The number of government employees has risen again - increasing by almost 100 in the last five months alone.

Figures released under Freedom of Information show that the total public service headcount rose from 7,680 in March 2016 to 8,419 at the beginning of September this year, the full-time equivalent increasing from 6,751.76 to 7,432.50 over the same period.

The total number employed by government at the end of March this year was 8,324 – so the figure has risen by 95 in five months and by 739 in seven years.

These do not include Isle of Man Post Office and Manx Utilities staff although some Water and Sewerage Authority staff who transferred to MU are included in the 2016 figure.

FoI responses published last year stated Isle of Man Post Office had 310 full and part-time workers, excluding casual workers and Manx Utilities employed about 360 staff.

Some 21 Post Office employees are at risk of redundancy following Royal Mail’s decision to end airmail.

Following the UK’s raid on the island’s VAT share, which resulted in government income being slashed by a third, steps were taken to reduce government headcount, which fell by about 850.

But since then, numbers have shown an upward trend, with the FTE figure being 6,702.9 in 2015, 6,736.5 in 2016, 6,904.5 in 2018, 6,930.7 in 2019, 6,905.7 in 2020, 7049.4 in 2021, 7243.6 in 2022 and 7,265.9 at the end of February this year. Total number of employs rose from 8,083 at the end of March 2021 to 8,380 as at March 31, 2022, an increase of 297, before dipping to 8,324 the same month this year.

The total annual amount paid in salaries, including all gross payments, was £372,820,536 as at the end of March this year.

There were calls in Tynwald earlier this year for government to restore the headcount control mechanism which was in place before 2016.

The personnel control mechanism was established by the Council of Ministers in 1991 in response to concerns that a 16.6% increase in the public sector workforce over the previous four years was unsustainable.

But it was abandoned in 2015 amid concerns that it was open to abuse.

Some departments were using fixed term appointments or contract posts to circumvent the need to secure CoMin approval for additional staffing.

It was replaced by the employment costs budgetary control mechanism, which manages personnel numbers based on strict budget allocation, which ring-fences salary costs and includes all employee costs, such as pension.

A report by the Office of Human Resources on the impact of removing the personnel control mechanism found that the public service had grown by 5.2% (346.5 FTE) over seven years.

But it found no evidence that this increase in headcount was as a result of abandoning the personnel control mechanism.

The OHR said the growth of the public service reflected the response to new challenges, such as Covid-19, Brexit and climate change.

And in percentage terms the increase had been lower than that seen in the UK, Ireland, Jersey or Guernsey.

Cabinet Office Minister Kate Lord-Brennan has said it was intended to review this policy again this year.

She said reasons for the increase in headcount could include newly-created roles; people changing their hours; limited-term positions created to cover maternity or long term sickness absence; new positions to support a handover period and previously vacant rolls having been filled.