Budget Transfer from Central Contingencies to various departments: Voluntary Release and Redundancy Scheme in 2019

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A decision made on 13 December 2019

Decision reference: MD-TR-2019-0117
Decision Summary Title:	Transfer of funding from Central Contingencies to various departmental budgets to recognise the costs associated with the Voluntary Release and Redundancy Scheme in 2019		Date of Decision Summary:	11th December 2019
Decision Summary Author:	Specialist – Business Cases		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Transfer of funding from Central Contingencies to various departmental budgets to recognise the costs associated with the Voluntary Release and Redundancy Scheme in 2019		Date of Written Report:	11th December 2019
Written Report Author:	Specialist – Business Cases		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Transfer of funding from Central Contingencies to various departments’ revenue heads of expenditure to recognise the costs associated with the 2019 Voluntary Release (VR) and Redundancy Scheme.
Decision(s): The Minister approved a non-recurring budget transfer in 2019 of £743,977.29 to departments from Central Contingency – Redundancy Provision for VR Applications approved and signed between 1st October and 19th November 2019.
Reason(s) for Decision: Article 58 of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that the provisions of the previous Law, as they have effect immediately before the 2019 Law came into force, continue to apply to money received, expended or otherwise handled by or on behalf of the States during the financial year in which this Law came into force. Article 17(2) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 states that the Minister for Treasury and Resources is authorised to approve the transfer from contingency expenditure to heads of expenditure of amounts not exceeding, in total, the amount available for contingency expenditure in a financial year. The current Contingency Allocation Policy (published as R.38/2019) states: “This process replaces all other processes and applies to all elements of Contingency allocated in the MTFP excluding Pay, Pensions and Voluntary Redundancy.” International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) interpreted for the States of Jersey in the Jersey Financial Reporting Manual (JFReM) require termination benefits to be recognised as an expense at the point at which the entity can no longer withdraw the offer of those benefits. Accordingly, the full cost of all VRs must be recognised at the point a binding contract has been signed with the employee. The Council of Ministers approved the allocation of £2,000,000 from Central Contingencies to create a Redundancy Provision in 2015 to fund the first tranche of the scheme. The States Assembly approved a further £20,000,000 to be added to the Redundancy Provision across 2015 and 2016 to be funded by transfers from the Strategic Reserve Fund. MD-TR-2015-0141 approved funding of £4,666,119 to fund the Voluntary Release Scheme in 2015 in line with the allocation of funding approved by the States Assembly in P.72/2015 Medium Term Financial Plan 2016 – 2019 (as amended). MD-TR-2016-0058, MD-TR-2016-0082, MD-TR-2016-0114, MD-TR-2017-0010 and MD-TR-2017-0087 approved funding of £3,677,954.05 to fund applications approved and signed up to 31st December 2016 and also transferred savings of £864,227 from the departments to the Redundancy Provision as result of VR approvals earlier than anticipated in 2015. It was agreed by the States Assembly as part of the MTFP Addition Debate in 2016, following an estimate of funding requirements for redundancy for the remaining years of the MTFP, to transfer £6.88 million of the Redundancy Provision to the Restructuring Provision for 2018 and 2019. MD-TR-2017-0125 and MD-TR-2018-0008 approved funding of £713,995.54 to fund applications approved and signed up to 31st December 2017. MD-TR-2018-0088, TR-2018-DD085 and MD-TR-2018-0153 approved funding of £730,616.59 to fund applications approved and signed up to 31st December 2018. MD-TR-2019-0059 and MD-TR-2019-0086 approved funding of £629,025.16 to fund applications approved and signed up to 30th September 2019. This decision approves funding of £743,977.29 for applications approved and signed up to 19th November and will leave a balance of £4.8 million in Contingency. The following transfers to departments totalling £743,977.29 are now required: Growth, Housing and Environment £347,892.70 Health & Community Services £153,256.04 Non-Ministerial £110,642.39 Children, Young People, Education and Skills £ 74,407.70 Treasury & Exchequer £ 57,778.46
Resource Implications: Various departments’ revenue heads of expenditure to increase by a total of £743,977.29 in 2019 and Central Contingency – Redundancy Provision to decrease by the same amount. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for the period of the current MTFP 2016 to 2019. The transfers are detailed in the attached report.
Action required: The Head of Financial Governance to advise the Head of Finance Business Partnering of the receiving departments that this decision is approved.
Signature:		Position: Deputy S J Pinel Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Budget Transfer from Central Contingencies to various departments: Voluntary Release and Redundancy Scheme in 2019

Treasury and Exchequer

Ministerial Decision Report

Transfer of funding from Central Contingencies to various departmental budgets to recognise the costs associated with the Voluntary Release and Redundancy Scheme in 2019.

Purpose of Report

To enable the Minister to approve the non-recurring budget transfer of £743,977.29 from Central Contingencies – Redundancy Provision to various departmental budgets, as outlined below. This is to recognise the costs associated with the Redundancy Scheme for applications approved and signed between 1st October and 19th November 2019.

Background

A voluntary release (“VR”) programme was run in 2015 closing at the end of July and re-opened in January 2016. As at 19th November 2019 a total of 788 applications for VR had been received (329 in 2015, 226 in 2016, 44 in 2017, 69 in 2018 and 120 in 2019) and a total of 225 have been approved. The scheme has now closed.

In addition, a total of 60 employees have been made compulsory redundant and 12 employees have received a transfer payment to date.

The Council of Ministers approved the allocation of £2,000,000 from Central Contingencies to create a Redundancy Provision in 2015 to fund the first tranche of the scheme. The States Assembly approved a further £20,000,000 to be added to the Redundancy Provision across 2015 and 2016 to be funded by transfers from the Strategic Reserve Fund with £4,000,000 to be transferred in 2015 and £16,000,000 in 2016. Following the completion of the 2015 VR scheme the remaining money was drawn down for funding of new applications in 2016. In total this left £17.33 million available for VR funding from January 2016.

A transfer of a £3.67 million was made for VRs and Compulsory Redundancies (“CR”) agreed in 2016 up to the 31st December 2016. Savings of £864,227 were transferred from the departments to the Redundancy Provision as a result of VR approvals earlier than anticipated in 2015. Funding for adjustments made to CR payments following the agreement of the 1% pay rise in 2016 required an additional transfer of £8,404.

A transfer of £713,995.54 was made for VRs and Compulsory Redundancies (“CR”) agreed in 2017 up to the 31st December 2017.

It was also agreed to transfer £6.88 million of the Redundancy Provision to the Restructuring Provision. This decision was taken by the States Assembly following an estimate of funding requirements for redundancy for the remaining years of MTFP.

Transfers of £730,616.59 were made for VRs and CRs agreed in 2018 up to 31st December 2018 and £629,025.16 in the period 1st January to 30th September 2019.

VRs agreed to be centrally funded by the redundancy decision panel for the period 1st October to 19th November 2019 amounts to a commitment of an additional £743,977.29 of which agreements have now been formally signed, leaving a balance of approximately £4.8 million remaining to fund redundancy for the remainder of the current scheme. The following transfers to departments totalling £743,977.29 are now required:

Growth, Housing and Environment £347,892.70
Health & Community Services £153,256.04
Non-Ministerial £110,642.39
Children, Young People, Education and Skills £ 74,407.70
Treasury & Exchequer £ 57,778.46

Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve a non-recurring budget transfer of £743,977.29 in 2019 from Central Contingency – Redundancy Provision to departments as outlined above.

Reason for Decision

Article 58 of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that the provisions of the previous Law, as they have effect immediately before the 2019 Law came into force, continue to apply to money received, expended or otherwise handled by or on behalf of the States during the financial year in which this Law came into force.

Article 17(2) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 states that the Minister for Treasury and Resources is authorised to approve the transfer from contingency expenditure to heads of expenditure of amounts not exceeding, in total, the amount available for contingency expenditure in a financial year.

The current Contingency Allocation Policy (published as R.38/2019) states: “This process replaces all other processes and applies to all elements of Contingency allocated in the MTFP excluding Pay, Pensions and Voluntary Redundancy.”

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) interpreted for the States of Jersey in the Jersey Financial Reporting Manual (JFReM) require termination benefits to be recognised as an expense at the point at which the entity can no longer withdraw the offer of those benefits. Accordingly, the full cost of all VRs must be recognised at the point a binding contract has been signed with the employee.

On 9th December 2015 the Council of Ministers agreed that approvals for funding of VR and CR would be delegated to a Central Panel comprising the Chief Executive Officer, the Treasurer of the States and the Director of Human Resources.

MD-TR-2015-0141 approved funding of £4,666,119 to fund the Voluntary Release Scheme in 2015 in line with the allocation of funding approved by the States Assembly in P.72/2015 Medium Term Financial Plan 2016 – 2019 (as amended).

MD-TR-2016-0058, MD-TR-2016-0082, MD-TR-2016-0114, MD-TR-2017-0010 and MD-TR-2017-0087 approved funding of £3,677,954.05 to fund applications approved and signed up to 31st December 2016 and also transferred savings of £864,227 from the departments to the Redundancy Provision as a result of VR approvals earlier than anticipated in 2015.

It was agreed by the States Assembly as part of the MTFP Addition debate in 2016, following an estimate of funding requirements for redundancy for the remaining years of the MTFP, to transfer £6.88 million of the Redundancy Provision to the Restructuring Provision for 2018 and 2019.

MD-TR-2017-0125 and MD-TR-2018-008 approved funding of £713,995.54 to fund applications approved and signed up to 31st December 2017.

MD-TR-2018-0088, TR-2018-DD085 and MD-TR-2018-0153 approved funding of £730,616.59 to fund applications approved and signed up to 31st December 2018.

MD-TR-2019-0059 and MD-TR-2019-0086 approved funding of £629,025.16 to fund applications approved and signed up to 30th September 2019.

This decision approves funding of £743,977.29 for applications approved and signed up to 19th November and will leave a balance of £4.8 million in Contingency for future applications.

Resource Implications

Various departments’ revenue heads of expenditure, as outlined above, to increase by £743,977.29 in 2019 and the Central Contingency – Redundancy Provision to decrease by the same amount.

This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for the period of the current MTFP 2016 to 2019.

Report author : Specialist – Business Cases	Document date: 11th December 2019.
Quality Assurance / Review : Head of Financial Governance	File name and path: L:\Treasury\Sections\Corporate Finance\Ministerial Decisions\DS, WR and SD\2019-0117 - Contingency for VR to Dec 2019
MD sponsor : Treasurer of the States