PSC report warns of rising sickness, ageing staff and turnover in Manx public sector

The final delayed report under Kate Lord-Brennan's tenure is released

The Isle of Man’s Public Services Commission has published its annual report for the year ending 31 March 2024, revealing growing pressures on the Island’s public sector workforce and outlining efforts to modernise HR practices across government.

The report, which covers 4,140 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, marks the final annual report compiled under the PSC's former Chair Kate Lord-Brennan MHK.

It comes after a significant delay in publication of several previous years' reports, despite legal requirements for reports to be laid before Tynwald “as soon as practicable at the end of a financial year”.

Ms Lord-Brennan has previously stated she held back publication of past reports as she believed they were not fit for purpose, but new Chair Rob Callister committed to publishing after a Tynwald motion gained support for all outstanding reports to be published 'by March 2025'.

Findings

This latest report provides a detailed snapshot of the public service workforce across eight government departments, eight statutory boards, and seven offices.

It shows a 3.5 percent rise in staffing numbers compared to the previous year, with Manx Care continuing to represent the largest share of PSC staff, employing over 1,060 FTEs.

However, alongside the growth, the report identifies rising sickness absence, an ageing workforce, and persistent recruitment and retention challenges.

The average age of PSC employees now stands at 47 - three years higher than the UK civil service - while the average proportion of worktime lost to sickness absence rose to 5.62 percent in 2023/24, up from 4.63 percent the previous year.

Mental health-related absences, including stress, anxiety and depression, were once again the leading cause.

Turnover also remains a concern, with 296.6 FTE employees leaving during the year - just over seven percent of the workforce.

Voluntary resignations accounted for the majority of departures, followed by retirements.

A lack of comprehensive exit data, due to the voluntary nature of exit interviews, makes it difficult to assess how many are leaving for the private sector or relocating to the UK.

On performance and development, the report outlines a renewed focus on leadership training and support for specialist staff who may lack management experience.

The PSC’s Learning, Education and Development team delivered over 320 training events during the year, though rising levels of course cancellations and no-shows were noted, often attributed to workload pressures.

Settlement agreements

The PSC also approved six conciliated settlement agreements in 2023/24, down from 28 the previous year.

The total value of settlements fell sharply to £269,365 from nearly £2 million in 2022/23.

The Integrity Line - a confidential whistleblowing mechanism introduced in 2022 - recorded 40 complaints over the reporting year, most of which were HR-related and submitted anonymously.

These were passed to the Office of Human Resources for review.

Policy development

Several key employment policies, including those related to fairness at work, whistleblowing, and equality, diversity and inclusion, are due for review in the year ahead.

OHR, which acts as the Commission’s operational arm, is in the process of transitioning to a new operating model following an external review.

It aims to introduce a new government-wide People Strategy focused on building an agile, skilled and engaged workforce.