Government has not yet set out the consequences of announced Civil Service staffing reductions. In May 2022, the government announced that it intends to cut 91,000 jobs from the civil service over the next three years. The 2021 Spending Review had already confirmed the need for savings of 5% against day-to-day central departmental budgets in 2024–25, however, these new cuts, which represent a 20% reduction in headcount, are far more significant. The Treasury acknowledges that it does not yet understand the scale or cost of redundancies that are likely to be required to achieve the desired reduction in headcount across the civil service. This scale of headcount reduction has the potential to bring about significant consequences for departmental service quality and delivery. At the time we took evidence, no work had been completed, either by the Treasury or by other affected departments, to understand the impact on delivery of public services or how to mitigate the effects for service users. One way in which cuts might be achieved while maintaining delivery levels is through increased digitisation of services. There is a risk that if a rapid reduction in headcount led to a sacrifice of resources needed to achieve digital transformations, that current progress towards digitalisation might be jeopardised; damaging the potential to reduce long-term staffing needs organically. 8 Whole of Government Accounts 2019–20 Recommendation: HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office should prepare a clearly articulated and costed plan based on proposed staffing reductions across government, and ensure that reductions represent value for money, and tell us in its Treasury Minute response when that will be published. Whole of Government Accounts 2019–20 9 1 Timeliness of the WGA and the impact of delays