Internal government correspondence released in an upper house call for papers shows Family and Community Services Minister Pru Goward's office asked her department why ''we are now still needing to reduce staff numbers to live within budget''.

The documents show her office was asking questions as early as February this year about why the number of caseworkers in Wollongong appeared to have fallen by 25 per cent.

In Parliament this week, Ms Goward rejected a Fairfax Media report showing the number of caseworkers in Wollongong fell by 25 per cent - from 44 in June 2011 to 39 in June last year and to 33 in December.

She said budgeted positions had been constant during 2011 and 2012 at 37.7 full-time equivalent positions and the Wollongong office had been overstaffed.

But the government briefing paper shows that when Ms Goward's office asked her department whether the Wollongong office had been running over budget by 25 per cent, it was unable to answer the question. It said different methods of budget allocation had been used over previous years, ''so a comparison of year on year will not give an answer to the above questions posed''.

Despite the minister's denials over months of a drop in caseworker numbers, internal government documents obtained by Fairfax Media acknowledge staff cuts across the state.

A ministerial briefing note written on February 27 says for the past three years the funding allocation for metropolitan Sydney has been restricted, and this has ''severely limited'' the department's ability to fill vacancies.

''To meet the region's allocated budget since 2010-11, metro central has had to withhold approximately 60 to 70 caseworker positions to meet the budget,'' the document says.

A Family and Community Services briefing note signed by senior executives in May says there are 112 full-time vacant positions in regional areas across the state.

''There are vacant positions in all non-metropolitan regions with some under-resourcing noted in Metro South West,'' the document says.

The briefing note details a PR strategy to ensure ''the overarching message to be communicated is that the overall number of caseworkers is being maintained across child protection''. Among ''key messages'' to be promoted is that ''frontline resources are not being reduced''.

The documents show staff discontent has been apparent for more than a year. In February last year, acting regional director for the metro central region Chrissie Witherdin said she was concerned about staff morale.

In an email on February 13, she said there had been many questions from staff about ''the budget decrease and continuing staff vacancies''. This was handled by telling staff about budget negotiations with head office.

Opposition Leader John Robertson said: "At the same time Pru Goward was telling Parliament there had been no reduction in Wollongong caseworkers, her own staff were sending emails to the department asking them to confirm if there was actually a 25 per cent cut.

"Minister Goward is being told one thing by her department, and then going on to tell the public and the Parliament something completely different."

smh.com.au