Workforce cuts will scale back the Ministry of Defence (MoD) civil service as a part of upcoming defence reforms.
Minister for Defence Procurement, Maria Eagle, alluded to the approaching job losses in a parliamentary written response on 7 April 2025, as the federal government tries to domesticate a “workforce which might be extra expert, agile and… higher exploits know-how.”
This restructuring “means tackling paperwork and streamlining processes to extend productiveness” throughout the MoD.
Issues in recruitment and retention are mentioned to have risen beneath the earlier Conservative authorities, Eagle claims, which had been unloaded onto the brand new Labour authorities. The variety of UK Armed Forces personnel has fallen by 1.3%, or 2,350 folks, since January 2024 in line with recent statistics.
Nonetheless, promising outcomes have emerged because of defence procurement reforms that the previous authorities instituted in February 2024. These measures had been directed by Eagle’s predecessor, James Cartlidge, which sped up the supply of the primary Archer artillery system six months after signing the contract, and creating DragonFire laser weapon methods quickly to be fitted onto Royal Navy warships.
Cuts in context
The UK authorities had initially tasked all departments to chop down on spending to grasp potential efficiencies. In Labour’s first Price range assertion in October 2024, the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, tasked departments with making 5% reductions.
Now although, given inflationary pressures from US tariffs and the pattern in the direction of European strategic autonomy over the previous few months, the MoD might want to scrape the barrel much more.
In a testomony to the Defence Committee final 12 months, the MoD’s Everlasting Secretary David Williams referenced a headcount reduction by around 10%, or over 5,000 folks, by the top of the present parliament.
At current, the MoD make use of 60,549 folks full time in line with figures from November 2024. This has lowered by 1.4% from 62,631 personnel in October 2023.
New funding focus
Following cuts to the civil service workforce, the MoD will allocate the funds in the direction of delivering functionality as specified by the MoD’s Defence Industrial Technique assertion of intent revealed on the finish of final 12 months.
Defence might be an integral a part of Reeves’ efforts to spice up financial development, and because the international defence business picks up tempo in a fragmented safety atmosphere, no less than 10% of MoD funds might be spent on creating “innovative” capabilities.
It’s unclear what the definition for revolutionary applied sciences permits for, though it’s probably a name to advertise the higher integration of small and medium enterprises in offering for navy functionality, an space the place the MoD has traditionally been poor.
Likewise, the federal government will little question prioritise enablers akin to area over domain-specific platforms, which is one thing Cartlidge, now the Shadow Defence Minister, equally referred to as for in a speech in March 2025.
Extra reporting from Richard Thomas.
