APS & ACT Government Voluntary Redundancy Rounds: Agency-by-Agency Tracker
Which departments are offering voluntary redundancies, at what scale, and what stage each round is at — every verified federal APS and ACT Government round in one place, with every figure labelled by type and linked to its source.
As at 26 July 2026, at least 17 federal agencies — including Home Affairs, Education, Social Services, DCCEEW, PM&C and the ABS — plus the ACT Government are running, or have completed, voluntary redundancy rounds. Most headline numbers are expressions of interest, not confirmed exits. The tables below track every round, with sources, updated monthly.
How to read these numbers: 2,000 EOIs is not 2,000 redundancies
Published redundancy figures come in four different types, and they are not interchangeable:
- EOIs Expressions of interest / applications — staff who put their hand up. Home Affairs’ widely-reported ~2,000 is this type.
- Offers Offers made — the agency has formally offered a VR (for example, the APSC’s 33).
- Finalised Finalised departures — people who have actually left (Social Services’ 302, Education’s 92).
- Target Targets and scale statements — announced intent, not yet people (the ACT’s CED round of ~130 roles).
Reporting that mixes these up badly overstates what is actually happening. Every figure in the tables below carries its type.
Which federal departments are offering voluntary redundancies?
Every federal APS agency with a verified voluntary redundancy round, as reported by the publications linked in each row.
| Agency | Announced | Scale (by figure type) | Status (26 Jul 2026) | Source (as reported) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Home Affairs (incl. Border Force) | Late April 2026 | EOIs ~2,000 staff had expressed interest by 1 June. No fixed target; staff told exits are likely “in the hundreds, but fewer than a thousand”. | EOI closed; final decisions were expected by end of June — final exit count not yet published | Canberra Times, 29 Apr 2026 · Canberra Times, 1 Jun 2026 |
| Department of Social Services | FY2025-26 round | Finalised 302 voluntary redundancies in 2025-26 — the largest published agency total. Payout ~$20m, per Senate estimates. | Completed (FY2025-26) | Canberra Times, 13 Jul 2026 · Canberra Times, 5 Jun 2026 |
| Department of Education | Late March 2026 (all ~1,800 staff eligible) | Finalised 92 departures in 2025-26, up from 34 in 2024-25 and 17 in 2023-24. | FY2025-26 round complete; watch for a new 2026-27 round | Canberra Times, 26 Mar 2026 · Canberra Times, 13 Jul 2026 |
| Services Australia | Ongoing — no single announced round | Finalised 25 VRs accepted in the 11 months to 31 May 2026, at a cost of $2.59m. | Ongoing, small-scale | Canberra Times, 13 Jul 2026 |
| Dept of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water | EOIs open by April 2026 | EOIs ~230 staff had applied by early June (workforce ~5,000). | EOI phase closed/closing; outcomes not yet published | Canberra Times, 13 Apr 2026 · Canberra Times, 1 Jun 2026 |
| National Indigenous Australians Agency | Early 2026 (among the first agencies) | EOIs ~120 executive-level staff had expressed interest by 1 June. | EOI phase; outcomes not published | Canberra Times, 1 Jun 2026 |
| Australian Public Service Commission | By May 2026 | Offers 33 redundancies offered as at 13 May 2026. | Offers made; outcomes not published | Canberra Times, 1 Jun 2026 |
| Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | Confirmed 13 April 2026 | Target Targeted round — VRs offered to specific positions in targeted areas; no fixed number. | Targeted round underway; no numbers published | Canberra Times, 13 Apr 2026 |
| Australian Bureau of Statistics | Confirmed 13 April 2026 | None published APS 1 to EL 2 eligible; stated purpose is aligning staffing with available funding while safeguarding the 2026 Census. | Consultation, then application phase | Canberra Times, 13 Apr 2026 |
| Department of Finance | FY2025-26 | Finalised 5 redundancies, at ~$667,000. | Completed (FY2025-26) | Canberra Times, 13 Jul 2026 |
| Department of Infrastructure | FY2025-26 (initially favoured redeployment) | Finalised 7 staff by March 2026. | Small-scale / completed | Canberra Times, 26 Mar 2026 · Canberra Times, 13 Jul 2026 |
| Department of Health | FY2025-26 (initially favoured redeployment) | Finalised 9 separations. | Small-scale / completed | Canberra Times, 26 Mar 2026 · Canberra Times, 13 Jul 2026 |
| Dept of Employment and Workplace Relations | Confirmed 1 May 2026 | Undisclosed Some staff have accepted VRs since the start of 2026; no numbers disclosed. | Ongoing — framed as a “workforce lever” | Canberra Times, 1 May 2026 |
| Attorney-General’s Department | Confirmed 1 May 2026 | Offers 3 VRs offered within its Enabling Services Group. | Small-scale | Canberra Times, 1 May 2026 |
| Department of Industry and Science | Confirmed 1 May 2026 | Finalised 3 VRs processed as at February 2026. | Small-scale | Canberra Times, 1 May 2026 |
| Fair Work Ombudsman | By March 2026 | None published | Listed among agencies offering VRs | Canberra Times, 26 Mar 2026 · Canberra Times, 29 Apr 2026 |
| CSIRO | Ongoing (pre-dates the 2026 wave) | None published Named among agencies offering VRs; no 2025-26 round figures published. | Ongoing | Canberra Times, 5 Jun 2026 · Government News, 1 May 2026 |
| ACCC | — | Not a VR round Hiring freeze — included for context. | Hiring freeze | Canberra Times, 29 Apr 2026 |
Agencies not listed (for example the ATO, Treasury, DFAT, Veterans’ Affairs and Defence) had no verified voluntary redundancy round in the public record as at 26 July 2026 — absence from this table means no confirmed round, not a confirmed absence.
ACT Government (ACTPS) voluntary redundancies
The ACT Government runs its own schemes under its own enterprise agreements — the rules on severance, decision windows and support differ from the APS. If you work for a directorate, start with our ACT Government redundancy guide.
| Directorate / scheme | Announced | Scale (by figure type) | Status (26 Jul 2026) | Source (as reported) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACTPS-wide VR scheme (2026-27 Budget measure) | Budget handed down 11 June 2026 | Target Program funded at $35.4m over four years, with an expected net saving of $6.4m. The 2026-27 FTE target is 30,224. | Active — adopted directorate by directorate | Canberra Times, 10-11 Jun 2026 · Canberra Times, 9 Jun 2026 |
| City and Environment Directorate (CED) | 28 May 2026 | Target ~130 roles, about 3-5% of the directorate’s workforce. | EOI open — participation described as “entirely voluntary”; timelines to be set after union consultation | Canberra Times, 28 May 2026 |
| Other ACT directorates | — | None yet No other directorate had publicly adopted a CED-style round as at the mid-June reporting; some roles (such as bus drivers) quarantined. The same budget grows Canberra Health Services by 460 FTE and Transport Canberra by 87 FTE. | Watch list | Canberra Times, 10-11 Jun 2026 |
The whole-of-APS picture
There is no announced whole-of-government redundancy program, timetable or quota. Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has said the APS is roughly the right size, with “ons and offs in different departments” (Canberra Times, 1 May 2026). What is driving the agency-by-agency rounds is a direction for departments to find 5% annual budget savings (Canberra Times, 13 Apr 2026), against an APS average staffing level of 217,256 — up about 3,900 on the prior year (Canberra Times, 5 Jun 2026).
The Parliamentary Budget Office’s July 2026 medium-term outlook projects average staffing falling by around 28,000 to roughly 189,000 by 2029-30 — a budget-balance projection, not an announced policy. In short: the reductions are real, agency-led, and mostly voluntary so far — and the finalised numbers are in the hundreds, not the thousands.
Your agency is listed — what now?
This tracker tells you a round exists. It does not tell you whether accepting is a good idea — that depends on your severance and tax position, your super scheme, and what the money needs to do next. Before you respond to an EOI or an offer:
- Federal (APS) employees: start with our guide to voluntary vs involuntary redundancy for Canberra public servants — how genuine redundancy tax treatment works and the decisions that come with an offer.
- Applied and missed out, or thinking of declining? Our guide to retention periods and involuntary redundancy in the APS covers what happens when your EOI goes nowhere — and the clock that starts if you say no.
- ACT Government employees: the Territory’s rules are not the APS rules. Read the ACT Government redundancy guide before you assume anything you have read about the APS applies to you.
- CSS members over 55: a VR can reopen a door many thought was shut — see CSS 54-11 and the voluntary redundancy window.
- CSS, PSS and PSSap members generally: your scheme changes what a redundancy means — our financial planning guide for Australian public servants covers the three schemes in detail.
If your agency is on this list and you would like a licensed adviser to look at your specific numbers before you respond, request a call back from Véurr here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which government departments are offering voluntary redundancies in 2026?
At least 17 federal agencies have run or are running voluntary redundancy rounds in 2026, including Home Affairs, Education, Social Services, Climate Change (DCCEEW), the NIAA, PM&C, the ABS, Finance, Health, Infrastructure and Services Australia. The ACT Government is also funding voluntary redundancies across its directorates, starting with the City and Environment Directorate. The tables above list every verified round with sources.
How many APS voluntary redundancies have there actually been?
Fewer than the headlines suggest. Across every agency with a published figure, finalised departures, accepted offers and processed redundancies add up to roughly 480 people so far — the largest single total is 302 finalised at the Department of Social Services in 2025-26. Thousands more have applied: around 2,000 Home Affairs staff expressed interest by June 2026, but that department expects actual exits in the hundreds.
Does 2,000 expressions of interest mean 2,000 redundancies?
No. An expression of interest is a staff member putting their hand up — not an offer, and not a departure. Agencies typically approve only a fraction of EOIs: Home Affairs received about 2,000 EOIs but told staff exits would be ‘in the hundreds, but fewer than a thousand’. Always check which type of figure a headline is quoting before drawing conclusions.
How often is this tracker updated?
Monthly. Every figure is dated and linked to the publication that reported it, and each monthly refresh converts expression-of-interest numbers into offers and finalised departures as agencies publish them — Senate estimates and agency annual reports between September and November 2026 are the next big data drops. This page was last updated on 27 July 2026.
Weighing a voluntary redundancy at your agency?
Maciej and Imran at Véurr work with APS and ACT government employees through exactly these decisions — severance, tax treatment, CSS/PSS/PSSap and what the payout needs to do next. Talk it through before you respond to the offer.
Free 30-minute call. No obligation. No product pitch.
Or call us directly: (02) 6171 1777
Sources and further reading: Canberra Times, 26 Mar 2026 — Education next to offer redundancies · Canberra Times, 13 Apr 2026 — PM&C and ABS confirm VR rounds · Canberra Times, 29 Apr 2026 — Home Affairs opens VR expressions of interest · Canberra Times, 1 May 2026 — DEWR, AGD and Industry confirm VRs · Government News, 1 May 2026 — Job cull at Home Affairs · Canberra Times, 28 May 2026 — ACT City and Environment Directorate round · Canberra Times, 1 Jun 2026 — 2,000 Home Affairs EOIs · Canberra Times, 5 Jun 2026 — APS staffing level and agency rounds · Canberra Times, 9 Jun 2026 — ACT Budget foreshadows VR fund · Canberra Times, 10-11 Jun 2026 — ACT Budget VR scheme detail · Canberra Times, 13 Jul 2026 — Agency-by-agency finalised VR figures · ASIC Financial Advisers Register
