Government recruitment controls to drive savings

Stricter recruitment controls to curtail the growth of the Isle of Man government's workforce have been introduced as part of a plan to deliver up to £50m of savings.

A recently published report found the island's public service had grown by 427 posts since 2021, taking the total to 7,802 full-time equivalent jobs.

Chief Minister Alfred Cannan said the new framework would "strengthen governance" on hiring, to restrict headcount growth and drive value for money.

He also outlined plans for further savings, including a greater "push" towards the digitisation of public services, but Tynwald members questioned how that would be achieved.

In September, Cannan announced the chief executive officer for the government would be tasked with delivering a reform plan, which would not include healthcare, to make £10m of efficiencies in 2025-26.

During the January sitting of the Manx parliament he told members it had since been "crystallised into a target to deliver at least £50m of cashable savings over the next five years".

The recruitment control framework, launched on Monday, covered the hiring of workers for all employed roles across all departments and offices, but excluded roles deemed critical to delivering frontline services.

The chief minister said the programme, set to cost £5m across the period, would also "identify and release assets" to optimise the use office accommodation, and review key services to "identify better ways of working", including the creation of a customer contact centre.

The government's "digital transformation" would be accelerated, to include the "careful deployment of artificial intelligence", he said.

Lawrie Hooper MHK said the government had an "exceptionally poor" track record on digitising services, and Jason Moorhouse MHK described its official website as "rubbish".

Cannan conceded the platform had "limited functionality for the modern age" and said a new website would "secure, protect and expand" online services.

He also said a chatbot, which would answer questions and could reduce the "level of calls" for help, and an online direct debit system to "improve the way we collect revenue", would also be examined.

"We face a considerable fiscal challenge to safeguard our reserves and place our finances on a sustainable footing," he said.

The long-term programme aimed to "address the issue rather than avoiding it", he added.

Why not follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X? You can also send story ideas to [email protected]