Trump Fires Thousands Of Workers

[Hymie]

Those still within their probationary period have effectively been summarily dismissed, their termination letter read:-

 

 ‘Unfortunately, the Agency finds that you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and skills do not fit the Agency's current needs, and your performance has not been adequate to justify further employment at the Agency.’

 

Apparently one former National Institutes of Health scientist said:-

‘Words cannot adequately express how financially screwed I am.’

 

I wonder how many of those sacked, were foolish enough to vote themselves out of a job – no sympathy from me.

[New Judge]

"...why do you believe civil servants do very little?"

It would be interesting to find out what the 93,000 who have been recruited in the past four years or so are doing.

 In October 2023 the Sunak government announced an “immediate headcount freeze” with the numbers standing at 496,115. That was not particularly heeded and by the time of the General Election, just nine months later, the numbers had risen to 513,205 – an increase of almost 3.5%. 

It is difficult to establish the precise increases for each department but some headlines make interesting reading. Although small, the  Department for Culture, Media and Sport has almost quadrupled in size since 2010, while the Department for the Environment has doubled. But key ‘operational’ departments which employ large numbers of staff – Department for Work & Pensions, Ministry of Justice and HMRC – employ fewer civil servants now than they did in 2010.

Of course the reasons for these changes are probably many and various, but I struggle to understand how the overall size of the Civil Service seems to be expanding at a considerably greater rate than the population when, as far as I can see, no additional services are being  provided and, certainly from my observations, the standard of service provided by many departments is actually falling.

It is little wonder, therefore, that there is a perception that many Civil Servants do very little. The 93,000 that have been taken on since the pandemic do not appear to have added greatly to the smooth functioning of the nation.

So although it may not be easy to say with confidence that they do “very little”, people may justifiably ask if what they are doing is of much benefit to anybody other than providing them with employment.