But he will promise that by closing Civil Service office buildings in London when leases come to an end, and moving officials back to their traditional home of Whitehall, the party will save £100m a year.
Mr Kruger will also announce that a Reform government will bring in a new Civil Service Code which will make it clear that officials are directly responsible to ministers, not permanent secretaries.
“We put the Civil Service on notice that under a Reform government, we expect the headcount to fall – dramatically,” he will say.
“We are not setting a target yet because we haven’t set out the functions, let alone the form, of the government we want to lead.
“But clearly, Britain doesn’t need half a million civil servants. We can automate a lot of these jobs; we can improve officials’ productivity to reduce headcount; and we can pass responsibility to local councils, to civil society and the private sector.”
