PCS union says Reeves's planned £2bn of cuts to civil service will hit frontline roles

Rachel Reeves's planned cuts of £2bn to departments will hit frontline services from jobcentres to HMRC phone lines and efforts to cut the asylum backlog, a union has said.

- Rowena Mason

Yesterday the chancellor confirmed plans to seek a 15% reduction in Whitehall admin costs, amounting to about £2bn a year, by the decade's end. She said this would also result in about 10,000 civil service job losses, although this was not a target.

As she prepares to give her spring statement on Wednesday, Reeves is under pressure to balance the books in line with her fiscal rules, meaning some departments are in line for spending cuts to avoid more tax rises or higher borrowing.

But a major union, the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), warned her there would be consequences for public services after 15 years of underfunding under the Tories.

"You hear that every day from the public, that they wait too long on the phone when they try to make tax payments, jobseekers rushed through the system in just 10 minutes because there aren't enough staff to see them, victims of crime waiting until 2027 to have their cases heard in the courts - as well as the backlog in the asylum system which results in additional hotel costs," said Fran Heathcote, the general secretary of PCS.

"The impact of making cuts will not only disadvantage our members but the public we serve and the services they rely on.