How much has the public sector saved by restructuring?

Monday, 15 September 2025

Estimated annual savings varied across agencies.

Mass restructuring in the public sector has seen thousands of jobs cut and new ones created - with some departments saving millions by cutting roles.

The Post asked 70 departments, the executive branch (NZ Defence Force, NZ Police and the Parliamentary Counsel Office) and Crown entities how much each had saved from restructuring in the year to July 28, 2025.

Estimated annual savings varied across agencies - some restructures were cost neutral or did not result in any savings, some saved thousands of dollars while others saved millions of dollars. One organisation forecast savings up to $96 million a year.

Some organisations provided exact figures of how much restructures had or were estimated to save. Some agencies refused to say.

At Antarctica New Zealand, its July 2025 restructure which focused on the wider organisation was estimated to save approximately $550,000 per year in employee costs, pending the appointment of newly established roles. That restructure saw seven roles disestablished, four roles established and ended a fixed-term contract.

Its September 2024 restructure, which focused on the Scott Base Redevelopment (SBR) project, was estimated to save approximately $2m per year in employee costs. That disestablished 18 roles and created one new role.

At the Civil Aviation Authority it was estimated that annualised savings from restructures could be up to $1.4m a year.

The Department of Conservation, which carried out 11 restructures, three of which were still under way, was able to provide estimated savings from two restructures, both of which were in progress.

The Post asked 70 departments, the executive branch (NZDF, NZ Police and the Parliamentary Counsel Office) and Crown entities how much each had saved from restructuring in the year to July 28, 2025.

One, with a net reduction of 71 roles, was expected to save approximately $5.5m a year, excluding any redundancy payments. The other was expected to save $5m through a decrease of 66 management positions. Almost half were left vacant, with the remainder “not being replaced as they become vacant through natural attrition”, a spokesperson said.

The Tertiary Education Commission, which disestablished 53 roles and created 30, expected to make remuneration savings of $616,000 a year, based on the midpoints of the salary bands of the positions affected.

At the Ministry of Transport, which disestablished 41 roles and created 13 through three restructures, it was estimated to save $2.9m.

There were estimated savings of $4.7m through disestablished roles, and a costing of $1.5m for new roles and $351,403 for redundancy costs.

The Ministry of Justice’s restructures had an estimated savings of $5.7m, while Kāinga Ora, which cut 1717 roles and created 559 new positions, estimated on-going savings between $88m to $96m a year.

“This is primarily in payroll costs, and then the infrastructure costs to support those people,” a spokesperson said.

The Department of Internal Affairs ‒ which disestablished 221 positions, had 20 voluntary redundancies and created 125 positions ‒ said its restructures would save $5.2m for 2025/26.

Of the organisations that The Post went to, 50 had restructured, 10 had not restructured, and 10 either extended the time to reply or had not yet replied. Those that had extended included large organisations such as Corrections, police, Ministry for Primary Industries and the Ministry of Education.

Some of the restructures were not carried out for cost-cutting purposes ‒ such as Crown Law and WorkSafe ‒ or were cost neutral, such as the NZ Blood Service and the Natural Hazards Commission. Other agencies provided total savings from cost cutting that were wider than just restructure savings.