𝕄𝕠𝕣𝕖 ℙ𝕦𝕓𝕝𝕚𝕔 𝕊𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕠𝕣 𝕣𝕖𝕕𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖

𝕎𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕡𝕦𝕓𝕝𝕚𝕔 𝕤𝕖𝕣𝕧𝕚𝕔𝕖 𝕛𝕠𝕓𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕖𝕕 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕪𝕖𝕒𝕣, 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕓𝕚𝕘 𝕔𝕦𝕥𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖 - 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕠 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕜𝕖𝕡𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕛𝕠𝕓𝕤 𝕤𝕒𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕖𝕩𝕙𝕒𝕦𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕕𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕜𝕝𝕠𝕒𝕕.

A

t the beginning of the year, Finance Minister Nicola Willis outlined a plan to reduce annual public service spending by $1.5 billion, asking all government departments to identify savings.

It came amid tough economic times, and followed a 34 percent rise in the number of public servants under the former Labour government, between 2017 and 2023.

Nearly 40 organisations were given a specific target.

.

.

But the impact of the government's belt-tightening has reached far wider than that.

RNZ's tally of jobs gone so far - or proposed to go - sits at more than 7000.

A Flourish data visualization

How it's played out so far - and what's to come

In October, RNZ asked every ministry, department, crown entity, crown agent, departmental agency and crown research institute (113 in total) whether they had made cuts - and whether any restructures had been completed.

While Willis gave 37 organisations specific savings targets, 56 had since scaled back their workforce as budgets shrank.

For about 70 percent of those, that process is complete, new structures are in place, and those made redundant have left their buildings. But there is more to come.

Organisations still consulting on proposed changes include big departments employing thousands like the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the Department of Internal Affairs, the Defence Force and Te Whatu Ora.

Some of those would continue into next year.

.

.

Bucking the trend was Inland Revenue, which grew by 360 staff - or 9 percent of its workforce - in the last financial year.

"This planned growth helps to ensure we can meet current and future customer needs and support government priorities," it said.

"We also had a range of initiatives announced in the Budget to implement, including additional compliance work, baseline savings, FamilyBoost, personal income tax threshold changes, Offshore Gambling Duty, and also the bright line test for property change announced last December."

.