- Civil servants face compulsory redundancy, warned the Chief Minister
- Senator Ian Gorst told Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel that assessment of staff would take up to six months
- The States has to find savings of £125 million by 2019
- Should compulsory redundancies be a last resort? Take our poll below
IT IS still unclear how many civil servants may face compulsory redundancy to help plug a major funding gap but planning for States-wide jobs restructuring has begun, according to senior politicians and government executives.
The States HR department is carrying out a public-sector employment profile review to assess what stage employees are at in their careers which will give an indication of who may be coming up for retirement.
Last month the Chief Minister Ian Gorst and Treasury Minister Alan Maclean revealed a potential £125 million deficit by 2019 if planned spending was carried out and no money-saving counter measures were introduced.
At the same time senior ministers announced that the funding gap was to be plugged using £35 million from a new health charge, £35 million in other savings including benefit changes and user-pays fees and £60 million in staff savings including voluntary and compulsory redundancy.
And yesterday, at the Chief Minister’s quarterly hearing with the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel, senior officers said that the States HR’s assessment of the public sector age profile needed to be completed in the next three to six months.
When asked what part compulsory redundancy would play when it came to making £60 million in staff savings, Senator Gorst told the panel: ‘If you ask me now do I think there is going to be compulsory redundancy then I think the answer is yes, there is.
Andy Scate, the Planning Department’s chief executive, has been put in charge of leading the States programme of public sector reform.
He, along with Paul Bradbury, the States director of corporate policy, Assistant Chief Minister Senator Paul Routier and Tom Walker, a chief officer with responsibility for Home and Constitutional Affairs, joined Senator Gorst to give evidence at the hearing.
Mr Scate said: ‘The work with our HR colleagues will let us see who is likely to depart. Then, either we do not need to refill those jobs, or, we can redesign them.
‘Natural turnover gives a huge amount of flexibility and a changing workforce. It is clear we need to do this over the next three to six months.
‘Once we are clear what is getting redesigned, we can be clear what redeployment can occur and whether any compulsory redundancies are needed as a result.’
Panel chairman Deputy Join Le Fondré was joined by vice-chairman Deputy Simon Brée Constable Christopher Taylor and Deputy Kevin Lewis.
