As at 31 March 2012, the Department's vacancy rate was 8.79 per cent (384 of 421 posts filled), with the Senior Management salary band having the highest percentage of vacancies, i.e. 14.29 per cent (16 vacant positions). 4.2 First quarter of the 2012/13 financial year The Department received an allocation of R4.9 billion in the 2012/13 financial year, which represents 0.5 per cent of the national budget (R969.4 billion). In real terms (inflation-adjusted), the Department's 2012/13 budget allocation has increased by 6.2 per cent compared to the 2011/12 financial year's allocation of R4.4 billion. The Department spent R1.3 billion (25.8 per cent) of its total budget by the end of the first quarter of the 2012/13 financial year.