Reform UK to offer bumper bonus to high-performing civil servants
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK would offer bumper bonus payments to the best-performing civil servants delivering on government policy and objectives.
In a shake-up of how Whitehall works, Reform UK’s Danny Kruger revealed the party would increase the bonus pool for performance-related pay by five times.
The new budget would be aimed at retaining the “finest talent” in the public sector and incentivising workers to yield better results.
It would mean between £500m and £750m would be earmarked towards the bonus pool for Whitehall staff.
“We want to make Whitehall a rewarding place to work and one that attracts the best talent,” Kruger said.
“We want them to feel valued and properly rewarded so that means retaining expertise within a subject area so that we grow real experience and knowledge in each domain of government.
“It means paying good people more than they get at the moment with proper rewards for performance.”
Kruger also asked civil servants to come forward to tell the party about problems in the public sector in “total confidence” amid stuttering productivity levels.
The expenditure would be costed by cuts to various staff groups across the civil service, including human resources headcount reductions by 67 per cent and communications officials by 60 per cent.
There would also be half as many civil service policy advisers working under a Reform government than current levels.
Reform’s Whitehall cuts
The estimated savings from the first phase of some 68,500 job cuts across the civil service would save taxpayers up to £5.2bn a year, according to the party’s internal analysis.
The party has also said tens of millions of pounds could be saved by letting leaseholds on government buildings in London end, with Kruger recently telling broadcasters he would also push to spread government departments around the country.
Its new policy announcement follows a string of press conferences in which senior Reform officials have spoken out about plans to overhaul government and other public bodies as part of a major savings exercise to fund tax cuts.
Deputy leader Richard Tice has opened the door to making sweeping changes at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Bank of England and HMRC, among other key government bodies that make up the UK economy.
Despite Reform’s council spending cuts units being modelled on Donald Trump’s DOGE operation, Kruger has attempted to distance the party from the “wrecking ball” approach in the US or Argentina President Javier Milei’s chainsaw metaphor.
He has said that Farage’s premiership would look to “respect” the people who work across the public sector.