Whitehall Monitor 2025

Watch a summary of our key findings

High staff turnover, confused workforce planning, slipping morale and uncompetitive pay are hindering the civil service’s ability to deliver Labour’s missions.

Whitehall Monitor 2025, the IfG’s annual data-driven stocktake of the size, shape and performance of the civil service, examines the civil service that Keir Starmer’s government inherited after the July 2024 election – and finds little evidence that Labour’s mission-led approach has truly gripped Whitehall’s way of working so far.

Both Starmer and Pat McFadden have called for Whitehall reform, but change in Whitehall takes time and current proposals – including a commitment to a “test and learn” mindset and “mission boards” – need to be more specific to address Whitehall’s fundamental problems. From excessive staff turnover in many areas to falling morale, little will change until these long-running challenges are resolved.

Six months since winning the general election, the Labour government urgently needs to kickstart the fundamental reforms needed to successfully “rewire” the British state and deliver its missions.