11 h. ago Top civil servants can now earn up to £174,000 without approval from ministers

Under new Civil Service guidance on 'pay control', only earnings above £174,000 - and bonuses over £25,000 - must be signed off, a hike from £150,000 and £17,500 respectively.

Politics

37 h. ago Trump defends response to deadly Texas flooding after touring disaster area – live updates

President and Texas governor praise handling of flooding that has killed at least 120 people; Trump calls reporter ‘evil’ for asking about lack of warningsThe US state department is firing more than 1,300 employees in line with the Trump administration’s reorganization plan initiated earlier this year. The department is sending layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with domestic assignments in the US, a senior state department official told the Associated Press. Foreign service officers affected will be placed immediately on administrative leave for 120 days, after which they will formally lose their jobs, according to an internal notice obtained by the AP. For most affected civil servants, the separation period is 60 days, it said. “In connection with the departmental reorganization the department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities,” the notice says. “Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non...

Events

45 h. ago Trump to visit Texas to survey damage from deadly flooding – live updates

While the Trump administration isn’t backing away from its pledges to shutter Fema, it has lessened its focus on the topic since the July 4 disasterThe US state department is firing more than 1,300 employees in line with the Trump administration’s reorganization plan initiated earlier this year. The department is sending layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with domestic assignments in the US, a senior State Department official told the Associated Press. Foreign service officers affected will be placed immediately on administrative leave for 120 days, after which they will formally lose their jobs, according to an internal notice obtained by the AP. For most affected civil servants, the separation period is 60 days, it said. “In connection with the departmental reorganization the department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities,” the notice says. “Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core f...

Events

46 h. ago State Department is laying off over 1,300 staffers under Trump administration plan

The State Department is firing over 1,300 career diplomats and civil servants in line with a dramatic reorganization plan initiated by the Trump administration earlier this year

Politics

58 h. ago Attorney General Lord Hermer 'asks civil servants to snitch on ministers to give himself effective veto over Government policies'

Attorney General Lord Hermer has issued guidance to government lawyers stressing the importance of following international law including what has been branded a 'snitch clause'.

Politics

3 d. ago UK government’s deal with Google ‘dangerously naive’, say campaigners

Company to provide free technology and ‘upskill’ civil servants but concerns raised over UK data being held on US serversGoogle has agreed a sweeping deal with the UK government to provide free technology to the public sector from the NHS to local councils– a move campaigners have called “dangerously naive”.The US company will be asked to “upskill” tens of thousands of civil servants in technology, including in using artificial intelligence, as part of an agreement which will not require the government to pay. It is considered in Whitehall to be giving Google “a foot in the door” as the digitisation of public services accelerates. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Catastrophic failures led to the 'generational slaughter' of the elderly and vulnerable as Covid 'spread like wildfire' through care homes, inquiry hears

A civil servant said the government's approach to care homes resulted in a 'generational slaughter' or the elderly and vulnerable. The Covid-19 Inquiry in London began its sixth module today.

Events

1 week ago Civil servants begin industrial action over work from home ban and closures of London offices

Civil servants working for Angela Rayner start industrial action over moving of Government offices away from capital and lack of flexible working

Society

1 week ago Civil servants start industrial action over return to office mandate

Members of Public and Commercial Services Union are also protesting against the closure of six work locationsCivil servants will begin indefinite industrial action on Monday in protest against office closures and moves to make them work from the office.Public sector workers in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in offices, including in the capital, will take action short of a strike from Monday. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Angela Rayner's civil servants protest over working from home ban and London office closures

Officials in the deputy prime minister’s department will launch their ‘work to rule’ protest on Monday

Society

2 w. ago Angela Rayner's civil servants launch 'work to rule' protest after being told they cannot WFH

Staff at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which is headed by the Deputy Prime Minister, will begin the industrial action next week.

Events

2 w. ago Parenting is not just for pronatalists: the progressive case for raising kids

Child rearing in our current world is a stubborn act of hope. If the left doesn’t see it that way, conservatives fill the voidA few months ago, I was at a playground just a couple of blocks from our home in Washington DC, when a mom I barely knew turned to me mid-conversation and said: “I think I might be the deep state.”It was mid-March. Doge was tearing through the city, dismantling federal agencies at dizzying speed. Donald Trump, re-elected on a promise to “shatter the deep state”, had fired thousands of longtime civil servants in his first weeks back in office. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Top civil servant told to ‘get on it’ after Supreme Court ruling on gender

Michelle Thomson MSP challenged permanent secretary Joe Griffin on the issue at Holyrood’s Finance and Public Administration Committee.

Events

3 w. ago ANDREW NEIL: No future UK government has a hope of making things better if it can't reform our incompetent Left

Former Tory Cabinet minister, Michael Gove, this week revealed he had to overrule civil servants who wanted to suppress newspaper revelations about grooming gangs in Rotherham.

Politics

3 w. ago Xi Jinping austerity drive has Chinese civil servants dining in groups of three

The move has been linked to Chinese president Xi Jinping’s push for boosting austerity among civil servants

Politics

3 w. ago China bans civil servants from dining in groups in Xi’s new austerity drive

The move has been linked to Chinese president Xi Jinping’s push for boosting austerity among civil servants

Politics

4 w. ago £600,000 to be spent on Renfrew Victory Baths after investment approved

A series of steps will extend the life of the B-listed building in the town.

Economics