There are more than 5,000 vacancies within the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS), new figures have revealed, while over 3,000 staff are on temporary promotion.
The NICS currently employs around 24,500 people across the various Stormont departments.
In January, it emerged that the number of agency staff employed by the NICS had jumped from 2,571 in 2020 to 4,015 in 2024 — a rise of 56% in five years.
Earlier this year, the Head of the NICS and the Audit Office were urged to investigate the recruitment of civil service agency staff to ensure the system is not being abused.
The Department of Finance (DoF) is responsible for NICS personnel.
Figures obtained from the department reveal that there are thousands of vacancies across the NICS.
As of the end of September, 5,451 roles were vacant. The Department for Communities had the highest number of unfilled roles at 2,415, while the Public Prosecution Service had the least with 52
Finance Minister John O’Dowd said that, when a department identifies a vacant post it needs filled, the request is referred to Northern Ireland Civil Service Human Resources (NICSHR) to initiate the process to fill the role.
“NICSHR liaises with all departments on an ongoing basis to seek to prioritise resourcing activity within allocated financial and staff resources,” he added.
“Therefore, details of the total number of vacant posts in each department is not held centrally by NICSHR or the wider Department of Finance.
“Each Civil Service department is responsible for managing its resources – both financial and staff. Each department determines its individual workforce needs and is responsible for ensuring that any additional staffing resources are affordable.”
Separate figures also show that 3,488 NICS staff were on temporary promotion, as of the end of September.
The DoF said temporary promotions are designed “primarily to meet business and management needs and can be for several different reasons, examples of which include covering sick absence, maternity leave, special exercises (time bound projects), and to fill vacancies.”
DUP MLA Diane Forsythe hit out at the figures and called for a “review of how the NICS workforce is managed to identify the real pressure points and ask genuine questions on the need for public sector reform.”
"These questions are part of that process, to identify vacancies in Departments and at various grades. We need to know if these are having an impact on the service delivered to the public and if there are capacity and capability issues,” she added.
“Temporary promotions are a necessary tool within any workforce, but it isn’t just the number of these but the duration which needs to be kept under check. Temporary promotions should not be used over protracted periods and instead of permanent recruitment.
“All of this is operating with the backdrop of hundreds of millions of pounds being spent on agency costs in the NICS.
“Public sector workers deserve to be treated fairly and paid properly in their roles. Efficient management of all of these aspects is critical.”
by RemielMonroe
11 comments
Absolutely astounding level of 5000 vacancies!! Makes you wonder how many interactions with the Public Sector for the average joe are affected, the list must be endless?
Also if those roles were all filled tomorrow, how would Stormont pay for it if they are already broke to start off with?
Yet go on there recruitment page and there’s like 17 jobs ffs
The hiring process is too drawn out. The public sector has hired people trained them and working by the time they have got to second interviews.
The fact that there’s even a second interview for some of these jobs paying £13.75 an hour is fucking wild
Applied.
Got nowhere. Ghosted. Autobot harassment emails.
Maybe actually view my CV and application, invite me for a fucking interview rather than go to the news.
Public vs Private.
Public industry get paid to watch the clock and feck about… Maybe I dodged a bullet.
They need to bin the whole competition process and actually recruit like the private sector.
There is zero reason an entry level admin role needs to be drawn out over 6 months to 2 years.
Because nics wages are fucking dogshit for any role that requires specific knowledge.
My job, in nics, not only pays 5-10k less a year, but also requires a degree. 8 years experience in the field no, *a* degree in a subject that isn’t actually relevant, yes.
They post the same shite about the NHS and forget to add there is a freeze on recruitment.
Interesting, as the spectre of mass redundancies after reunification is the major talking point from he CSs who roam this sub
After going through that AO board last year, I can’t help but think their recruitment process is entirely to keep people from being employed by them fully, so there’s no sick pay or pensions to pay for – although I dont know if the agency staff costs them more.
I also know I’m not stupid, and could manage the work an AO does, but I failed the video interviews and got 3 words as feedback – absolutely no insight or actual advice on how to meet their standards.
I fear they may have their heads up their arses.
I’ve got a broken back, maybe if the health service worked I’d take one of those underpaid jobs.
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