Guernsey civil service to cut 200 jobs

Paul Whitfield said the changes would bring benefits to the whole island

Guernsey's government has announced plans to cut at least 200 civil service jobs by the end of 2020 - about one-in-eight posts.

It said the "targeted removal" of the posts could save more than £10m a year.

Local politician Emilie Yerby said she was "profoundly concerned" by the proposals.

In an open letter, chief executive Paul Whitfield said "the constraints of the current structure" meant planned changes could not be reached.

He said teachers, nurses, law enforcement officers and social workers would not be affected.

Deputy Yerby said she does not believe the civil service has 200 roles "to spare".

"Some may be in the wrong places, some may not be up to snuff, but there is simply no way it's 200 people overweight."

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Mr Whitfield said the existing structure reflected the political set up and hindered work across services and "significant" change was needed.

The States has been asked for £8m as an initial investment to make the changes.

The money would run the "redesign programme" including a targeted voluntary redundancy scheme - likely to launch early in 2019.

Headline changes:

• Cutting more than 200 of the 1,600 civil service roles

• Reducing the senior team from 13 to six roles

• Senior roles to be based on responsibilities rather than aligned to committees

• Change culture and thinking about delivery of services

• Break silos in current structure

• Redesign services to focus on users

• Take services online and automate processes when possible

Mr Whitfield said: "It is important to emphasise this specific programme does not include teachers, nurses, law enforcement officers, social workers or other public sector workers.

"This is about redesigning our civil service to better serve our customers, and identifying roles we no longer need."

All the changes are due to be in place by the end of 2020.