Significant progress made with the relocation of 933 UK Civil Service posts from London to Scotland.
The British government has pledged to transfer 1,500 jobs to Scotland by 2025.
By 2025, a second Cabinet Office headquarters will more than treble the department’s presence in Glasgow.
Since March 2020, about one thousand London-based Civil Service positions have relocated to Scotland, the Cabinet Office revealed today.
Nadhim Zahawi, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, visited the department’s new second headquarters in Atlantic Square, Glasgow, prior to chairing the inaugural Islands Forum on Wednesday in Orkney.
The Places for Growth relocation scheme will move 22,000 Civil Service positions out of London by 2030. Since the scheme’s inception, 933 positions have been transferred from the capital to Scotland, and 600 additional high-quality occupations will be permanently based in Scotland by 2025.
By 2025, the Cabinet Office will more than quadruple its existing workforce in Glasgow to around 750 personnel.
Nadhim Zahawi, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister of Intergovernmental Relations, stated:
We wish to promote growth throughout the entire United Kingdom, and relocating Civil Service employment outside of London is essential to this end. I am pleased to report that the Cabinet Office is at the forefront of this initiative by ensuring that important decision-makers are located in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
It is crucial that we continue to build on this momentum and increase possibilities for individuals outside of London, providing them the chance to create successful careers throughout the entire United Kingdom and bringing diversity of thinking and experience to the highest levels of government.
Under the initiative, the number of Senior UK Civil Servants based in Glasgow has increased by 1,400%, with 30 senior officials now permanently residing in the city. By 2030, the government intends for at least fifty percent of UK-based senior civil servants to reside outside of London.
Director positions in the Cabinet Office’s Counter Fraud Function, Consulting Hub, and Debt Management teams, formerly located in London, are now located in Scotland.
This marks the end of an age in which employees aspiring to top positions were required to relocate to London or the surrounding area, or endure a lengthy commute from further afield. Staff can now lead teams delivering great public services from any location in the United Kingdom.
Naomi Hunter, who was born in Edinburgh but went to London in 2013 to join the Treasury, is now a Senior Civil Servant at the Cabinet Office’s headquarters in Glasgow. After entering the British Civil Service, she spent the following seven years living in London and frequently visiting her family in Scotland.
Ms. Hunter, who leads the public sector debt recovery strategy team, stated:
When I originally joined the British public service, I relocated to London because it was the only choice for my professional advancement. The opening of the Cabinet Office headquarters in Glasgow has allowed me to return to Scotland and continue doing what I love. I am so happy for the people of Scotland that they no longer need to relocate to the south in order to begin their careers or obtain expert jobs in their industry.
The increase has resulted in graduates remaining in Scotland, averting a “brain drain” as young people pursue professions in the south.
Ceilidh MacDonald, age 27 and from Inverness, was the first university graduate in her family. After initially rejecting a position with a central government agency owing to the obligation to live in London, she learned of the Cabinet Office’s development in Glasgow and accepted a position with the Grants team.
Ms MacDonald said:
I believed that moving to London was the only option to pursue a career, but when Covid struck, I realized that London was the last place I wanted to be. Not only am I obtaining more experience than I ever imagined possible in Scotland, but we’re also working in the community to spread the word that there are incredible prospects in the area.
Hundreds of positions in departments like as the FCDO, Ministry of Justice, and Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy have been transferred to Edinburgh and East Kilbride.
It is anticipated that these positions will provide a substantial boost to local industry and enterprise, as government research indicates that workers reinvest approximately fifty percent of their income in the local economy.