Plans for £10m efficiencies being drawn up

Delivering a balanced budget was "non-negotiable" but £10m of efficiencies and savings in the public service will not "happen overnight", the Isle of Man's most senior civil servant has said.

Andy Ralphs said increased digitisation would play a role in plans but reducing the headcount would be difficult as "we don't have the fat in the system".

The government's chief executive officer said his office had already begun conversations about how the efficiencies called for by the chief minister could be made from April.

However, he warned the government needed to "get to grips" with public sector pay as above-inflation salary rises were "not sustainable for the future".

Public service staff are currently in negotiations with the Public Services Commission after three-year pay offer was branded "well below" expectations and subsequently rejected by two leading unions.

Figures released last year showed the number of employees on the government payroll had risen by 739 to 8,324 since March 2016.

Speaking at the 2024 Government Conference, Mr Ralphs said departments were each considering how processes could be digitised to drive efficiencies and artificial intelligence would "have an important part to play"

While efficiencies "could be made" within the organisation "it was a big oil tanker to turn about and that doesn't happen overnight", he said.

Mr Ralphs said "significant investment" in Manx Care, HR, combating financial crime and a number of frontline services had "resulted in more people working for us" but each of those people was "fully occupied".

However, he confirmed new public quarterly reporting outlining the numbers employed by each department and explaining any increase in employees would be published in a bid to provide greater transparency around staffing numbers.

Each department had cost improvement plans and already worked with "extremely tight budgets" and "robust recruitment controls", he added.

The detailed reform plan is set to be announced in conjunction with the budget in February 2025.

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