Pat McFadden is leading the overhaul of how Government works (Image: Getty)
LABOUR plans to “weed out” under-performance in the civil service have triggered an angry reaction in Whitehall. The highest paid civil servants will face the boot if they cannot improve in six months.
The Government machine is not fit for purpose and must be overhauled, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden will say this week. He will argue the state cannot rise to the scale of the challenges facing the country even though Whitehall departments have expanded by 15,000 people since the end of 2023.
Mr McFadden – widely seen as Sir ’s “enforcer” – is expected to argue “working people” have not seen the improvements they need in areas including job opportunities, neighbourhood safety or NHS waiting times.
Under a new system of “mutually agreed exits”, civil servants who lack the necessary skills or cannot perform at the level required will be given incentives to quit. This is seen as alternative to a “lengthy formal processes”.
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Managers will gain more tools to tackle “substandard performance” and there will be a drive to “quickly weed out under-performance amongst the highest paid civil servants”. Those who do not meet required standards will be immediately put on a “personal development plan” with a “view to dismiss them if they do not improve in six months”.
A new “pay-by-results” system will be introduced so the most senior officials will have their wages linked to outcomes.
The FDA trade union denounced the plans as a “retreading of failed ideas and narratives”.
General Secretary Dave Penman said: “In the absence of big ideas, we have seen previous governments peddle the narrative that public services are being held back by a handful of poor performers in the senior civil service.”
Pressing for better pay, he said: “The Government says it wants to recruit and retain the right talent for the future. If so, it must address the uncompetitive pay rates that see senior civil servants earn salaries half that of their private sector equivalents – not tinker around the edges of a performance pay system that’s been around for over two decades.”
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Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Mr McFadden said: “The state is not match fit to rise to the moment our country faces. It is a too common feeling in working people’s lives, that the system doesn’t work for them.
“With our mandate for change, this government will fundamentally reshape how the state delivers for people. Our plan for the Civil Service is one where every official is high-performing and focused on delivery.
“To do this we must ensure that we go further to ensure those brilliant people who can deliver are incentivised and rewarded, and those who can’t are able to move on. The changes announced today will result in a more focused and productive Civil Service and more efficient delivery of the change working people need.”