PCS responds to Hunt's civil service recruitment freeze plan

Responding to the Chancellor's announcement to Conservative Party Conference he was going to freeze civil service recruitment and reduce numbers to pre-pandemic levels, Public and Commercial Services union general secretary Mark Serwotka said:

“Thirty seconds after praising civil servants for their work during the pandemic, Jeremy Hunt announced a freeze on recruitment.

“Shrinking an already-overstretched and under-resourced civil service will inevitably result in cuts to vital services that people depend on.

“We have long argued cuts have consequences, so if ministers want fast-moving border controls at our ports and airports, an end to backlogs for those seeking driving licences or applying for driving tests, they must employ more civil servants, not less.

“Our hardworking members do an invaluable job keeping the country running and we won’t stand by and watch the Conservatives make them scapegoats for a failing economy. 

“As usual, a Conservative government is seeking to blame working people for the incompetence of their own ministers.”

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