Efforts to move civil servants out of London are 'going backwards'

The report showed that since 2018, one in three civil servants has been recruited in the capital. 

Seeing the number of civil servants grown twice as fast in London at 22% compared to regions outside of the city. 

Nine in 10 of those civil servants are employed by the Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy work in London.

London holds the most amount of civil servants. (PA)

Plus, the departments hired nearly three times as many officials in the capital from the six months after March 2021. 

The report from Onward think tank looked at the wide spread of places where Government decisions are made. 

Stating that "despite warm words and good intentions, efforts to decentralise the civil service are going backwards."

The overall civil service headcount has risen by 50% in London since 2006, compared to 3% for the country as a whole.

In the North East, East of England, South West, and South East, numbers have fallen by 12% or more, according to the report.

The report also suggested that moving civil servants to other regions could have a positive effect on growth and decision-making. 

Will Tanner, director of Onward and former deputy head of policy to Theresa May, said: "For civil servants, leveling up should mean spreading out. The pandemic has proved that officials do not rely on being in Whitehall to do their jobs, and a more dispersed civil service would lead to more balanced private sector growth and more representative government."