The UK Border Force risks ‘losing the wrong people in the wrong areas’ as part of a plan to cut its number of employees by nearly 600, a watchdog has warned.

An official report by Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration John Tuckett raised concerns over a programme to cut 563 staff from the Home Office agency which protects Britain’s border.

The inspector said top civil servants had acknowledged the target could not be hit by natural wastage alone – but there are no other schemes in place to cut numbers, which could lead to ‘skills and knowledge gaps’.

He also warned there was a ‘lack of clarity’ over who was responsible for overseeing the cuts.

Mr Tuckett’s report said: ‘Without proactive control of the mechanisms to lower [full-time equivalent] numbers, Border Force risked losing the wrong people in the wrong areas, resulting in skills and knowledge gaps.’

As of May this year the only method in place to reduce staff numbers was ‘natural attrition’ and ‘senior managers were aware that this could not be relied upon as the sole mechanism to reduce [full-time equivalent employees]’.

The report went on: ‘The Spending Review settlement requires Border Force to reduce its overall workforce significantly in the next three years.

‘Currently there is a lack of clarity over who is accountable for achieving workforce efficiency reductions at the border itself, as opposed to elsewhere within Border Force.’

His report on the Home Office’s border modernisation scheme, which is due to come to a close in March next year, made three recommendations which were all accepted by the department.