- Significant progress on commitment to move 22,000 government
roles out of London by 2030
- North- west and Yorkshire & Humber have benefitted from
most job relocations
- Construction underway at Manchester Hub which will host 2,500
civil servants
More than 11,000 government roles have been relocated out of
London and across the UK under the Places for Growth programme,
the Cabinet Office has announced today.
The north-west has seen the most roles created, with around 2,100
government jobs previously based in London now operating from
Greater Manchester, Liverpool and Sefton. Yorkshire and Humber
has also benefited significantly from the jobs boost, with around
1,800 more civil servant roles now based in Leeds and Sheffield.
Around eight out of ten roles relocated under the programme have
been filled by local people. For example, Home Office roles
tackling exploitation and abuse which were previously operating
in London are now based in the north-west while Cabinet Office
officials working on the government’s counter-fraud response are
also now working in Manchester. Both departments have moved
around 450 roles to Greater Manchester so far.
Government modelling expects that the programme will provide an
economic boost of between £260m - £1.4bn in total across the
country, helping to deliver on one of the Prime Minister’s key
promises to grow the economy.
Latest relocation studies suggest a local economic benefit of £30
million per 1,000 roles relocated, which suggests the moves to
Greater Manchester could generate more than £60 million in
economic benefits to the area.
Minister for the Cabinet Office visited the site of a new Hub
in Manchester today which is set to be completed by 2025. He
said:
The programme to move government roles out of London is a key
part of the plan to deliver on the Prime Minister’s top
priorities, particularly when it comes to growing the economy
across the whole UK.
By putting local voices at the heart of policy-making, we’re also
moving power out of Westminster and into the hands of
communities.
I am so pleased to be in Manchester today as we kick off
construction on the new First Street Government Hub, which will
enable hundreds of jobs to move to Manchester and bring millions
of pounds to the local economy.
The Places for Growth programme has committed to moving 22,000
roles out of London by 2030. Its core aim is to utilise the vast
talent pool spread across the UK, whilst ensuring that the civil
service is reflective of the communities it serves.
The 11,168 roles relocated so far mean that over half of this
target has been met in less than three years, with further roles
set to move in the near future.
These include 700 roles which will move to the Manchester First
Street Hub, a c12,000 square metre development which will open in
2025 to provide a new home for civil servants currently based in
Manchester, in addition to staff relocated from London.
Once complete the site will be one of the largest for
cross-government collaboration outside London, providing office
accommodation and different types of areas for people to work and
collaborate, as well as enabling efficiencies through
digitally-enabled office space.
Ben Rimmington, a Director General at the Department for Energy
Security and Net Zero, was previously based in London before
moving North to be closer to family. He said:
It has been a really fantastic experience to lead the growth of
the BEIS and now DESNZ presence in Salford. I have been hugely
impressed by the collective commitment to show that you don’t
have to be in London all the time to do even the most senior
‘Whitehall’ jobs, and I think people are seeing that you can now
build a rewarding, varied career in the Civil Service without
having to move to the South East.
