The voluntary redundancy program in the ACT Government Service is to be nearly three times the size predicted this time last year.
The main reason is that many more people opted for redundancies last year than there were funds to accommodate them and so there will be a spill-over.
In the past financial year about 482 took up redundancy averaging $36,000 each with a total cost of $17.2 million. Only $6 million was projected this year and now the Budget has increased this to $17 million. About 430 people are expected to take the option averaging $40,000 each.
Returns to the budget are expected within 19 months.
The Chief Minister, Rosemary Follett, rejected suggestions that people were taking their packages and then coming back as consultants or part-timers immediately afterwards. She said that if agencies could show the efficiency they would get access to the redundancy funds.
This is the third and last year of the Government’s two per cent efficiency dividend requirement.
Ms Follett said, “”We have gone as far as we can go with the across-the-board efficiency dividend.”
The Government would now turn to enterprise bargaining to attain savings and efficiency.
The main changes to the ACT Government Service affecting its 23,000 employees are to be made in the Public Management Bill which is due to be debated this week.