...as £4m is spent on cutting staff
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• In its first year of implementing 20% "efficiency gains" the Vehicle Inspectorate spent over
£ 4m on cutting staff, with no more cash for enforcement.
The £4.38m spent on early retirement for 75 staff is revealed in the VI's 1994/95 annual report. It was part of a campaign to cut the VI's total workforce over the year by around 170 to 1,600.
Most cuts came from reductions in support and headquarters staff, but at least five traffic examiners went, bringing the total down to 163. Vehicle examiners working on enforcement rather than at test stations were reduced by 27 to 490. VI senior management says that staff cuts helped the VI beat its 6% efficiency gains target for the year.
1:1 The RHA says it has "given up" trying to force the Department of Transport to explain why it spent no more than £350,000 a year extra on enforcement while gathering in £800,000 a year from increased 0-licence fees. It says: "They've heard our message but we don't think they will budge."