What is purdah?
11 February 2021
Purdah is typically the pre-election period in which civil servants are expected to refrain from making any announcements that concern new or controversial government initiatives. There is also a period of purdah that is observed prior to the delivery of a Budget, in which civil servants avoid discussing any matters which have relevance to that Budget.
Prior to a general election, the purdah period typically begins six weeks before the scheduled election, but there are no concrete timelines around pre-Budget purdah.
The Budget is due to be delivered by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, on 3 March 2021. Whilst we have no official confirmation of the date on which purdah will commence, we suspect that it will be very soon, given that the Budget date is less than a month away.
It could be argued that purdah does not have direct impacts on payroll professionals as such, but it does have an impact on the work carried out by the Policy and Research team here at the CIPP. Many of the meetings that are scheduled with government departments could be cancelled or delayed, as officials sometimes take the stance that it is unnecessary to attend sessions where they cannot discuss the items originally intended on the agenda.
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