Coffee perks cut, more ministry redundancies brewing

Monday, 4 March 2024

Staffing cuts at Oranga Tamariki – the agency tasked with protecting vulnerable children – haven’t been ruled out, as more and more public service jobs and perks are slashed to meet the Government’s cost-saving targets.

Oranga Tamariki chief executive Chappie Te Kani told staff on Friday further changes were needed to meet its 6.5% savings target – which could include a reduction in staff numbers.

It may also mean some contracts and programmes will be stopped or scaled down. “Back office” hiring has been frozen and all non-essential travel has already been stopped.

Oranga Tamariki is already facing frontline staffing issues – down 160 social workers.

It was among the ministries explicitly excluded from having to deliver an efficiency dividend, instead expected “to redirect savings found in the back office into frontline services”.

Asked to confirm where the savings would go, a spokesperson would only say it was “committed to supporting the Government’s priorities and the savings exercise”.

“Any decisions on savings will be subject to the Budget 2024 process.”

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Children’s Minister Karen Chhour said all agencies were directed to reduce spending “as the entire public service needs to deliver better results for every taxpayer dollar”.

She was assured frontline managers and their direct reports would not be part of the process “and any potential changes would be designed to ensure minimal disruption to staff working directly with children”.

Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime said she was concerned about the impact on vulnerable children, “who the Crown is responsible to care for”.

“I want to ensure that any savings that are made are not going to reduce services, programmes, and the provision of things that our tamariki in care require, [and] those savings are retained within the organisation and not taken back into the central pool,” she said.

Chhour said the social worker vacancies was a concern and she was “working hard to make changes in this space to ensure every social worker has the tools and resources they need to do their jobs”.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), which employs about 9000 people, has turned off the plunger coffee supply, estimating a savings of $70,000 a year. Instant coffee, tea and hot chocolate are still provided.

MSD was also considering voluntary redundancies and taking a “careful approach to vacancies”, Nadine Kilmister, deputy chief executive, people and capability, said.

Ministry of Housing & Urban Development staff have been told there may be redundancies over the coming months. Chief executive Andrew Crisp has also proposed changes to the senior leadership team, while a spokesperson said recruitment only continued for critical staff and “further workforce reductions will be required”.

Decisions would be made by mid-March and a new structure would take effect from early April 2024, the spokesperson said.

The Department of Internal Affairs confirmed there would be “organisational change” affecting positions and staff. It has closed longer term vacancies and is “carefully considering every recruitment decision”.

New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi is eyeing more than 100 jobs of those working on programmes the Government directed to end.

It is consulting on three “change processes”, affecting about 110 full-time equivalent roles. It already has a pause on recruitment, other than roles deemed business critical.

In addition to cuts already made by the Ministry for the Environment, it is not extending any fixed-term contracts or contractors or consultants past July this year, unless with executive leadership team approval.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), a key agency in the cost cut proposal firing line during the election, offered voluntary redundancies in January, with staff only just learning of the outcome from Wednesday.

The Ministry of Transport reduced 24 roles, most of which were vacancies, last year, and “made provision to reduce our consultancy and contractor spend by bringing in-house some services previously outsourced”. It currently has no plans for further substantive change.

Inland Revenue “was already looking at how to become more efficient”, and was not looking to reduce staffing levels at this stage.

The Ministry for Ethnic Communities has signalled to staff there is a proposal for change pending, and it is treating all recruitment on a case-by-case basis.

Corrections, which was already is facing ongoing frontline staffing pressures, was “considering which vacancies will be prioritised for recruitment” in its new structure from April.

The Ministry for Pacific Peoples would be working through options with its staff in the coming months for its savings proposal, which could include change to its structure. It has paused recruitment in anticipation of that.

Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage has a pause on recruitment, with 23 roles not filled.

The Post last month revealed the Ministry of Justice put a cap on staff, cut a senior role and is looking at restructuring, Ministry of Education staff were told that jobs will have to be cut and ACC, the country’s accident compensation scheme, is considering decreasing its workforce.