Apr 29 - Civil Service Hours to Shift – New Counter Hours Extend to 3pm
As from Monday 12th May, the Civil service will commence their new hours regime. Currently all civil service departments are open from 8:45 am to 5:30pm, however current counter hours are only between 9am and 12:30pm. The new scheme will see all employees split between two tiers, with some working between the hours of 8am and 3:30 pm and others between 8:30 am and 4:30pm, with new counter hours to run from 8:30 am – 3pm, allowing for better and more flexible hours for Civil Servants as well as providing a better service to the public.
The news was announced this morning by the Chief Minister. Mr. Picardo explained that the system has come about as part of his Government’s pledge to review and revamp the Civil Service. A great deal of work on the project has been done by the Human Resources Department, with Brenda Cumbo fronting the initiative. Work was also carried out in consultation with Chief Secretary Ernest Gomez and members of various Unions including Unite, t=civil service union the GGCA and the Teacher’s Union.
e-government
The new hour scheme will come hand in hand with the soon to be implemented first stage of the eagerly awaited e-Government initiative. When pressed on the matter, the Chief Minister explained that May would likely see the introduction of a number of e government measures including the ability for individuals to book their MOT online, sign up for the Register of Electors, view the Housing list, play their Government rent, view the most up to date lottery results and download certain forms.
He added that further measures will be implemented once the new ID card system comes into place in the third of fourth quarter of this year. Following this many departments could see electronic counters set up. Mr. Picardo noted that this would not see a cut in Civil service employees, but would thoroughly improve the service.
Revealing some figures on the two-tier system for hours, Brenda Cumbo noted that just over 62% of Government departments would run both systems with 7.5% running just tier 1 and 30% running just tier 2.
The Government expects certain teething problems, but have insisted that the majority of Civil servants were happy with the shift.
