Merge
Several structures become one; the file must show which duplicated functions genuinely vanish.
METHOD · PUBLIC-BODY TRANSFORMATION
How to merge, transfer or reintegrate a public body without losing its mission
A public organisation can disappear on paper while almost all of its work continues elsewhere. This dossier separates the legal entity, the public mission and the resources needed to deliver it, so that a reform can be costed without turning transferred spending into fictional savings.
1 — Map legal powers before drawing the new organisation chart
For every decision, authorisation, inspection, sanction, payment, data-processing operation and representation function, the transition file identifies the legal basis, the current holder, the future holder, the required legal instrument and the effective date. An organisation chart alone does not transfer statutory powers.
2 — Protect people and scarce capabilities
Headcount can only be removed when the associated workload genuinely disappears or is demonstrably absorbed. Staff are classified as transferred, pooled, genuinely redundant or critical. Mobility, training, temporary recruitment and transition support are costed before savings are booked.
3 — Inventory software, data, contracts and property
Every application, database, licence, hosting service, procurement contract, lease, archive and technical asset receives a decision: keep, migrate, pool, terminate, dispose of or archive. Data migration documents access rights, logs, retention and legal responsibility. Contract exit dates and penalties are part of the financial model.
4 — Design the cutover, not only the target
The plan names who receives open cases, signs decisions, pays invoices, answers users and supports staff on day one. The first six months are treated as a stabilisation phase, with queues, payment delays, data incidents, errors and loss of expertise monitored against the baseline.
5 — Calculate net recurring savings
The reproducible formula is removed costs − costs taken over elsewhere − new recurring costs = annual net saving. One-off transition expenditure is disclosed separately. Programme funds that continue to reach beneficiaries are not savings simply because a legal entity disappears; asset sales are one-off receipts, not recurring savings.
6 — Publish evidence that lets outsiders challenge the result
The closing file publishes scope, legal changes, staffing, assets, transferred costs, transition costs, service indicators and the resulting net figure. Reform becomes credible when Parliament, auditors, researchers, staff and citizens can reproduce the calculation and identify service deterioration.
