PSA has now been briefed in relation to the Department of Customer Service (DCS) Functional Review.

While there are no changes to the functional remit of DCS and its related entities, the review will lead to changes to current groups/divisions.

What is changing?  

• A new Policy, Strategy and Governance Group will be established
• A Shared Services Group is proposed to be established which will focus on GovConnect and Process and Technology Harmonisation (PaTH). This proposal is currently pending a decision from the Secretaries Board.
• Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM) to be aligned with Service NS, with the Registrar BDM reporting to Greg Wells.  BDM staff will stay under their current Award
• Digital Channels will move to Digital.NSW
• Telco Authority to move from Digital to report directly to the Secretary

With the establishment of the new Policy, Strategy & Governance Group, functions under Corporate Services (CS), Customer, Delivery and Transformation (CDT), Office of the Secretary (OSEC) and the Strategy & Analytics team under People & Culture (P&C) are proposed to be realigned under this new Group except:

• Chief Information Officer (CIO) and ICT in Corporate Services is proposed to be realigned to the proposed Shared Services Group. It is proposed that the CIO and ICT will be realigned under Scott Johnston, Deputy Secretary Revenue NSW as an interim arrangement.
• Workplace & Facilities in Corporate Services is proposed to be realigned under People & Culture
• Chief Financial Officer & Portfolio Finance in Corporate Services is proposed to be realigned under the Secretary
• Chief Procurement Officer and Procurement in Corporate Services is proposed to be realigned under the Chief Financial Officer
• Corporate Reporting in the Strategy & Analytics team within P&C will remain in P&C

As a result of these functional realignments, it is proposed that the roles of Deputy Secretary CDT, and the Chief Operating Officer (COO) Corporate Services will be delimited.

When will the changes occur?

Phase 1 Lift & Shift – Creation of the new Policy, Strategy and Governance and Shared Services Groups. Realignment of functions from CDT, CS, OSEC and P&C to these new Groups and SEB 3 changes. Realignment of BDM to SNSW and Digital Channels to Digital.NSW. These changes are expected to be completed by 2 September 2024.

Operating model reviews will be undertaken across all Groups/Divisions between September and December 2024. SEB changes will continue. It is expected that operating model changes implementation will be completed by 30 June 2025.

What isn’t changing?

• There are no major changes to the functional remit of DCS and/or it’s related entities, with the exception of acquiring additional shared services.
• The Chief People Officer and the Chief Audit Executive will continue to report to the Secretary DCS.
• Service NSW will continue their own functional model changes separately to the DCS functional review
• Safework will continue its own changes separately to the DCS functional review

There are minimal proposed changes to roles as teams realign.

PSA will meet weekly to discuss changes in Service NSW and Safework and fortnightly to discuss functional review changes in DCS.  We will continue to advise members as we move through this process.

If you have feedback you would like us to submit on your behalf, or information you would like us to be aware of, please contact member support on or contact 1800 772 679 quoting reference number 222837.