Reform would cut more than 68,000 civil service jobs
Reform UK would cut the number of civil servants by 68,500 if the party won the next election, Danny Kruger has said.
The East Wiltshire MP, who is leading efforts to get ready for government, said the plan would cut the salary bill by 17% and save the taxpayer £5.2 billion a year.
He told a press conference in Westminster: “That’s £4 billion in averted salary costs, which will be realised within two years, and £1 billion in averted pension contributions that will be realised in the years ahead.”
He said the first phase of plans to reform the government would also see the party invest an additional £400 million – for a total of £500 million – into a bonus pot to reward “high-performing” civil servants rather than giving them “over-generous” pension contributions.
Mr Kruger insisted the party’s plans would improve working in central government, and would be “radical” and “thorough”.
He said: “Someone once said that a hard rain is going to fall on Whitehall, and I do see the need for serious weather, but after the rain, after the storm, there will be sunshine – it’s going to be a better place to work.”
Asked how he expected to attract talent to the Civil Service by reducing pension contributions that form a key draw for many to apply, he said: “We value people who have a long career in the Civil Service. Obviously, their pension should reflect their service.
“Nevertheless, we don’t want an organisation in which the main reason to work there is that you can look forward to a good pension once you retire.
“We want people to work for the public interest, and we want the type of people who will be incentivised by the opportunity of performance-related pay, rather than a distant and over-generous pension.”
He said he expected the cost of Civil Service redundancies to pay for itself within two years under Reform UK plans, based on it costing around £60,000 to let someone go.
Mr Kruger told reporters his party would not be “judgmental”, after an endorsement from OnlyFans personality and adult content creator Bonnie Blue, real name Tia Billinger.
He told a press conference: “On Bonnie Blue I mean, listen, we’ll take votes wherever we can get them.
“We know we want all the support we can get, quite like Bonnie Blue.
“But we, you know, we’re not going to be fussy about that.
“But listen, I mean, you know I’m not going to be be judgmental about people who want to vote Reform.”
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yeah, all the MP’s and ex Tory defecting to reform are responsible for one of the worst hits on the UK in its history. Austerity and service cut backs and then brexit, along with farage. No provenance in running a country, only ruining a country. Every council they run, the costs are rocketing. reform will destroy the UK. They will strip mine wales. Remeber farage and his gassing jokes? They will bring back race hate on a scale you have never seen in the UK. His hit squads will be kicking doors in on people the wrong colour. Remember Krugers… Read more »
These clowns are definitely not ready to govern anything except their shoe cabinets and even that sounds doubtful.
Why 68,000? Why not fire them all?
Because you will have to wait forever for a renewed driving licence, a Lasting power of Attorney, a passport, a marriage certificate, or any one of a thousand documents and services the civil service provides. I used to think there was no such thing as a stupid question, but reading yours has made me rethink.
Oh no, AI will do all of that don’t you know ;D.
Pretty sure Greg was being sarcastic.
Greg is DEFINITELY being sarcastic.
Worse than that. No government is anarchy. And that’s what these folks that just want to cut cut cut without asking “how much government do we need for the public services we want” are trying to achieve.
Bingo
Nobody is talking about ‘no government’! They are proposing a mere 2% cut in headcount.
Perhaps Reform could tell everyone what services will no longer be provided. And before anyone says ‘efficiencies’, just remember every government since 1979 has claimed they will make efficiency savings and then gone on to pass legislation that requires Civil Servants to put into practice.
Anything with decency in it. NHS will be private so departments cut there. No help with disabilities, on your own there. No job, tough luck. No rent or rates controls, cutting back on oversight for snatching people off the street, cant have them held to account when they transport you despite being born in the UK. Regulation will be cut so dumping chemicals, health and safety gone, unions will be banned, all green projects shuttered and basically we move to the USSR of the United States as they strip the UK. I wonder how long it will take for mass… Read more »
All doubt removed now everyone? Tax free allowance on pay up to £20k (you’ll never see a penny of the £7.5k ‘gift’) and now a massive cull of civil servants. This is the FULL privatisation of EVERYTHING. Want your bins emptied? Get your credit card out. You’ll still be paying council tax – for nothing in return whatsoever.
All savings to be routed out to their billionaire paymasters and away from the people. Reform UK are a danger to life and do not plan to form a government for us.
Who runs the country when a general election is called and parliament is dissolved?
Nige wont want another General Election. Not a fair one anyway.
Fascists don’t like losing power. At least until the end is certain then they scarper or get cornered or take the easy way out.
The Torygraph, The Fail, The Scum, The Excess, The Slimes and The Dictator. I know what you mean though. It’s the civil servants but could be Farij next time around.
He’s already got more jobs than anybody else, another 68,000 should be a problem.
Whilst there is certainly an argument for reducing the Civil Service after the additional posts created after Covid, making such an ignorant and glib statement just shows how vacant the Reform policy book is. They do an enormous amount of work that without, democratic govt could just not operate. If they think the Trump model is a good one, then take a look at the consequences. A Reform UK Govt would just end up using consultants at far greater cost.
The increase in civil servants was a result of Brexit. A direct consequence of listening to Farage and his cronies. Somebody has to deal with all the red tape that resulted in the barriers created in trading with the EU.
Strange how the civil service head count had risen from 2.3 million in 1991 to 3.1 million in 2016. How were those 800,000 extra people drawing from the public purse the result of Brexit?
It’s a bull in a china shop approach from Reform UK. Remember, this is a party of hypocrites that saw fit to spend thousands on an armour car for their multimillionaire cult leader Nigel Farage, including a Reform themed bar in Clacton-Upon-Sea, Essex, one of the most deprived constituencies in England. And what about Reform’s youngest councillors , 19-year-old George Finch, who as interim leader of Warwickshire County Council, promised to end waste in his campaign , won , then suggested employing at the cost £190k annually to ratepayers political assistants to help him going against Reform’s anti-waste platform. I… Read more »
Armour car is a good idea for high profile people, not gonna begrudge him that. It’s a matter of safety and yes… it’s necessary even in the UK.
Let’s put this into perspective. Central government public sector headcount has increased from 2.3 million in 1991 to 4.0 million in 2025. A 74% increase in headcount and 1.7 million extra people being paid from the public purse. Getting rid of 68,000 jobs is 4% of the increase over that period, or less than 2% of the total headcount. It seems to me that those claiming this really rather modest ambition will lead to the collapse of our public services are getting a little carried away, particularly when the fact that the service delivered to the public by all these… Read more »
The UK needs more civil servants not less, admittedly it needs them in the right places. This was a tory mistake as it created a temporary department and hired a heap load of Civil Servants into it that couldn’t be easily returned back to their former departments because their places had been filled already. The wage packet does take a lot of money from the civil service, but this is not where most of the money is lost. Most of the money is lost through procurement and contracts. For a 5.00 mouse, it costs the Civil Service 20.00, for a… Read more »
But we go full circle as SOME of the issues mentioned could only be solved by the private sector. Capita has saved us millions by taking on TV licencing, the call centres etc. Then there’s centralised procurement for the NHS etc. Should have happened decades ago and it’s only the private sector that could take it on as you’d need real commercial skills and strategy to do the deals. Property rationalisation is another – could save billions (for the NHS in particular) – but you need private sector property experts to do it (incidentally, there are a lot of ex… Read more »
If you don’t have the skills in-house those that you hire in can run rings around you costing far more in the end. The answer is both. Have core teams and skills in-house and augment them with the private sector. The damage to public services comes when a profit motivation rather than a relentless drive on efficiency and effectiveness sets strategy.