Pádraic McCormack
Ceist:34 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Finance if he will outline Government policy on overtime in the Civil Service.
Written Answers. - Civil Service Overtime.
As a general rule overtime is resorted to in the Civil Service only where seasonal variations in the volume of work occur, where rostering requirements make it unavoidable, to cope with situations where the performance of urgent work is impeded by the unforeseen absence of staff or where significant travel costs would arise by having it performed in any other way. In such circumstances the working of overtime represents the most effective and efficient means of carrying out urgent tasks.
Government policy on overtime forms an integral part of our approach to the control of administrative costs in the Civil Service generally. Since last March the vast majority of Departments and Offices have been operating delegated administrative budgets. Under these arrangements all expenditures involved in running a Department or Office, including overtime, are combined together to form an administrative budget. There is continuing pressure on them to ensure that their work is carried out in the most cost-effective manner, as Departments and Offices are required to achieve real annual cost reductions over the period of the budget agreement. In those areas not covered by the administrative budgets overtime operates under restrictive controls.