THE GOVERNMENT is to introduce an immediate 10 per cent reduction in the pay of all new entrants to the public service.
There is also to be an average annual reduction of 3,300 in the number of staff on the State payroll between 2011 and 2014, under the terms of the new four-year plan for economic recovery.
This will mean that by 2014 there will be about 24,750 fewer staff in the public service than there were in 2008.
The Government is aiming to bring the numbers in the public service back to the level it was at in 2005.
Overall, the plan says the Government will achieve savings of €1.2 billion in the public service pay bill as a result of the various measures to be adopted, including lower staffing levels, reforms secured under the Croke Park agreement and the reduced pay rates for new entrants.
It says that savings arising from these reduced numbers of staff will have to be boosted by significant savings generated as a result of reforms, efficiencies, and greater flexibility realised under the Croke Park agreement.
It says that this will involve reductions in the costs of overtime, allowances, staff substitution and temporary replacement and special payments across the public service.
It says the plan has been prepared on the basis that the Croke Park deal will produce tangible savings. Commitments under the Croke Park agreement – such as no further pay cuts or compulsory redundancies – “are dependent on the savings being delivered”.
The document stresses that in the future the public service will be smaller, with fewer organisations and fewer staff operating from a scaled-back number of locations with significantly reduced resources.
It says that as a result, the public service will have to be more efficient and effective.
“The performance of organisations and individuals will have to be better managed and measured and there will have to be greater accountability for results.
“Staff mobility will have to be maximised and organisations will have to be restructured so that public bodies and individual public servants will be able to work together across sectoral, organisational and professional boundaries more efficiently.”
The current staffing complement of 307,500 will be reduced to 294,700 by the end of 2014.
As part of this reduction, the number of gardaí will fall from 14,500 at present to 13,000 in 2014 while the number of personnel in the Civil Service will be cut from 37,350 to 34,600.
The number of staff in the Health Service Executive will be reduced from 106,850 to 100,800 by 2014. However, numbers employed in the education sector will rise by about 2,000 to 95,700 by 2014 “reflecting demographic pressures and in line with Government commitments”.
The plan stresses that redeployment of staff will be a key element in mitigating the effect on services of the reduced numbers of staff.
“It will permit staff to be moved from activities which are of lesser priority, or which have been rationalised, reconfigured or restructured to areas of greater need.”
In addition to the 10 per cent pay reduction for new staff, the plan says all new personnel recruited to the public service will start on the minimum point of the pay scale.
Public sector
2011
–10% reduction in pay for all newentrants to public service;
– New review of pay for chief executives of commercial State bodies;
– Public service numbers to fall to 301,000.
2012-2014
– Numbers to fall to 298,800 with pay bill to fall to €15.3bn in 2012;
– Numbers to fall to 296,500 with bill falling to €15bnin 2013;
– Numbers to fall to 294,700 with pay bill to fall to €4.7bn.