Public sector jobs and pay increase while private sector struggles
Public sector employment jumped in September while the number of workers in the private sector fell, official statistics have shown.
Employment in the public sector increased by 7,000 in the three months to September 2025 as total employment reached 6.2m.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said employment in central government hit a record high of 4.1m while employment in local government was just under two million.
The civil service also employed 3,000 more people over the quarter, with headcount reaching 554,000 – the highest level in nearly 20 years. More than 60,000 public sector roles have been created in a year.
The burgeoning size of the public sector appears to clash against Keir Starmer’s stated frustration with policy delivery in office.
During a parliamentary session on Monday, Starmer said he was most irked by the slow pace “to get things done” in government.
“My own sense after 12 to 18 months in the job – and this is a fault of governments of all political colours – is every time something has gone wrong in the past, successive governments have put in a place another procedure, another body or another consultation to stop ourselves ever making a mistake again,” the Prime Minister said.
“My experience now as Prime Minister is frustration that every time I go to pull a lever there are a whole bunch of regulations, consultations and arms length bodies that the action from pulling the lever to delivery is longer than I think it ought to be.”
The rise in employment figures also grates against higher unemployment levels across the UK’s private sector economy.
The number of payrolled employees across UK businesses has suffered a decline in every month since Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget.
Public sector pay growth also far outpaced the private sector in the three months to October, with workers across government and quangos receiving a boost of 7.6 per cent on wages compared to just under 4 per cent for those in private firms.
It is the biggest gulf in pay growth between the public and private sectors since mid-2023.
Opposition parties eye public sector reform
Opposition parties including Reform UK and the Conservatives have pledged to dramatically decrease staff levels across the public sector.
At a press conference on Monday, Reform MP Danny Kruger vowed to half the number of people working in communications and policy across Whitehall.
He also said he would increase the bonus pool for civil servants in order to reward staff and high talent officials.
The Conservative Party’s Alex Burghart, who is shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said the “sharp and sustained expansion of the civil service” came because Labour abandoned the previous government’s plans to reduce headcount.
“As a result of [Labour]’s anti-growth policies and fundamentally backwards approach to enterprise, the state continues to balloon while businesses are left to fend for themselves.”