PCS welcomes backing from MPs for urgent pause to FCDO staff cuts

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) welcomes the International Development Committee’s clear backing of our call for an immediate pause to job cuts and restructuring at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

The Committee warns that the Government’s plans risk seriously undermining the UK’s ability to tackle global poverty at a time when humanitarian crises are worsening across the world – something PCS has made clear for months.

In its interim report on the Future of UK Aid and Development Assistance, the Committee raises deep alarm at the speed and scale of change being pushed through the FCDO. Combined with plans to cut 2,000 UK-based staff, MPs warn this could critically weaken the department’s ability to deliver on its core mission of poverty reduction.

PCS members across the FCDO have been raising concerns for months and the message has been consistent: you cannot run a world-leading diplomatic and development department by stripping out the very staff who make its work possible.

Behind these job cuts are not just numbers, they are real people with years of expertise, whose work supports conflict-affected communities, stabilisation programmes, humanitarian responses and long-term development worldwide. Losing them now would have devastating consequences for some of the most fragile and crisis-hit regions on earth.

Like PCS, the committee has warned poverty reduction and accountability are at risk:

MPs caution that the restructuring risks deprioritising poverty reduction, despite recent assurances from International Development Minister Baroness Chapman that alleviating poverty remains the “core aim” of UK aid.

The Committee is also deeply concerned that Ministers are considering scrapping the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) the UK’s aid watchdog tasked with ensuring transparency and accountability in how aid money is spent.

In evidence submitted to the Committee last October, PCS highlighted that:

  • The FCDO has already issued redundancy notices to Directors General, some given just three months’ notice despite Civil Service Protocols requiring early redundancy mitigation.
  • The department is pursuing a 25% workforce cost reduction without sharing a workforce plan, a rationale for cuts, or identifying which work will stop.
  • The process breaches the 2016 Civil Service Redundancy Principles, including the requirement to offer voluntary exits before compulsory job losses.
  • PCS fears the flawed approach used at DG level will be repeated across the Senior Civil Service and delegated grades.

We have been clear, we are willing to discuss sensible reform, but we oppose the job cuts and reforms imposed without evidence, transparency or adherence to binding national agreements.

Fran Heathcote, PCS General Secretary said:
 
“Our members at the FCDO are dedicated professionals who give everything they have to support some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. They deserve respect, certainty and a fair process, not sudden job cuts, rushed restructures and protocols being ignored.
 
“The Committee has rightly recognised that pushing ahead with these plans would cause real harm. Our members are already overstretched and stripping out 2,000 more jobs risks breaking the backbone of the UK’s development work.”