Uncertainty still remains over government’s civil service work programe

With hundreds of thousands of civil servants facing redundancy in the coming years, the government promised to deliver a plan, by May, that would help former civil servants find work in the private sector and offer support to those who wanted to become self employed.

But with two missed deadlines, there still remains some uncertainty as to when the plan will emerge. In an official document, the Cabinet Office confirmed in May that it had missed its first deadline, but committed to publish by June. This deadline, however, has not been met either.

Questioned by Publicservice.co.uk as to when the plan would be ready, a Cabinet Office spokesman could not confirm a precise date, with the only clarification from the department being that the plan will “shortly be finalised”.

Tessa Jowell, Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister, said she was “deeply concerned” by delays.

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“With an estimated 400,000 public sector workers to be made redundant over the next five years, the Tory-led government should be doing everything that it can to help them back into work,” she told Publicservice.co.uk.

“People have already begun to lose their jobs. It is important that the government gets a package of support ready without further delay.”

Jowell has also written to Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, expressing concern over reports that he wanted parts of a “diminishing public sector workforce” to move into the voluntary sector.