Bullying complaints rocket at Defra

Overworked civil servants at the Department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) have been pushed to “breaking point”, leading to a rapid increase in employees speaking out about adverse working conditions including allegations of bullying.

Data published by Defra shows that the number of complaints made about workplace bullying in the department rose by 560% between 2021 and 2023, increasing from fewer than five complaints to 28 this year.

An insider at Defra told Utility Week that an “atmosphere of intimidation” now existed within the department with ministers routinely using “dehumanising language” towards civil servants.

The source added that workloads have increased as a result of exiting the European Union as well as pressures from the bird flu epidemic.

They said teams were expected to review 85% of UK legislation derived from EU law which are due to be sunsetted at the end of 2023, alongside their normal work without additional resources.

The source said this added strain meant staff were “working themselves to breaking point” with little consideration for their wellbeing.

“Our leadership gets distracted with interfering in small equality matters rather than looking to support staff as a whole,” they said of the management style within the Department.

The number of disciplinary investigations similarly rose from fewer than five to 23 in 2023, Defra data shows.

Instability of leadership over the past few years has also contributed to workload pressures, the source said. “The changes to secretaries and ministers of state always comes with a change or priorities for the Department and that’s before you take into account their individual personalities.”

The source added: “When ministers use dehumanising language such as referring to civil servants as ‘the blob’ and call civil servants trying to do their job ‘activist civil servants’ this creates an atmosphere of intimidation and undermines the work that members in our department are doing to trying to protect the environment and food chain of our country.”

Complaints about bullying have escalated across government departments over the past 12 months. Dominic Rabb stepped down as deputy prime minister after a report into bullying allegations described him as intimidating and aggressive in the workplace. Former education secretary Gavin Williamson also resigned due to bullying in his department.

Meanwhile environment secretary Therese Coffey faced allegations of bullying peers during a vote on fracking last autumn together with Jacob Rees-Mogg. An investigation found no evidence to back up the claim made by the opposition.

Defra said it takes complaints seriously but said the number of complaints was low compared to the total number of employees within the department. As at 31 March 2022, Defra had 12,160 full-time equivalent employees.

A spokesperson said: “Bullying and harassment has no place in our organisation and all allegations are taken extremely seriously, investigated promptly and always dealt with in the strictest confidence.

“While these numbers are still very low we are not complacent and recognise there has been an increase in recent years.”

The spokesperson added that Defra has an internal initiative to encourage staff to speak out against harassment or bullying across all levels of the organisation.

Trade union Public and Commercial Services (PCS) said the rise in bullying is a cause for concern. PCS increased its profile at the Department over the past year, through more campaigning and recruiting.

“We’re very concerned about the rise in bullying at Defra and are committed to representing our members there,” general secretary at PCS Mark Serwotka said. “Since Brexit, their workload has vastly increased without additional resources, and they are unfairly bearing the brunt of managers’ frustrations.”

He said ministers referring to civil servants in derogatory terms set a bad example that others were quick to follow.

Serwotka added: “Rather than criticising our members, managers should be praising them, supporting them and giving them a fair pay rise to help them through the cost-of-living crisis and beyond.”