Ombud Council AR 2026

PART D: HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

1. INTRODUCTION The Ombud Council continued to refine its human capital foundation during the 2025/26 financial year, with the development of a Human Capital Strategy focused on workforce effectiveness, policy development, statutory compliance, and the embedding of a high-performance culture. The Council remained fully capacitated throughout the year, with no staff resignations or new appointments recorded across the four quarters. Key HR priorities included the conversion of fixed-term contracts to permanent employment for three executives to mitigate key-person risk, the full implementation of an online performance management system (SAGE 300 People), and alignment with new Employment Equity (EE) regulations effective 1 January 2025. Although it is accepted that the Council’s small staff complement and flat structure does not allow for traditional internal succession planning, a crisis succession plan was developed to manage the accepted key-person risk, to ensure continuity in the event of the unexpected departure of any executives. Workforce planning was achieved through the retention of all approved posts. An organisational structure review was completed in the fourth quarter, and a proposal for an Internship Programme (Communications and Risk & Compliance) was developed for implementation in the 2026/27 financial year to build organisational resilience and support skills development. Performance management was conducted through mid year reviews and annual evaluations. All employees had signed performance agreements by May 2025. Mid-year

reviews were concluded in October 2025, and year-end evaluations commenced in March 2026 for finalisation in the first quarter of the new financial year. Employee wellness was supported through an Occupational Health and Safety awareness session, a mandatory evacuation drill, and access to an Employee Assistance Programme. No workplace injuries, grievances, or disciplinary action occurred during the period. Policy development progressed according to a formal workplan. The Leave Management Policy was amended to enable commutation of accumulated non-statutory leave, and the Performance Management Policy was expanded to include Skills Development provisions. The Grievance Policy, Sexual Harassment Policy, and Disciplinary Policy were refined. Challenges faced included system challenges with the new Employee Self-Service (ESS) performance module, which delayed some electronic captures, and cash flow constraints that required a temporary hold on non-critical training expenditure. Both were managed through manual workarounds and prioritisation of job-critical training. Future HR plans for 2026/27 include: • The introduction of an Internship Programme. • Review of policies based on legislative updates. • Continued refinement of the online performance management system. • Conducting a Skills Audit. • Quarterly engagement surveys.

2. HUMAN RESOURCES OVERSIGHT STATISTICS Due to the Council’s small staff complement of eight people, some staff members support more than one programme of work, making it difficult to provide programme-specific values in some of the Tables below. • Personnel costs by programme Table 16: Personnel costs by programme related expenditure. Programme Total expenditure for the entity Personnel expenditure Personnel exp. as a % of total exp. No of employees Average personnel costs per employee

1. Administration 2. Consumer education and awareness 3. Ombud system reform

R14 282 861 R6 626 630

R7 015 878 R2 587 239

49% 39%

5,33 1,83

R1 316 300 R1 413 792

R2 217 881

R2 217 881

100%

0,84

R2 640 334

Total

R23 127 372 R11 820 997

51%

8

R1 447 625

Ombud Council 2025/26 Annual Report

59