The government office that Prime Minister Andy Burnham opened in Manchester in July has advertised 50 external posts, in a recruitment campaign the government says will move decisions closer to the people they affect.
BBC News calculates that the roles total up to £2.8m in basic salaries alone, before employer pension contributions, which in the civil service run at 28.97%. Government sources say the posts will be paid for out of existing budgets.
The jobs cover strategy, communications, engagement, private office and policy, and all are based in Manchester. Some apprenticeships and secondments are also being advertised.
Among the highest paid is a "rewiring the state deputy director", on a salary band of £86,000 to £117,000, who will "lead the Rewiring the State Unit... shaping the government's approach to devolution across departments".
The new recruits "will work with mayors and councils to identify barriers holding places back", the government said. Its statement added that the campaign would bring in staff who would "bring fresh perspectives and knowledge of the places they serve, moving decisions closer to the people they affect", and that No10 North "is driving the most significant transfer of power out of Westminster in a generation".
There will be no redundancies elsewhere in the civil service as a result, the BBC was told, with some jobs expected to be relocated and other vacant roles closed. No10 North now has 120 members of staff, against the 280 who work in No10 London.
The office is designed as a sister to Downing Street, with a replica black door inside on show. It will move from its temporary home in Heron House, on Manchester's Albert Square, to a new government building on First Street in spring 2027, shared with departments covering business, education and local government, and the Cabinet Office.
Burnham made opening No10 North one of his first acts as prime minister, describing it as "the nerve-centre of a rewired Britain". Its deputy director, Duncan Parish, said in a speech last week that officials faced "institutional challenges" in delivering on those aims, and called for a "mindset shift" across central government.
The Conservatives have described the office as a "gimmick". The party's deputy leader, Alex Burghart, said: "He [Burnham] promised to streamline the civil service, but now he is hiring extra staff and, once again, won't say where the money is coming from." He added: "Manchesterism is just more bureaucracy at taxpayers' expense." The shadow cabinet minister Mike Wood has said there is "so little transparency" around No10 North, after ministers told him they could not reveal figures on headcounts or office attendance.
The claim this newspaper wishes to examine is the measurable one. Decisions are to be moved closer to the people they affect. That is a statement about distance, and distance can be audited.
The job adverts state that the Office for the Prime Minister expects No10 staff to be in the office a minimum of 60% of the time, with exceptions for certain roles. For the remaining 40%, the decisions are at home with the people who make them, which is closer to some people and further from everybody else.
Since opening, the office has hosted summits of regional mayors, at least two of which were partly held as video calls on Microsoft Teams. On a video call every participant is exactly as close to every other participant as they would be on any other video call, anywhere. Our analysts record this as the first documented instance of devolution at zero metres.
The arithmetic of the transfer is now available as well. There are 120 staff in Manchester and 280 in London, so 30% of the Office for the Prime Minister sits outside Westminster. Whether that is the most significant transfer of power out of Westminster in a generation is a matter for historians. That it is 30% is a matter for division.
The Department of Unnecessary Research accepts that the state is being rewired, and observes only that the rewiring is to be led by a new deputy director, in a new unit, in a new building, reporting to the office being rewired. The wire is longer than it was.