UK's top civil servant blasts Whitehall as 'tame' and vows to rewire it

Antonia Romeo, the cabinet secretary and Britain's most senior civil servant, used a lecture at the London School of Economics to call Whitehall too 'tame, reactive and risk-averse' and to lay out what she described as a 'completely new approach' to managing civil servants' performance. Andy Burnham and his deputy, Louise Haigh, sat in the audience. Romeo said radical change was needed as the service confronts uncertainty driven by AI and global political tensions.

She framed the overhaul as essential to productivity, pointing to a 'tight fiscal context' as ministers wrestle with how to fund higher defence spending while protecting public service budgets. Her pledge to 'rewire' the civil service echoed promises made under Keir Starmer's government. Recent changes to increase bonuses for high-performing senior civil servants were 'just the start', she said.

The new regime will 'incentivise and reward brilliant delivery, valuable expertise and sticking it out to get the job done', Romeo said. 'Poor performance drives out good performance and discretionary effort, and we must urgently address that.' She promised stronger processes, managers trained to reward those making the biggest impact and 'decisive action' on poor performance, plus a push to cut churn — the sideways moves some officials make to win pay rises instead of being rewarded for staying put.

Romeo acknowledged the criticisms that need answering: a service that is 'tame and risk-averse', 'reactive, not strategic' and 'siloed, not working across boundaries'. She is overseeing a review of the civil service's organisation due in the spring, alongside an update to its code. It will examine whether current departmental structures remain the best fit in an era of cross-cutting delivery, and what AI and 'devolution by default' mean for officials.

On AI, she pushed back at worries among civil servants that the technology would replace them, arguing it could make the service 'more human' by cutting bureaucracy so officials can concentrate on creativity, interaction and decision-making. She cited healthcare screening for types of cancer and tackling the risk of homelessness as areas where technology could make services 'much more predictive, preventative and personalised', under 'appropriate controls and guardrails'. 'AI can help us make public services more human,' she said.

A government spokesperson said after the speech that Burnham 'backs the cabinet secretary's vision for a civil service that is fit for the future' and is 'determined to rewire the state, pushing power out of Whitehall and handing it to the communities and regions it serves'. They added that the prime minister will work with Romeo to deliver 'better public services and growth in every postcode'.