Civil Service staffing challenges 'escalated' since 2020 report

Staffing challenges at Northern Ireland's Civil Service have "escalated" since a 2020 report with almost 5,500 vacant posts reported by departments, Auditor General Dorinnia Carville has said.

A new report has found that the civil service "hasn't delivered the scale and pace of reform" needed to demonstrate value for money in its workforce.

Carville has also raised concerns about the "affordability" of filling the vacant posts and the "reliability" of workforce data.

The report notes "there is an urgent need to improve how the civil service manages its workforce".

Carville said "strong leadership and a right sized workforce" was required along with a "modernised approach" to workforce planning.

"It is very disappointing that progress on implementing such reforms has fallen short of expectations arising from previous commitments."

The report also notes sickness absence levels have risen with 13.4 working days lost due to sickness, per staff member in Northern Ireland last year, compared with 12.6 days in 2018-19.

It found the civil service "workforce is under considerable strain, with high sickness absence, rising vacancies, and increasing reliance on temporary promotions, overtime and agency workers".

The report concludes that without leadership and urgent delivery, the civil service "is at continued risk of failing to demonstrate value for money for its pay bill, which exceeded £1.27 billion in 2024-25".

The union representing senior civil servants, the FDA, has called for "political leadership" to address structural issues facing the civil service.

Robert Murtagh, FDA national officer for NI, said while the report highlighted "significant issues" it failed to "sufficiently analyse the difficult context within which the NICS is operating".

"It is simply an unavoidable fact that the NICS and its leaders have faced significant challenges in recent years, stemming from the pandemic, Windsor Framework implementation, collapse of the Executive and ongoing budgetary and resource challenges.

"Despite these challenges, progress has been made. While the pace of change may be less than hoped, it is vital that time is taken to ensure transformation is done in tandem with the civil service workforce, not imposed on them."