Top-level employees at the British Foreign Office are facing major cuts as part of an efficiency campaign that, according to officials, could reduce the total number of staff in London by about a quarter, BNR reported.
Sir Olly Robbins, the department's most senior civil servant in the British capital, has told staff to expect "significant" cuts as it seeks to focus its resources on its overseas network, several officials told the Financial Times.
Robbins, who was Britain's former chief Brexit negotiator, has decided to cut an entire management level, reducing the number of directors from around 50 to 30. Meanwhile, some directors-general have been told to reapply for their own jobs or for reworked versions of the posts as their numbers are reduced from nine to seven.
Foreign Office officials estimate that between 15 and 25 percent of staff could be made redundant.
The ministry currently employs 17,000 people in 281 offices around the world, including its ornate Victorian headquarters on King Charles Street.
The Foreign Office, like other government departments, must make cuts and savings in the name of efficiency as part of a spending review of all government departments.