The Gambling Commission is to press ahead with job cuts aimed at saving more than £1m despite criticism that it is underfunded and failing to regulate the industry effectively.
Well-placed sources said the regulator had begun seeking voluntary redundancies among its 332 staff and was weighing up compulsory job losses.
The planned cuts come despite concerns about the regulator’s effectiveness, expressed in three separate reports by the public accounts committee, a House of Lords select committee and a cross-party group of MPs. The reports question the ability of a regulator with an annual budget of £19m to rein in an industry that takes about £14bn a year from punters. The Gambling Commission has previously acknowledged that it is underfunded.
The public accounts committee chair, the Labour MP Meg Hillier, told of the impending cuts, said: “It is for the Gambling Commission to decide how to up its game as radically as is required but, given the huge gaps in its understanding of harms from the gambling industry in the UK and the tortoise-like progress it has made on adapting the rules to tackle those harms, it is hard to see how cutting its staff resource is the answer.
“The commission is adrift – DCMS [the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport] needs to set performance targets and [the Gambling Commission] needs to get its funding on a sound, realistic footing and make a proper plan to meet them.”
A commission spokesperson said it was making structural changes to ensure it was more “agile”.
They said: “Over the past few months we have been talking to colleagues about some changes we must make to meet the challenges ahead, which will affect how we organise ourselves in some areas. We are still going through that process, while also working closely with DCMS to address issues around our resources.”
A DCMS spokesperson said it had received proposals from the Gambling Commission for changes to the fees they charged operators and was in discussions with them.
“We have worked closely with the commission over the past 18 months to introduce a wave of tough measures to help protect people from the risks of gambling-related harm, including cutting the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals, introducing tighter age and identifying checks for online gambling and banning gambling using credit cards,” the spokesperson said.
“But we have been clear that we will take further action if necessary, including reviewing the Gambling Act to ensure it is fit for the digital age.”