200 jobs could go in revamped ministry

A restructuring at the Ministry of Social Development is expected to save "many millions" of dollars - but will see up to 200 staff made redundant from its head office and managerial positions.

The ministry yesterday told staff about its restructuring plans and up to 200 redundancies out of a workforce of 9500.

The ministry's chief executive Peter Hughes said the cuts were not part of the Government's cap on the staff employed in the bureaucracy.

The restructuring was needed to absorb cost increases and would shore up the organisation's financial security until 2012.

He said the "worst-case scenario" was 200 redundancies, mainly in the national office, including management and back- office roles. Some jobs in fraud and debt control were also affected and a small number of social workers in administrative roles would be moved to front-line positions.

About 80 per cent of the department's workforce was "front line" - including social workers, case managers and customer services representatives working for its Work and Income and Child, Youth and Family arms. They would not be affected.

Mr Hughes said the restructuring would allow the ministry to create an extra 50 to 70 front-line positions, which would be critical as it faced extra demand for employment and child welfare cases in the recession.

Work and Income was recruiting 104 new case managers and later in the year social worker numbers would also be bolstered.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said the restructuring was the responsibility of the chief executive, but she was told the savings would be significant - "we're talking millions of dollars per year, so that's part of the equation as well".

She said the Government had not ordered the restructuring and was "absolutely" confident it would not affect the services the Ministry of Social Development provided.

However, Labour spokesman Grant Robertson said cutting back-room bureaucrats would make the front-line workers' jobs harder and mean they had to spend more time on administration.

"That will mean the families they are servicing won't be getting what they needed.

"It's a little bit like a house, it's all very well to have a nice facade but if the foundations aren't strong the house doesn't stay up."

Mr Hughes said the restructuring was "entirely my initiative", rather than an edict from the Government, which has issued departments with requirements to do line-by-line reviews and move resources to the front line.

"Before I ask the Government, or the taxpayer, for any money I need to be absolutely sure we are operating the organisation as efficiently as we can," he said.

"Right now, I know we can do better. But it would be wrong to assume we are not going to get support from the Government, with the demand for our services."

Labour leader Phil Goff said it made a mockery of the Government's claim that saving jobs was one of its highest priorities and measures such as the nine- day fortnight scheme.

"A big fuss has been made about preserving 117 jobs through the nine-day-fortnight. Yet in one act, they dismiss almost twice that number. There is an inconsistency."