Government redundancy pay-outs average £60k

Monday 21 October 2019

Civil service unions have spoken out against government workers facing demotion and having to re-apply for their old jobs under the ‘OneGov’ regime, as new figures show that 10 people have taken voluntary redundancy this year with pay-outs averaging £60,000.

Meanwhile, one person was paid £26,000 after being made compulsorily redundant in 2019.

In 2018, 10 people had their voluntary redundancy applications granted with pay-outs totalling £705,000 – around £70,500 each on average – while one compulsory redundancy resulted in a £25,000 pay-out. 

The figures, which were released by the government following several requests from Express, come following pledges by the Chief Executive Charlie Parker to drive efficiency and make monetary savings in the public sector, in part by shrinking it. 

Pictured: As part of the redundancy scheme, employees are given three weeks' pay p​er year of completed continuous service.

The government had already started focusing on “headcount management” back in 2015 when it launched a voluntary redundancy scheme, which is still in motion and has funded the most recent redundancy pay-outs.

That year, it was agreed that approvals for funding of voluntary and compulsory redundancies would be made by a panel made up of the States Chief Executive, the Treasurer and Director of Human Resources.

Successful applicants of the voluntary redundancy (VR) scheme are given three weeks' pay p​er year of completed continuous service. This is capped at 18 months' pay (78.27 weeks), meaning that the final payment, including any notice period, won't exceed any pay the employee would have received up to normal retirement age. 

Since the launch, over 706 Government employees have applied for voluntary redundancy - 555 of which between the first two years of the scheme. Only a third of those applications (204) have been approved to date. 

Pictured: 204 applications for voluntary redundancies have been approved since 2015.

38 employees had applied to leave the civil service by the end of September but only 10 applications were granted. In total, those employees shared £603,000.

Last year, the same number of applications was granted, but the Government paid out a total of £705,000. This is far less than what was paid in 2015: £4.5 million.

Meanwhile, a total of 60 employees have been made redundant since 2015, including 49 in 2016 only. In 2017, eight employees were let go, followed by another two in 2018 and one this year, who received a £26,000 pay out.

Since the scheme was launched in 2015, a total of £9.4m has been paid out for VR, and a total of £975,000 has been paid out for compulsory redundancies. £5.6 million remains in the redundancy scheme funding pot.

Pictured: A breakdown of how much has been paid for voluntary redundancies (VR) and compulsory redundancies (CR).

As headcount management continues to be a theme of the 'OneGov' overhaul launched by CEO Charlie Parker, unions have recently spoken out about its impact on staff morale.

According to the island's two civil service unions, JCSA Prospect and Unite, members are feeling “uncertain” about how their roles will be affected, which is having an impact on productivity. 

In a letter sent to the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel as part of their Government Plan Review, the unions voiced concerns about how the actions laid out in the plan could be “realistically achieved” given, in part, “the impact of the organisational change programme on staff and workload.

They described all departments as being "in a state of flux" as a result of organisational change, adding: "Many employees are having to re-apply for their own jobs, some face redundancy, and others are facing the prospect of their jobs being downgraded."

Pictured: The unions have said that the impact of the organisational change on staff morale and productivity should not be "underestimated".

They continued: "It is inconceivable to think that such a period of change will not have an impact on the delivery of actions outlined within the [Government Plan], and any subsequent departmental business and operational plans should duly take this into consideration."