ACC proposing to cut almost 400 positions

ACC, the country’s accident compensation scheme, is proposing to cut 390 roles almost 10% of its workforce.

ACC chief executive Megan Main said of the 390 roles, 81 are vacant. Main said the roles “sit outside our client-facing teams that work directly with New Zealanders to rehabilitate and care for them”.

“We’re also proposing to invest in 65 new roles that support the delivery of our services to New Zealanders, and our board has also endorsed a plan to reinvest some of the proposed savings in approximately 250 additional client-facing roles.

“The exact nature of these roles is yet to be finalised.”

Final decisions are expected in June. ACC has been considering cutting jobs for months as it tries to save 6.5%.

ACC employs more than 4000 people, of whom almost 70% are women.

While ACC was not specifically included in the Government’s cost saving targets, Main said at the time, “there’s a very clear expectation that we’ll make material cost savings”.

A series of proposed and confirmed job losses across several ministries were announced last week, bringing the total public servant potential job losses to almost 4000.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment accepted another 59 applications for voluntary redundancy, bringing its total drop in roles to more than 341 fulltime positions.

The Ministry of Education was also looking to reduce its workforce by 755 - 190 more than it proposed in April.

Kāinga Ora proposed to cut 130 roles and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development was proposing a 10.4% workforce reduction, which would cut 30 jobs. It had an additional 10 vacant roles.

Meanwhile, Stats NZ opened up voluntary redundancy to staff. It follows 29 job losses in December.

Earlier, Te Puni Kōkiri, the Ministry of Māori Development, proposed an 8% reduction with 38 roles to be disestablished.