Dutch government sets an efficiency programme with AI targets still to come

The official plan estimates a25,000-FTE reduction over several years and places AI alongside simpler rules, shared systems and changes in public-service organisation.

The Dutch government outlined a programme on October 26 to make public administration simpler, more productive and smaller. Its official announcement estimates a reduction of 25,000 full-time-equivalent roles over several years, alongside savings of €900 million in 2027 rising to €3.5 billion annually from 2035.

AI is one part of the programme, with specific productivity objectives and savings plans due in the first quarter of 2027. Other measures include simplifying rules, standardising IT, changing workplace provision, consolidating procurement and reducing administrative barriers between organisations. Police and defence are among the areas exempted from the cuts.

That scope matters when interpreting headlines describing the whole workforce reduction as replacement by AI. The official account combines efficiency measures with strategic choices about which government tasks should continue. It does not attribute every projected reduction to an automated system or identify a completed AI deployment producing those savings.

The plan also proposes a more connected public-service experience. It aims to let government organisations share information safely so residents and businesses do not repeatedly provide data already held elsewhere. Legal arrangements supporting proactive service delivery are to be developed over two years.

The programme therefore links technology with service design and organisational change. Its next concrete AI milestone is the publication of targets and savings plans, followed by evidence of how particular services perform. The announced workforce estimate is a multiyear planning figure; the contribution of individual AI systems remains to be established as those plans become operational.

Sources

- [Kabinet werkt aan slagvaardige overheid: eenvoudiger, slimmer en kleiner](https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/actueel/nieuws/2026/10/26/kabinet-werkt-aan-slagvaardige-overheid-eenvoudiger-slimmer-en-kleiner) — Government of the Netherlands