SENIOR civil servants could face the sack if they do not deliver savings for the taxpayer under new rules announced by the Cabinet Office today.

Top mandarins will be held personally responsible for achieving savings in their departments, alongside new measures to better identify poor performance and a greater focus on delivering the government’s five missions.

Senior civil servants’ union FDA welcomed the new collective performance standards but warned against “scaremongering senior leaders for political brownie points” after Cabinet minister Pat McFadden said the public “must be confident we are spending every pound of their money well.”

Assistant general secretary Lauren Crowley said: “Evidence produced by both the Cabinet Office and the FDA show that morale is low and churn is high, with recruitment and retention both significant issues.

“Scaremongering senior leaders for political brownie points will do nothing to encourage hard-working and skilled people to deliver the government’s missions at the pace and scale it requires.”

Ms Crowley added that the senior Civil Service performance management framework was due an update, “but it’s important we don’t let political rhetoric get in the way of the substance of this review.

“The FDA was consulted on these changes in early 2024 and our view is that they are reasonable and in line with what our members in the senior Civil Service would want and expect.”

Departments have already been told to find “efficiency savings” (spending cuts) worth 5 per cent of their budgets as part of the spending review due to be published in June.

Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “From the courts to pension credit and tax collection, there are backlogs that require more investment in the Civil Service to meet the missions set out by the Labour government.

“Many underpaid and overworked civil servants are working flat out to deliver in under-resourced departments, leading to sickness and recruitment crises.

“The majority of civil servants genuinely care about their jobs and work hard for their managers.”

Mr McFadden’s comments echo a claim last May by then paymaster-general John Glen that high performance in Whitehall is not “recognised, rewarded or incentivised properly.”

The Tory also warned that he would crack down on poor performance, saying it was “all too easy for leaders to let people move to another team, to let the poor performer become someone else’s problem.”