Inland Revenue confirms changes at regional offices

Inland Revenue has confirmed that it will reduce staff numbers at five regional offices.

A proposal to disestablish 191 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions was put to staff in Rotorua, New Plymouth, Napier, Nelson and Invercargill last month.

Today Deputy Commissioner Service Delivery Carolyn Tremain announced that, following consultation with staff, the number of jobs to be disestablished has reduced to 156.

For individual offices, this means reductions of: Rotorua, 67 to 30 FTE staff; New Plymouth - 64 to 28 FTEs; Napier - 87 to 77 FTEs; Nelson - 51 to 32 FTEs; and Invercargill - 82 to 28 FTEs.

Ms Tremain said Inland Revenue wants to provide local communities with services targeted to each community’s needs, and wants to make doing business easier and more efficient for customers.

“We are maintaining offices and counters in all our current locations, but where and how we do some work is changing,” she said.

Currently Inland Revenue offices not only work with customers in their local community, but also manage work for customers around New Zealand. In future, work not requiring face-to-face contact will be grouped in larger centres, allowing regional sites to increase their focus on education and advisory services for their communities.

Implementation of changes will take about eighteen months and begin early next year. A range of options for staff, including applying for new roles, relocation, and redundancy, are being explored.

Ms Tremain said: “We have been engaging with staff and unions as we work through the process and our people will be fully supported through any changes.”

© Scoop Media