Cuts coming to a head for OT, ACC, Social Development
Sunday, 30 June 2024
Cuts are coming to a head this week in a number of departments and agencies - with final decisions expected from Oranga Tamariki, ACC, the Ministry of Social Development and the Public Service Commission.
Based on proposals, it could mean more than 900 roles could be disestablished.
Many restructuring proposals are in the final stages, as public servants are still being hauled into meetings to learn their fate, such as the Ministry of Health earlier this month, with a confirmed net loss of 123 roles.
ACC, which runs the country’s accident compensation scheme, in May proposed to cut 390 roles - almost 10% of its workforce.
ACC chief executive Megan Main said of the 390 roles, 81 were vacant. An ACC employee, who did not want to be named, said at the time “the scale, the timing, all at once” felt as though the hundreds of workers were being thrown under the bus.
“The real issue here is they could have done some of these changes six months ago when there was still a job market. Right now, there's no jobs available.”
The Post understands final decisions will be announced to staff on Wednesday at ACC, Oranga Tamariki and the Ministry of Social Development.
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In April, Oranga Tamariki proposed 632 jobs could be disestablished‒ a net loss of 447 roles.
A leaked proposal document obtained by The Post listed numerous jobs in scope within Oranga Tamariki’s proposal to downsize by hundreds of roles, which included the legal division losing a quarter of its team, about 30 roles. Another section proposed reducing reliance on the legal team, in some parts through its investment in “social worker professional capability”. At the time, Oranga Tamariki were short more than 100 social workers.
Following that, almost 20 senior lawyers engaged a King’s Counsel over the proposal.
Chief executive Chappie Te Kani told MPs last week that during the consultation process, he had made some adjustments to the proposals.
“The primary reason being, from my perspective, ensuring we’ve got business continuity to minimise as much as possible, risk to the delivery of services.”
He added “we’ve got ourselves in a place as an organisation where our legal services have probably done more than they should, and have usurped the role of social workers in some cases”.
“To remove the lawyers that have been proposed to be disestablished, would actually put at risk the delivery of those services, that’s come through the submission process.”
A decision from the Ministry of Social Development is also expected. The proposal projected a job loss of 712 roles. Of that, 218 accepted voluntary redundancy, 70 were current roles, 27 vacancies, 56 fixed-term contracts ending in June and 341 roles that went due to attrition, sinking lid and fixed-term contracts ending since December).
The Public Service Commission (PSC) also had a cut to roles, according to the Public Service Association, who said it included people in teams working on gender and ethnic pay initiatives.
The PSC said 22 roles were confirmed to be disestablished, two which were vacant, and 11 new roles created. It had also offered voluntary redundancy to 13 people to find a reduction of four roles.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education (MoE) has paused its change process after the Public Service Association filed legal proceedings in the Employment Relations Authority over the proposal.
The PSA has accused MoE of “not complying with the collective agreement requirement” to support workers find other work.
A MoE spokesperson said the next hearing is on Thursday, and they “look forward to a speedy resolution, so staff can have certainty”.
Correction: This article previously stated 28 roles were confirmed to be disestablished at the Public Service Commission, according to the PSA. This number was incorrect and has been updated.