DExEU to investigate why staff are leaving
A report published by the UK’s National Audit Office has highlighted a four times greater than average turnover rate of staff in the Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) than in the civil service.
Meg Hiller, the Labour MP who chairs the Public Accounts Committee described the rate at which staff are leaving the new department, set up to facilitate the UK’s exit from the EU, as “alarmingly high”.
Under the leadership of David Davis, the Department has severely enhanced its volume of staff from an original figure of 56, following the referendum outcome in July 2016, to 581 by October the following year. However, despite the large acquisition of staff, a greater than average number are leaving the Department.
DExEU has calculated that its current turnover rate is estimated at 3 per cent per month, or 9 per cent per quarter. The recent average turnover rate across the civil service as a whole has been around 9 per cent per year.
More than 60 per cent of DExEU staff are loaned from other government departments, 22 per cent have been externally recruited, 14 per cent are on a fast stream programme (staff on rotation between departments), 2 per cent have been seconded and 1 per cent are from agency staff.
The report by the NAO states that DExEU is “working to collect data on why people have left”. However, it found that of the 61 people who left and gave reasons for their departure, three were leaving the civil service altogether, 23 had completed their loan period and the remainder were moving elsewhere within the civil service.
A report published by the UK’s National Audit Office has highlighted a four times greater than average turnover rate of staff in the Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) than in the civil service.
