The Northern Ireland Civil Service is to shed 2,400 jobs in the next year in a voluntary exit scheme that was agreed in the Christmas Stormont House Agreement.
The number of civil servant posts will be reduced by 13 per cent, from 27,500 to 25,100, as part of an overall scheme that will see the number of civil servant and public sector positions cut by 20,000 over the coming four years.
This will result in the number of such jobs reducing from 211,000 to 191,000.
The scheme was formally introduced at 9am on Monday, and by 11am there were 730 applications online.
Average payment
It is estimated the scheme will cost £98-£130 million (€134-€178 million), with an average redundancy payment of £50,000.
Compensation will be one month’s pay per year of service, up to a maximum of 21 months. Those over the normal pension age of 60 will have compensation limited to a maximum of six months’ pay.
The closing date for applications is March 27th, with the first tranche of voluntary redundancies due at the end of September. All the redundancies are due to be completed by March 31st, 2016.
It is estimated the exit scheme will have paid for itself by April 2017. It is expected to reduce the civil servant payroll by £26 million up to April next year and by £88 million annually thereafter.
Stormont agreement
Under the Stormont House Agreement., £700 million is being set aside to pay for the cost of the 20,000 public sector redundancies, with £200 million made available in each of the coming three years and £100 million provided in 2018/2019.
Minister of Finance Simon Hamilton (DUP) said the scope and speed of the exit scheme was unprecedented in the history of the Northern Ireland civil service.
“It is necessary to deliver the pay bill reductions for departments in line with the 2015/16 budget allocations agreed by the Northern Ireland Executive in January 2015,” he said.
‘Entirely voluntary’
“It is important to emphasise that this one-year scheme is entirely voluntary and not part of a process that will lead to compulsory redundancy,” he added.
Mr Hamilton said the redundancies would lead to staff redeployment.
“I am conscious of the need to maintain business delivery, and a range of measures are being put in place, including redeployment arrangements, to move staff into essential posts left vacant by staff who leave from this voluntary exit scheme,” he said.
