Government eyes €50m annual savings in ‘shared services’ centralisation strategy

The Government is eyeing savings of around €50 million a year, as it seeks to deepen a “shared services” strategy using more call centres and centralised pay and procurement systems by 35,000 civil servants staff working across central government departments and agencies.

It is part of a push to drive reforms of the way central government does business that were started at the depth of the crisis four years ago.

Detailing the so-called Civil Service Renewal Strategy, Robert Watt, secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, said that though set-up costs would run into the tens of millions of euro, €50m savings a year were anticipated if common payroll and staff management systems were employed in the civil service, local government, in education, and in health services procurement.