“Too many chiefs, not enough workers” as FOI reveals more than 1-in-3 Welsh Government employees are ‘managers’.

Figures from a Welsh Conservative Freedom of Information Request (FOI) have uncovered a bloated Welsh civil service, with “too many chiefs, not enough workers”.

The figures highlight a “lack of genuine leadership” in the Welsh Government, say the Welsh Conservatives, with more than a third of all staff described as ‘managers’. The FOI reveals total staffing spend, as well as the number of managers in the Welsh Government’s civil service. In 2013/14 total spend on staffing by the Welsh Government was £268.7 million; a figure that reached £273.5 million in 2015/16.

Over the same period, the proportion of ‘managers’ as part of the overall Welsh Government workforce rose from 35.2% of all staff, to 37.2% – with 2,026 out of 5,446 staff classed as managers.

In addition, the number of staff on ‘Senior Civil Service and Executive Band’ levels in the same period has risen to 20%, meaning that 1-in-5 staff members are paid between £45,000 and £122,000 a year.

Responding to the figures, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives – Andrew RT Davies – said:

“These figures highlight a lack of genuine leadership in the Welsh Government, with far too many chiefs and not enough workers.

“For 1-in-3 employees to be classed as managers is absurd, and it’s Welsh taxpayers that foot the bill for an organisation which has become far too bloated.

“Who takes responsibility when things go wrong, if almost 40% of all staff are on a management level? From a practical perspective it makes almost no sense at all.”

Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Nick Ramsay, said:

“These figures are startling, with a fifth of all Welsh Government employees paid between £45,000 and £122,000 a year.

“A top-heavy workforce such as this cannot be good for staff morale, and spending on managers makes up a huge proportion of the overall budget of £273.5 million.

“It’s symptomatic of the over-inflated bureaucracy at the heart of the Welsh Labour Government.”