UK announces civil service reforms to ‘move fast and fix things’
Darren Jones, chief secretary to the UK prime minister, has announced a series of civil service reforms designed to meet the government’s ambition of “a complete rewiring of the state”.
These include delivery-focused performance management measures for senior civil servants, the creation of task forces for government priorities, and a new national school of government.
“For too long, government hasn’t worked the way it should,” Jones said. “Everybody agrees that the status quo in our public services is not working.”
He said the answer is investment and “a new consensus on what the state does and how it does it”.
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Digital at the heart of reforms
Central to the plan is investment in digital transformation, with the GOV.UK app positioned as the “front door” to public services.
Jones argued that public services must be easier to use, faster and more efficient, on a par with modern banking and online shopping.
“We have to move away from interdepartmental arguments, internal policy papers, processes and discussions to that new digital state that delivers public services directly to… the customer,” he said. “A state that uses modern technology to do the tedious admin that we spend so much time and energy processing right now and then frees up our public servants to have the human interactions needed with a child, a parent or a patient. In essence, a state that can move fast and fix things.”
Performance management
Jones said there are “many brilliant civil servants” who are equally frustrated with the system and that civil servants should not be used as scapegoats. However, he insisted that more needed to be done on performance management, stating that only seven in 7,000 senior civil servants were reported to be on a development plan for underperformance last year and only two of them were dismissed for poor performance.
Under the reforms, senior civil servants will be judged against minister-set KPIs. “If you are not performing… I’m afraid you will be sacked,” he warned. “Those under-delivering will be held to account instead of the so-called ‘sideways shimmy’ to another team or another department.”
At the same time, bonuses will be concentrated on a smaller number of high-performing officials who “go above and beyond”, rather than spread widely.
The government also plans to change the hiring criteria for senior civil servants, placing greater emphasis on delivery, innovation and frontline experience.
Read more: UK government roadmap outlines next steps for digital transformation
Vaccine Task Force model
The government will also create delivery task forces based on the pandemic-era Vaccine Task Force – “applying the model in peace time, not just in a crisis”, Jones said.
These task forces will focus on prime ministerial priorities and will be “tasked with bulldozing delivery obstacles, not spending time thinking up policy answers”.
They will have faster hiring, procurement and spending approvals and be “given the authority to move fast and fix things”, Jones said.
“This will go hand in hand with the freedom and the instruction for greater risk taking, supported by a direct line to the top of government, within Number 10, the Cabinet Office and the Treasury and with direct ministerial sponsorship at task force level to get the job done.”
Cutting bureaucracy
Jones highlighted the need to cut bureaucracy and highlighted changes already underway that will reduce the number of approvals needed for major projects.
“From April this year, there will be fewer repeated permissions required, giving those closer to real decision-making more freedom and autonomy in return for more accountability,” Jones said.
He noted that a pilot with HMRC reduced 40 separate approval processes to just two, shaving around three months off delivery timelines.
The reforms will mean “fewer forms, more results, less talking, more doing”, he said.
New National School of Government
As part of the shake-up, ministers will establish a new National School of Government and Public Services within the Cabinet Office.
The school will focus on skills in technology, AI and strategic thinking, which Jones said were essential to building “the state of the future”.
The government will also expand its Number 10 Innovation Fellows programme, bringing in specialists from external organisations to work inside departments on short-term “tours of duty”.
“Working on a project-by-project basis, they will be able to break out of the normal rigid hierarchies of Whitehall and allow us to gain from their expertise, whilst not increasing the overall size of the permanent civil service,” Jones said.
He said these reforms are not “incremental changes as part of the legacy state” but “the start, the stepping stones that we must take to build the new state”.
Read more: Innovation 2026 a ‘groundbreaking gathering’, says Cat Little in invite to civil servants
Rewiring the state
Many of these reforms align with the findings of Global Government Forum’s Rewiring the State report, led by former Cabinet secretary Lord Gus O’Donnell and based on interviews with 12 permanent secretaries from the major departments.
The study pinpointed priority focus areas to achieve the government’s aim of ‘rewiring the state’: making digital a core part of government leadership and driving a culture of delivery; building transformational capability at every level; unlocking the full power of data and AI through reuse of proven tools, removing the blockers to data sharing, and smarter procurement; and driving joined-up government through mechanisms that enable coordination and peer learning across departments.
The recommendations included streamlining approvals for high-impact digital projects; linking senior civil servant performance more clearly to the delivery of measurable citizen outcomes and government priorities; and introducing a digital training programme for all civil servants.
It also called for the formation of groups including HM Treasury, the Cabinet Office, 10 Downing Street and key departments to “sit together and resolve issues that cross departmental boundaries”.
About Sarah Wray
Sarah has over 15 years’ experience as a journalist with a specialism in the public sector and topics such as digitalisation and climate action. Sarah was formerly the editor of Cities Today and Smart Cities World, as well as a specialist video-based publication in the aerospace sector. She has also written for publications including Smart Cities Dive, Mobile Europe, Mobile World Live and Computer Weekly.
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