Places for Growth Moves Civil Service Jobs Outside London

According to a Cabinet Office announcement, the government says four in five civil servants are now based outside London, and more than two thirds of new full-time Civil Service roles have been created in Places for Growth locations. If that sounds technical, the basic idea is not. The state is trying to move some of its people, and eventually some of its thinking, closer to the places those decisions affect. If you live outside Westminster, that matters. Where public jobs sit often shapes who gets heard. When policy teams are concentrated in London, London can become the default view of the country. Moving roles to regional hubs is meant to change that and make public service careers easier to build without leaving home.

Places for Growth is the name of the relocation programme behind this shift. The Cabinet Office says that from the programme’s launch to March 2025, 24,621 roles had moved outside London. That is above the original target of 22,000 roles, and it means the goal was reached three years early. **What this means:** this is not only about moving existing desks from one office to another. It is also about where new jobs are being created. If future teams are based in regional hubs rather than added to London, that changes who can apply, who can stay in their community, and who gets the chance to build a long-term career inside government.

It also helps to separate two ideas that are often blended together in official announcements. Relocation is about geography: where civil servants work. Devolution is about power: who gets to decide. Those ideas can support each other, but they are not the same. The government frames this policy as part of a break from centralisation, and that is why the article links Places for Growth to Whitehall officials being posted into mayors’ offices. Cabinet Office minister Mark Ferguson argues that decision-makers should better reflect the country they serve. That could give mayoral authorities more support and closer links to central government. Still, a seconded official is not the same thing as lasting local control over money, law or strategy.

Senior staff are a big part of this story. The government says 36.6% of UK-based Senior Civil Servants were based outside London as of March 2026. The longer-term aim is to move half of senior leadership into the regions and nations. That number matters because senior civil servants do more than manage teams. They shape priorities, advise ministers and influence how policy problems are understood in the first place. If junior and mid-level staff are spread across the UK but most of the top decision-makers remain in London, the old centre of gravity can still stay in place. If more senior officials live and work in regional communities, they are more likely to build everyday relationships with councils, local employers and public services.

The article also points to a new Fast Stream pilot in Yorkshire and Humber. On paper, that can sound like a minor detail. In practice, it speaks to a much bigger question: do ambitious young people still need to move to London to get the best route into government? For students and early-career workers, this may be the most immediate part of the policy. A regional Fast Stream pilot suggests the government wants national careers to feel genuinely national. If it works well, it could widen access to public service jobs, help keep talent in local areas and challenge the old idea that serious policy work only happens in the capital.

The Cabinet Office also ties all this to economic growth. The claim is that bringing Civil Service jobs to more parts of the UK supports local economies, creates skilled employment and helps public institutions feel less distant. There is some sense in that. Stable professional jobs can feed into local spending, transport use and confidence in an area. Even so, we should read that claim carefully. A new office does not automatically mean a stronger local economy, and a relocated department does not automatically mean local people have more say. Places for Growth is being presented as both an economic plan and a democratic one. Readers should keep asking whether both promises are being met.

The reference to No.10 North gives the politics away in a useful way. It is the government’s symbol for doing more of its thinking beyond Westminster, not only talking about the regions from a London office. That is why this story is about more than staffing. It is also about how ministers want the public to understand the state itself. So the clearest reading is simple. More Civil Service jobs are now being created or moved outside London, and that is a real shift in where government work happens. The bigger question is what comes next. If budgets, authority and senior leadership keep moving too, this could change how the state works. If only the postcodes change, then the country will have seen relocation without full devolution.