Approximately 500 Fermanagh civil servants received the Civil Service voluntary exit scheme application on Monday.

The staff, who are employed locally in various government departments and agencies, have until March 27 to decide if they will apply.

Enniskillen Jobs and Benefits office, Roads Service, the Driver and Vehicle Agency and local Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) agencies are some of the bodies that could see changes once the exit scheme gets underway. Enniskillen Planning staff are not included in this scheme because they are moving into local government on April 1.

The Executive hopes that by cutting 2,400 posts, the exit scheme will save £26 million in 2015-16 and £88 million each year thereafter.

Under the terms of The Stormont House Agreement, the Executive borrowed £700 million from the UK Treasury to fund the civil service voluntary exit scheme over the next four years.

Unions say that the exit scheme will result in “extreme pressure” on the staff who remain, many of whom could face redeployment or relocation.

The Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (NIPSA) trade union states: “The compensation terms provided by this scheme are generally poor” and “the prospect of securing comparable employment is minimal and many jobs which former civil servants may have had access to, albeit with lower pay and worse terms and conditions, are no longer widely available, for example jobs in the retail sector.” NIPSA does not believe that borrowing from the Treasury “is an appropriate use for public sector borrowing”, adding: “Any such borrowing should be invested in the protection and development of public services not to run them down.” The rest of the public sector (there are 6,981 public sector workers in Fermanagh) will also be reformed, with exit schemes to be released “in the coming weeks and months,” Finance Minister Simon Hamilton has said. He told the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme that the voluntary exit scheme has come about, because, “circumstances have forced us into a position where we have to, very quickly, make savings,” adding, if the government was not facing a 1.6 per cent cut in spending, “I don’t suspect we would be doing it at the scale and speed at which we are doing it.” He stated: “This one year scheme is entirely voluntary and not part of a process that will lead to compulsory redundancy.” Last week, Colin Lewis, director of personnel at the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) told the Assembly’s Finance Committee that the voluntary exit scheme “will undoubtedly [cause] disruption, because, to make this work, we are going to have to redeploy quite a number of people and some people are going to be, naturally, quite unhappy about that.” Chairman of the committee, Sinn Fein’s Daithi McKay asked what measures were in place to prevent “a brain drain”. Departments would be allowed to present as list of positions which would be exempted, said Mr Lewis, but “we would encourage it’s used sparingly”. Alliance’s Judith Cochrane asked what support was available for those leaving the civil service to prepare them for work elsewhere. “It’ll probably be more about signposting as opposed to provision of practical support,” replied Mr. Lewis.

A majority of the civil servants would be eligible for one month’s pay for every year of service, up to a maximum of 21-and-a-half months. Staff leaving under the Scheme will be released in tranches throughout the period September 2015 and March 2016.

A DFP fact sheet states: “There is no guarantee ... that you will be able to remain in your current post as a result of the impact of the Scheme.” NIPSA is developing a Frequently Asked Questions brief to aid civil servants in their decision-making process.