Tens of thousands of civil service jobs are being uprooted from central London to the outer suburbs under new money-saving plans.
A new strategy aims to reduce the number of costly government buildings in the capital’s heart by over 80 per cent by 2020, saving taxpayers billions.
It will mean upheaval for some officials who could be forced to move home if their office is shifted to an inconvenient part of the city. For others it may mean being able to afford homes close to their workplace for the first time, getting rid of their daily commute.
Under the new strategy, announced by Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude, the number of civil service offices in central London are being reduced from 143 in 2010 to just 23 buildings by the 2020s. Those left will include mainly the big ministerial headquarters close to Whitehall, including No 10, the Treasury and the Foreign Office.
Croydon is already the location for a major satellite office for Home Office officials, whose old HQ used to be in Petty France. The Ministry of Justice is currently trailing a mini-commuter hub in the same area.
It costs £35,000 per year to base an official in the imposing Ministry of Defence headquarters in Whitehall, compared to £3,000 at the UK Visas and Immigration offices in Croydon.
“Since 2010 we have got out of property 26 times the size of Buckingham Palace and halved our government buildings in London,” said Mr Maude.
“Hard-working families expect us to do more and we will – shortly after 2020 there should be just 23 government buildings in our capital, releasing surplus space for housing and businesses.”
Other ideas include more hot-desking and “commuter hubs” within the M25 where people can work at a desk without travelling into the centre. More officials are being kitted with tablet computers to liberate them from being office-bound.
Surplus building will be sold off or leased, while Admiralty Arch is to become a five-star luxury hotel.
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In pilot schemes outside London, 7,500 new homes were created from redevelopments, along with 5,500 jobs. In Leeds a major new John Lewis store opened on old public land, creating 1,000 jobs.
With civil service numbers shrinking, officials have left 1,650 sites across the UK since 2010 – saving over £600 million in cumulative running costs and netting £1.4 billion in property sales.
