New employment positions created in last five years

Summary

The request sought data on new government employment positions created over the last five financial years, specifically asking for a departmental breakdown. The Cabinet Office disclosed that precise data on 'new' roles versus amended roles is not captured, but provided tables showing the net increase in open positions by department for each financial year from 2020 to 2025.

Key Facts

• The Office of Human Resources cannot distinguish between creating a post for new work versus amending an existing post or creating duplicates for leave cover.
• Position counts are not considered an accurate indicator of workforce size compared to Full Time Equivalent (FTE) measures.
• The response includes tables showing the number of open positions existing on 31 March each year that did not exist the previous year.
• The Department of Health and Social Care showed the highest number of new positions in 2020 (278), followed by a significant drop in subsequent years.
• The figures attributed to the Chief Minister regarding 1800 jobs likely refer to the whole economy or specific payroll definitions rather than the OHR position count methodology.

Data Disclosed

• 2025-07-16
• 2025-09-12
• 2020
• 2021
• 2021/2022
• 2022/2023
• 2023/2024
• 2024/2025
• 1800
• 450
• 130
• 278
• 232
• 31 March

Original Request

How many new employment positions have been created within government over the last five years and what is the breakdown i.e. which departments have had how many of those positions. These are new positions, not people filling roles someone has left. Alf Cannan said something like 1800 have been created and 450 are within the health department. On 24 July 2025 we wrote to ask you for clarification as follows: In order to identify and locate the information that you have asked for we need some further information from you. In particular, it would be helpful, where you have requested "how many new employment positions have been created within government over the last five years" if you could please clarify what you mean by "the last 5 years". For example, Would you like us to search between 2 specific dates, (if so please provide the dates) or are you requesting the last 5 calendar years or financial years? On 25 July 2025 you provided clarification as follows: 'Thank you for your reply. Could you please do the last five financial years.'

Data Tables (3)

Full Response Text

Government Office Douglas Isle of Man IM1 3PN Telephone: (+44) 01624 686244
Website: www.gov.im/co

Our ref: 4802877 12 September 2025

Dear ###

We write further to your request, received 16 July 2025, which states:

"How many new employment positions have been created within government over the last five years and what is the breakdown i.e. which departments have had how many of those positions. These are new positions, not people filling roles someone has left. Alf Cannan said something like 1800 have been created and 450 are within the health department."

On 24 July 2025, we sought clarification as to whether the request referred to the last 5 calendar years or the last 5 financial years. You confirmed that it relates to the last 5 financial years.

Our response to you is as follows:

The Office of Human Resources (OHR), (a Directorate within Cabinet Office), is able to report the number of open positions that existed on a specified date and the number of positions that did not exist on a previous specified date, by comparing unique position references.

It should be noted that a post may be created with a new unique reference number for many reasons, including the following: • replacement of an existing position with another on different terms and conditions or a different grade • changing the employment group of a post
• creating a duplicate post to provide cover for a post holder on parental leave or long-term absence
• If a full-time role is split into 2 roles or unused hours from a number of posts are used to create a new post OHR does not capture data to distinguish between creating a post for increased or new work and creating a post to reflect the amendment of an existing post or other changes, as outlined above.

The number of positions requested is not usually used as an accurate indicator of workforce size as a single position may be full or part-time and, in some instances, may only comprise a few hours per week. Further information on the rationale for 2 using full time equivalent (FTE) as a measure, rather than positions count is contained in the Size of Government Report on pages 23 and 24, which can be found here:
https://www.gov.im/media/1389631/overview-of-the-public-service-report-april-2025- to-june-2025_compressed.pdf.

It is important to emphasise that drawing firm conclusions from this data is extremely difficult and carries a real risk of misinterpretation. The data provided may lack consistency, context, or comparability across time periods and departments.

To support more meaningful analysis and transparency, we have now introduced a quarterly workforce report, which is designed to provide consistent and comparable data. We strongly encourage you to refer to this report for a clearer and more reliable picture of workforce data. (Link above).

In addition to the above, the figures you attribute to the Chief Minister are likely related to the job count (or position count) across the economy as a whole and within the Public Sector Healthcare payroll. This figure will therefore be different from the FTE figures discussed elsewhere in Government reports and may not align exactly with other position count measures produced by OHR as these may not use the same definitions for payroll centres. The tables below show the number of created and closed positions, calculated as set out above, using 31 March each year as the specified dates. The first table shows new posts created during the year – the second table shows positions that were closed the following year. These tables illustrate the changing numbers.

Number of Open Positions existing at 31/03 each year that did not exist at 31/03 in the previous year.

Department 2020 2021 2021 /2022 2022 /2023 2023 /2024 2024 /2025 Cabinet Office 130 131 51 66 80 Clerk of Tynwald's Office 2 9 5 5 1 Communications & Utilities Regulatory Authority 1

1 1 1 Department for Enterprise 23 26 21 25 29 Department of Education Sport and Culture 170 176 231 216 232 Department of Environment Food and Agriculture 21 19 33 24 29 Department of Health and Social Care 278 18 15 11 7 Department of Home Affairs 33 52 54 60 33 Department of Infrastructure 90 120 58 46 33 Financial Intelligence Unit

8 9 1 Financial Services Authority 24 18 8 20 31 Gambling Supervision Commission 8 9 9 22 5 General Registry 1 4 6 2

H.M. Attorney General's Chambers 4 12 20 17 11 3 Industrial Relations Service

2 1 1 1 Information Commissioner

1

1 4 Manx Care

351 338 370 357 Manx National Heritage 13 2 3 3 5 Public Sector Pensions Authority 3 2 1 2 3 Treasury 61 40 19 50 44 Tynwald Auditor General

1

Veterans Welfare Service

1

Total 862 992 882 953 907

Number of Open Positions existing at 31/03 each year that did not exist at 31/03 in the following year.

Department 2020 /2021 2021 /2022 2023 /2024 2023 /2024 2024 /2025 Cabinet Office 18 50 146 73 134 Clerk of Tynwald's Office 3 12 2

1 Communications & Utilities Regulatory Authority 1

3 5 Department for Enterprise 5 45 9 47 23 Department of Education Sport and Culture 32 92 447 80 359 Department of Environment Food and Agriculture 3 42 7 4 51 Department of Health and Social Care 118 251 5 4 31 Department of Home Affairs 21 34 36 58 38 Department of Infrastructure 32 22 30 76 205 Financial Intelligence Unit

2 6 Financial Services Authority 1 9 3

16 Gambling Supervision Commission

2

2 7 General Registry 1 3 3 10 1 H.M. Attorney General's Chambers 8 2 12 18 8 Industrial Relations Service 2

1 1 Manx Care

239 270 231 Manx National Heritage 6 14 1 2 2 Public Sector Pensions Authority

6

Treasury 8 104 30 13 28 Tynwald Auditor General

1 Veterans Welfare Service

1

Total 259 682 976 664 1148

Data Notes • Both vacant and filled positions were used to produce the data.
• Department of Health and Social Care split into Department of Health and Social Care and Manx Care in 2021.
• The following positions have been excluded in calculating the above: o Crown Appointments – The judiciary and Lieutenant Governor o MLC/MHKs 4 o Coroners o Manx Heritage Foundation o Manx Utilities Authority and Isle of Man Post Office data is not held on the Isle of Man Government OHR system and is excluded. However, you may wish to contact Manx Utilities Authority or Isle of Man Post Office for further information. o Positions with 0 FTE

By way of further advice and assistance, the Office of Human Resources is aware that positions are not always closed in the HR system (PiP) when they are no longer funded or being actively used. An exercise was carried out earlier this financial year to address this issue and a number of posts were closed which had been vacant for over 12 months, in addition to the normal closure of post to reflect organisational changes. This data is reflected in the table below. New and Deleted positions between 31/03/2025 and 31/07/2025

Department New Positions Deleted Positions Cabinet Office 27 26 Department for Enterprise 12 14 Department of Education Sport and Culture 45 116 Department of Environment Food and Agriculture 11 23 Department of Health and Social Care 4 10 Department of Home Affairs 16 68 Department of Infrastructure 18 142 Treasury 12 66 H.M. Attorney General's Chambers 8 9 Information Commissioner 1 1 Clerk of Tynwald's Office 2 0 Manx National Heritage 1 1 Tynwald Auditor General 1 0 Communications & Utilities Regulatory Authority 2 0 Financial Services Authority 7 49 Gambling Supervision Commission 0 10 Manx Care 84 293 Public Sector Pensions Authority 2 7 Total 253 835

Please quote the reference number 4802877 in any future communications.

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5

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Yours sincerely