Budget fails to back public servants over Brexit challenge, says FDA
Hammond announced he was sticking to the target of delivering £3.5bn of savings by 2019-20, and departments that will be hit hard by Britain’s exit from the EU were given no relief from continuing cuts.
Despite praise from the Chancellor for collecting an extra £140bn in tax revenue since 2010, and being given the task of collecting an additional £820m by 2020 despite Brexit, HMRC will see its budget cut by 17% over the next three years.
FDA Assistant General Secretary Naomi Cooke said: “The Chancellor says he wants to prepare Britain for a brighter future outside the EU but has failed to equip the public servants tasked with delivering it.
“In fact, Brexit, the biggest economic event facing the UK, hardly got a mention. No additional resources for departments looking into the eye of the storm and no much-needed relief for the hundreds of thousands of civil servants who will see the value of their pay packets continue to fall.”
The FDA has warned that civil servants on the frontline of the UK’s exit from the EU have already seen a real terms cut in pay of more than 20% and that higher inflation forecasts for the next two years will mean that many civil servants will be more than 25% worse off.
“The Government has once again failed to recognise the challenge that the civil service is facing and failed to provide the additional resources needed to deliver a successful Brexit for Britain,” added Cooke. “Civil servants and the civil service cannot continue to be taken for granted in this way.”
Despite praise from the Chancellor for collecting an extra £140bn in tax revenue since 2010, and being given the task of collecting an additional £820m by 2020 despite Brexit, HMRC will see its budget cut by 17% over the next three years.
FDA Assistant General Secretary Naomi Cooke said: “The Chancellor says he wants to prepare Britain for a brighter future outside the EU but has failed to equip the public servants tasked with delivering it.
“In fact, Brexit, the biggest economic event facing the UK, hardly got a mention. No additional resources for departments looking into the eye of the storm and no much-needed relief for the hundreds of thousands of civil servants who will see the value of their pay packets continue to fall.”
The FDA has warned that civil servants on the frontline of the UK’s exit from the EU have already seen a real terms cut in pay of more than 20% and that higher inflation forecasts for the next two years will mean that many civil servants will be more than 25% worse off.
“The Government has once again failed to recognise the challenge that the civil service is facing and failed to provide the additional resources needed to deliver a successful Brexit for Britain,” added Cooke. “Civil servants and the civil service cannot continue to be taken for granted in this way.”
Related News
-
FDA rejects Reform’s “nonsensical” claims on EDI spending
The FDA has rejected claims made by Reform UK that £7 billion could be saved by cutting Equality Diversity and Inclusion initiatives, despite the most recent Cabinet Office review showing civil service EDI spending was around £27 million.
-
FDA ADC catch up
Catch up on the addresses by guest speakers at this year’s Annual Delegate Conference.
-
ADC 2025: Penman says civil servants are “hungry for reform”
At the union’s Annual Delegate Conference delegates heard from guest speakers FDA General Secretary Dave Penman, journalist Lewis Goodall, and Cabinet Office minister Georgia Gould.