News item | 18-04-2025 | 17:06
The government wants fewer external staff to be hired in the central government. The Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Judith Uitermark has sent the first plans to the Lower House for this. The plans are part of the budgetary target of 22% on the central government.
In 2010 it was agreed that expenditure on external hiring may be a maximum of 10% of the total personnel expenditure; The so -called Roemernorm. In recent years this has been exceeded and the cabinet wants to reduce external hiring in the coming period.
That starts with the simple question of whether external hiring is really necessary for a specific task. In addition, tasks that are now being performed externally could be invested internally, whereby the government hires the external staff. Because of this ‘verbalism’ the number of FTEs is increasing, but it does ensure financial savings. Moreover, it contributes to more internal knowledge and expertise, important for the future -proofiness of the central government. The cabinet also wants to look at more flexible deployment of staff, via Polish and for work that is transcending department.
Research into causes
These first plans arise from investigations by the Rijk and Abdtopconsult audit service (specifically about ICT). This showed that the total expenditure on external hiring in the period 2018-2023 was 13%. Categories can be distinguished within it between which large differences can be seen. For example, hiring at core departments is usually below 10%, while with IT tasks that is 43%.
Reasons for external hiring are temporary and unforeseen peak loads. Think of commitment to COVID, repair of the allowance affair and the damage processing in Groningen. In the case of ICT, it is mainly about a demand for specialized knowledge, while the labor market becomes tighter. External hiring is therefore necessary to be able to perform the tasks of the government properly, but it must be an eye for optimum deployment thereof.
Progress
Every ministry is responsible for reducing external hiring; They can best assess whether external hiring is needed for the performance of tasks and social services. In the annual report Operations, which appears every year in May, the progress is reported.