Senior staff cuts to make MOD less top-heavy
25 per cent of civilian and military senior personnel based at the Ministry of Defence's Head Office will be cut over the next two years to form a new senior staff structure.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has announced today that the new structure, which will be introduced from April 2013, will ensure that the MOD is less top-heavy, and is expected to save the Department around £3.8m a year.
Around 26 civilian and military posts at Senior Civil Service level, the equivalent of Commodore, Brigadier, Air Commodore or above, are set to go.
The new Head Office will focus more on providing strategic direction. It will no longer get involved in the day-to-day management of the front line commands, which will take over responsibility for managing their own budgets.
The Defence Secretary said:
At a time when we are making difficult decisions about Defence spending and have had to accept reductions across the board we cannot ignore the volume of posts at the top. For too long the MOD has been top-heavy, with too many senior civilians and military.
Not only does this new structure reduce senior staff posts by up to a quarter in the next two years, but it allows clear strategic priorities to be set for the Armed Forces. It will hold the front line commands to account for their delivery and support them in the tasks they are set.
Acting Permanent Under Secretary Tom McKane said:
All parts of Defence are being restructured as we transform the way the Ministry of Defence does business, and Head Office is no exception. A smaller Head Office focused on strategic direction and policy, which hands more responsibility to the front line commands, allows for a better-run organisation.
The changes announced today were recommended in Lord Levene’s 2011 report and build on the transformation of Defence already underway.