Border Force has been warned by the UK's borders watchdog that it risks "losing the wrong people in the wrong areas" as it presses ahead with plans to cut nearly 600 jobs, potentially leaving gaps in skills and knowledge at a time when securing the border is a politically sensitive priority. The findings come from Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration John Tuckett, whose report flags that senior civil servants have no credible plan for hitting the target beyond hoping staff leave naturally, alongside confusion over who is actually accountable for delivering the cuts.

The report centres on a plan to reduce Border Force's headcount by 563 staff, part of a wider Spending Review requirement to shrink the workforce significantly over the next three years. As of May, "natural attrition" was the only mechanism in place to bring numbers down, despite senior managers themselves acknowledging this could not be relied upon alone, and the report also identifies a lack of clarity over accountability for reductions at the border itself versus elsewhere in the organisation. The findings form part of Tuckett's review of the Home Office's border modernisation programme, due to conclude in March next year; he made three recommendations, all of which the department has accepted.