerns as to how the reduction in DG [director general] posts has been handled, saying employers are supposed to go through a process called a redundancy mitigation review with the Cabinet Office and trade unions, offering voluntary redundancy before compulsory redundancy notices were issued. It said this did not happen because the voluntary programme closed before the restructure started."

Almost 2,000 civil servants at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office face redundancy risk, with 1,885 delegated-grade jobs identified as at risk in addition to earlier notices to senior officials. The PCS union, representing about 200,000 members, linked the cuts to reductions in the foreign aid budget and said consultation protocols were bypassed by putting a number on cuts before union talks. The FCDO said it is reducing headcount to become more agile after plans to cut workforce size by up to 25% under civil service reforms. Director generals who did not secure roles have been issued redundancy notices with last days in early December. The union said the voluntary redundancy programme closed before the restructure, raising concerns about mitigation processes.

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