WORKFORCE PLANNING PROCESS AND CONTROL

PUBLIC SERVICE ACT 1991

Under this Act, the PS PMO is responsible for the personnel

functions of the public service and one of these functions is
listed as manpower budgeting and control (Para 5(2) (h)
refers). This is the basis of PMO’s legal authority in this area
of work.

MANPOWER BUDGETING & CONTROL

What is meant by manpower budgeting and control? It is the

initial setting and agreeing annually of staffing levels in terms
of number of posts and grades for Ministries, Departments
and other organisations within the Civil Service.

PMO works closely with the Ministry of Finance to ensure by

regular monitoring that agreed staffing levels are not
exceeded in manpower budget terms and by undertaking
reviews from time to time to ensure that existing posts are
justified and that they continue to remain necessary.

HOW DOES PMO EXERCISE MANPOWER BUDGETING

& CONTROL?

The division responsible for this is Management Services

Division (MSD).

Control is exercised in 5 ways, namely:

Control of Wages

Monitoring the monthly government payroll

 Undertaking staff inspections

Carrying out special audit exercises

The Annual Estimates process

CONTROL OF WAGES

At the beginning of the financial year each Department of

State is allocated as part of the budgetary process a wages
vote. This will have been agreed with PMO during the budget
discussions and approved by the Department of State for
Finance.

The Vote will take into account the current number of

employees on wages and will reflect the organisation’s
requirements for the year ahead.

PMO maintains a register of daily paid employees for the

Civil Service. Nobody can be employed on wages without
PMO’s approval first.

Written applications setting out the need to employ

somebody on wages for a specific post are submitted to
PMO and, before being approved, the Wages Vote is
checked to ensure that there are sufficient funds to meet the
cost involved. Newly appointed daily paid employees are
required on appointment to report to the PMO with their ID
cards.

After preparation of the monthly voucher for payment of

wages to daily paid employees, accounting staff in each
Department initially submit the voucher for clearance by
PMO before seeking Treasury’s approval to pay. Staff in
MSD check that the list of names of daily paid employees
attached to the voucher agrees with the details held in the
PMO register.

Staffs in MSD are also responsible for carrying out periodic

validation visits to Departments to confirm that daily paid
employees are in post. When resources permit they also
undertake an annual audit exercise of daily paid employees.

MONITORING THE PAYROLL

Each month a copy of the government payroll is passed to

PMO where it is analysed to identify the number of
vacancies or excess staff carried by each Department of
State and a monthly return prepared of the relevant
statistics.

A comparison is made between the payroll numbers and the

approved establishment recorded in the Estimates of
Recurrent Revenue and Expenditure for the year in question.
The analysis is undertaken by Department and sub-head
and where substantial variations are found the Department
involved is asked for an explanation. The average vacancy
figure for the Service as a whole is fairly constant at around
7% a month. Within this figure there is however wide
variation with some organisations exceeding their authorised
establishment while others may carry substantial vacancies.
It is MSD’s responsibility to seek an explanation for any
divergence from the manpower figures approved by the
National Assembly in the Estimates and take follow up
action.
STAFF INSPECTION

This is a specialised area of work where PMO has been

active in the past but because of resource constraints we
currently have a limited capability. We hope however to build
up capacity again with the introduction of the proposed
programme of Civil Service Reform so it might be helpful to
outline the methodology involved.

The purpose of staff or job inspection is to help the

management of each Department to ensure that only work
which is really necessary for the proper discharge of
essential functions is carried out and that enough staff but no
more, are made available for such work. Staff inspection
operates by the regular scrutiny of staff numbers and grades
in relation to workload. Its aim is to promote higher efficiency.

Staff inspection is an audit of each Department’s manpower

system. It consists of an independent examination of the
work and of the number and grading of posts used to
perform it. It is not concerned with the merits or performance
of the individuals involved. The basic objectives are
economy and efficiency in the work organisation and
equity in the grading and workload of individual posts.
These objectives are pursued by examining the work
organisation in relation to 4 criteria:-

Need - to establish that work is necessary

Organisation - to ensure that it is both economical

and conducive to efficiency
 Numbers - to ensure they are adequate but not
excessive
Grading - to ensure the grades are right.

Having identified necessary tasks, the staff inspector is then

responsible for recommending the staff resources needed to
carry them out. Past experience shows that more often than
not this will result in an overall reduction in the number of
posts but staff inspectors should (and do) recommend
increases in staff and upgradings where necessary as well
as decreases and downgradings. The object is to get it
right.

PMO has had a staff inspection capability since 1990 but as I

have mentioned because of current resource constraints we
have a limited capability at present.

SPECIAL AUDITS

Special Audits are carried out from time to time when doubts
exist about the accuracy of a Department’s manpower
register. The audits are usually carried out by joint teams
from the Auditor General’s Office and PMO in conjunction
with staff of the Department under review.

In the recent past audits have tended to be undertaken at

the larger departments eg Education and Health where the
bulk of manpower resources are allocated. PMO could
however be directed to undertake a manpower audit in any
ministry.

The audit is effectively a head count where every member of

staff is either seen or accounted for at their work location.
Although the cost of mounting an audit is quite expensive in
terms of resources required, the benefits of obtaining an
accurate manpower register often far outweigh the costs
involved. In the past savings of around 10% of the
manpower budget have been achieved through identifying
“ghost workers” or cases of staff continuing to receive salary
when there is no entitlement eg staff on study leave without
PSC approval.

ESTIMATES PROCESS

The annual estimates exercise is designed to agree budgets

and manpower ceilings for the following year for individual
Departments of State and subvention bodies. The
programme is initiated and controlled by the Department of
State for Finance and Economic Affairs but PMO has a
crucial role to play in the process in the scrutiny of posts and
vacancies as part of its function of improving the
management of human resources in the Civil Service.

Timetable

May The issue of a Call Circular to Department asking

for their bids for the following financial year.

June Set up the PMO team to handle the Estimates

process. Team undertakes preliminary work on
vacancy levels, familiarises itself on relevant
documentation and ensures that any issues
outstanding from previous year’s exercise have
been resolved.

June/July Departments submit their budget and manpower

proposals to Department of State for Finance and
the PMO.
Aug/Sept Pre-bilateral meetings at PMO to discuss
individual submissions on manpower proposals
from Departments

Sept/Oct Bilateral meetings held at the Department of

State for Finance.

December Finalise manpower figures, check draft estimates

and prepare executive summary of exercise for
PS PMO.

SUMMING UP

So what does this mean for those staff entering the Civil
Service as Cadet Officers?

For those of you specifically involved now in working on

human resource management and manpower issues within
your Ministry or Department, I hope it will provide you with a
better appreciation of the mechanisms and processes
applied by PMO to address the problems and often
contentious nature of the annual estimates exercise and
manpower budgetary control limitations. As I said earlier, at
some stage of your career all of you are however likely to be
involved in management and manpower issues as you
progress in the Civil Service. The principles and processes I
have talked about today are likely to be as relevant in the
future as they are now.

Finally, I readily concede that we do not always get it right

but I hope you will accept that PMO is firmly committed to
supporting Departments of State and senior management in
their efforts to use their manpower resources in the most
efficient way. The mechanisms we have in place which I
have described today are designed to assist this process.

Thank you for your attention

Answer any questions