The government has confirmed approximately 1000 contractors that have been or will be let go in the weeks leading up to Christmas and 176 public servants who worked alongside them will be "returning to their home teams".

A suite of technology job losses at the agency were announced to impacted staff last week, but they were left in the dark about the full scope of the cuts and impacted workers.

Several of these public servants contacted The Canberra Times following its report on Monday additional projects have had contractor staff slashed, beyond the two identified by Services Australia.

Services Australia general manager Hank Jongen said they were an "adaptable and flexible service delivery agency" and moving staff between sections was a normal practice.

"Staff moves across the agency are common practice to help us manage priorities," he said.

"In this case, approximately 176 APS staff are returning to their home teams as the projects they have been working on have reached the end of their requirements."

The agency still has not answered questions raised last week about why large numbers of workers were let go from ICT projects that staff who worked on them claim were far from complete. A spokeswoman previously described major ICT projects and pandemic surge support "now coming to an end" and confirmed other projects facing significant cuts like GovERP were continuing.

The Canberra Times has heard further cuts were planned for January, but details and a future timeline of additional cuts expected over the coming months have not been confirmed by the agency.

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The agency said it has offered support for the contractors impacted, both through their contract employer and directly, and reached out to other public service agencies who may be in a position to offer them opportunities.

Public servants who are displaced will either be found a new position by the agency, or join a job placement service register from which they could be picked up by another agency or become "excess", where they could face an extended periods without meaningful work.

One impacted public servant, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Canberra Times they would face a struggle to get redeployed with claims up to 2000 newly unemployed people would be looking for new positions going into Christmas.

"Given the professional services market slows down or comes to a complete halt from mid-December through to at least the end of January, finding a job is going to be f-----g hard to say the least," they said.

The opposition has hit out at the government, saying Labor was taking Services Australia back to a worse pre-digital era.

The losses amount to a hit to digital service delivery with service quality "likely to get worse", opposition spokesman for government services Paul Fletcher said on Monday.

"Losing these tech jobs means a missed opportunity to improve the digital service experience of Australians who are transacting with Centrelink and Medicare," he said.

"The sad consequence for Australians dealing with Services Australia is that they can expect plenty more confusing paper forms, slow turnaround times and underwhelming customer service."

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