Defra imposes recruitment freeze in bid to reduce headcount

Defra has imposed a department-wide recruitment freeze on all external positions as it works to reduce its overall staffing numbers.

All publicly listed jobs at Defra have been removed from the civil service website, with no vacancies being advertised at all on 22 April.

In December 2023, Defra had a total workforce of 7,400 staff and total staffing costs of £56.6m.

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It is understood that the recruitment freeze will only affect core Defra positions with associated arms-length bodies not affected.

Farmers Weekly contacted Defra to confirm the recruitment freeze and outline the reasons behind it.

A Defra spokesperson said: “We are working to protect the environment, support our food and farming sectors and deliver for rural communities now and in the years ahead.

“We want to ensure our talented and dedicated workforce is deployed to meet our greatest priorities, while also recognising that as part of our spending review settlement and in line with the civil service headcount cap, we have committed to make significant savings.

“This means we will be reducing our staff headcount during the 2024-25 financial year.

“We plan to achieve this through the internal movement of our workforce, with a focus on skills and capability.

“The senior leadership team has paused external recruitment in the interim and will be engaging with staff and teams as we look to become a smaller and more efficient department.”

No timescale has been offered by Defra yet for how long the recruitment freeze will last; however, it is rumoured to be likely to remain in place until after the next general election.