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Bank of England resignation scheme overwhelmed as 700 ask for pay out - TELEGRAPH
More than 700 staff at the Bank of England applied to leave their roles in return for a pay-out as it experienced overwhelming demand for the resignation scheme.
The Bank said 446 people will leave their roles – equal to around 8pc of its employees – after they came forward to take part in its voluntary resignation scheme.
According to Financial News, which first reported the news, 712 staff applied for the scheme, suggesting that there was significantly more demand than the Bank of England was able to meet.
The Bank will pay out a total of £36m in settlements, meaning the 446 employees leaving will receive an average of £81,000 each.
The departures come as the Bank of England races to find savings to fund an overhaul of its flawed economic forecasts. It follows recommendations made by Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chair, in a report in 2024.
The report called for the Bank to overhaul its forecasting and communications infrastructure, which has led to squeezed budgets elsewhere in the organisation.
The Bank is aiming to save 8pc of its operating costs during the financial year – equivalent to around £45m – and has already decided to shelve investments considered non-essential.
It is understood that the scheme will account for £35m of those savings, leaving a further £10m of savings to be found elsewhere.
The Bank of England had not been targeting a specific number of staff to depart as part of the recent resignation scheme. It is not a redundancy scheme, as the Bank will be able to replace roles that have been eliminated.
However, Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England Governor, warned that further job cuts could come on top of the “entirely voluntary” scheme. Speaking in December, he said: “We cannot rule out compulsory redundancies later down the line.”
Mr Bernanke’s report previously called on the Bank of England to consider publishing its own outlook for UK interest rates.
While it noted that the Bank’s forecasts during the recent inflation shock was no worse than other banks, it warned that the infrastructure that underpins its projections was in need of an urgent upgrade.
