The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) has today invited expressions of interest for voluntary redundancy from any of its permanent staff, said Laura Dixon, Deputy Secretary Business Transformation and Services.
The Government is looking to find $1.5 billion per annum in savings to deliver on policy commitments and address critical cost pressures. Like other government departments, MfE has been asked to find savings.
“While the impact of the savings exercise on our work programme and jobs won’t be clear until after Budget 2024 on 30 May, we know our organisation will need to reduce in size. Staff have been told redundancies are likely.
“The Ministry began an operating model review in June 2023 – in part to prepare for a predicted decline in in our baseline over the next few years, as time limited funding for a range of reforms ended. As part of this we reshaped the organisation around our core functions, and identified new ways of working, systems and processes. We also put in recruitment controls, and reduced the size of our tier 2 and 3 leadership cohort by more than 20 percent.
“From today, staff will have the opportunity to submit an expression of interest (EOI) for voluntary redundancy, before a likely formal change proposal and consultation process later this year.
“Staff will be able to submit an expression of interest until midday, 19 April. We have no specific target in mind, and our executive leadership team, Te Pūrengi, retains full discretion over whether to accept any EOI.
“We acknowledge this is a challenging time for our people. Our goal is to keep them informed and supported throughout the upcoming change,” Laura Dixon said.