RTC can reveal that the majority of the 400 civil servants who applied for the Civil Service Severance Scheme package should be issued with their cheques next month.
Spokesman for the Governor’s Office, Neil Smith, made the announcement during yesterday’s media briefing in Providenciales.
Smith also stressed that Government would endeavor to hold on to staff members that are deemed talented and useful to the fortification of the sector. He said, too, that Government could refuse applications from those who it deems too expensive to let go, since the administration was operating on a tight budget.
About 700 of the little over 2,500 civil servants had applied for the package.
Allegations were also rife that a number of persons, who opted against accepting the package, were pushed to take it on the basis that their chance of retention in the sector could be tenuous. It is articulated that the move was being spearheaded by department heads.
But Smith reiterated that, while he was unaware of such practice, stressed that the programme was designed as a voluntary scheme and not a compulsory severance scheme, and as such, no one should be forced to accept it
He stated that the majority of those who accepted the offer would receive what he described as “life-change packages” that would allow them to transform their lives for the better, since they would receive two year’s salary. The campaign to chop the civil service came about as Government seeks to cut costs and balance the budget in order to pave the way for fresh elections that would return the country to local rule, after the UK fired both the Government and Opposition while scratching parts of the Constitution.
