Ministry of Defence pays millions to rehire sacked civilians The department was forced into making cuts after inheriting a £38 billion black hole in finances from the previous government. It is expected to save £4.1 billion by reducing the civilian workforce by 29,000 and military personnel by 25,000. The report also blamed the implementation of the cuts programme for causing low morale in the MoD. "Given the scale of change in the department it is not surprising morale is low," it concluded. MPs said that while future priorities had been set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review in 2010, the job cuts were going ahead before detailed operating plans had been finalised. Kevan Jones, the shadow armed forces minister, said: "This is a damning condemnation of the Government's reform programme. The rushed defence review put savings before strategy with damaging consequences. "Ministers" decisions mean the MoD is losing key skills, morale is in freefall and taxpayers" money is being wasted. Just weeks after a humiliating U-turn on aircraft carriers corroded confidence in the Government's handling of the equipment programme, this will end any assurance that ministers" reform programme was well planned or successful."