Thousands more civil servants are set to be relocated from London as ministers seek to cut costs and “radically reform the state”.
Under plans announced on Wednesday, the Government will reduce the number of civil servants working in London by 12,000 and transfer jobs to a series of new regional “campuses” across the country.
The changes will also involve closing 11 Government office buildings in London, including one of its largest sites in Westminster, in a move expected to save £94m annually by 2032.
Around 80 per cent of civil servants – more than 400,000 people – already work outside London, but the most senior officials tend to be based in the capital. Under Wednesday’s proposals, half of senior Civil Service roles would be outside London by 2030.
Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, stated that the Government was “taking more decision-making out of Whitehall and moving it closer to communities all across the UK”.
Government departments will be required to submit plans for relocating staff, including senior civil servants, as part of the spending review scheduled to be completed on 11 June.
The initiative will create two new major campuses, one in Manchester focused on digital innovation and AI, and another in Aberdeen focused on energy.
Manchester already hosts significant offices of the science and culture departments, while Aberdeen is home to the new Great British Energy headquarters.
Additional roles will be established in Birmingham, Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow, Darlington, Newcastle, Tyneside, Sheffield, Bristol, Edinburgh, Belfast, and York. The changes are projected to bring £729m to the local economy by 2030.
Among the offices closing in London is 102 Petty France, one of the largest Government sites in the capital, housing about 7,000 civil servants from the Ministry of Justice, HM Courts and Tribunal Service, Crown Prosecution Service, and Government Legal Department.
Also closing will be 39 Victoria Street, which has housed the Department of Health and Social Care since the end of 2017.
McFadden said: “By relocating thousands of Civil Service roles, we will not only save taxpayers’ money, we will make this Government one that better reflects the country it serves. We will also be making sure that Government jobs support economic growth throughout the country.
“As we radically reform the state, we are going to make it much easier for talented people everywhere to join the Civil Service and help us rebuild Britain.”
The Conservative Government launched the “Places for Growth” programme in 2018 to move Civil Service jobs out of London and support regional development.
By March 2023, over 10,000 jobs had already been relocated to cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle, Glasgow, and Cardiff.
The programme aimed to move 22,000 roles from London by 2030, and several new departments set up offices outside the UK capital as part of the scheme.
In 2021, the Treasury opened a second headquarters in Darlington, while the Department for International Trade and the Home Office expanded operations in the North and Midlands.
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