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A politician who tried to restrict growth in the civil service has said the creation of a new senior role within the Revenue Service is another example of practices that would not be acceptable in the private sector.
Deputy Mark Helyar had tried to limit States recruitment and set stricter guidelines for pay rises for existing civil service workers during the 2025 Budget debate last November.
Ultimately those efforts failed, with the Unions representing health and education staff among those criticising his efforts.
Pictured: The newly focused 'Director of the Revenue Service' role has a salary up to £147,000.
With the creation of a new Director of the Revenue Service role - said to have come about because the existing role has been split in two with the incumbent being given the new title of Director of Tax Policy - Deputy Helyar has said this demonstrates what he was battling against.
"This simply demonstrates that the points I was making were spot on, but instead of finding a new way to solve the issues we are going to 'reinforce a defeat' and add more cost, pensions, management time and complexity," he told Express.
"Various parts of the service are busy are also busy unwinding work which the last P&R brought in based on either ideological grounds or spurious advice - for example removing the 'right to buy' social housing and not even now planning to investigate the use of insurance to bolster the costs of a health service which we can no longer afford.
"Lots of good work is being undone, which is a real shame," he said.
Deputy Helyar received some support in his efforts to restrict the growth of the civil service but the amendments he lodged against the Budget were ultimately rejected.
Among the changes he had wanted to see was a strict policy of no replacements for jobs left vacant for six months, a stop to annual pay increments, and the closure of the public sector pension scheme to new entrants from next year.
By trying to restrict committee budgets he wanted to force the States, as the island's largest employer, to work more efficiently with the resources it already has.
This is an issue Deputy Helyar has repeatedly tried to force during his term of office.
When the news of the Director of Revenue Service role being split in to two high paying roles was announced this week, Express asked him what he thought now.
“We have been examining this problem for over four years and demanding action. Why has the service been so slow to respond and why is nobody being held responsible for it?
"This would not be acceptable performance in the private sector and it wouldn’t have been acceptable performance when I was a civil servant."
Pictured: Nicky Forshaw will be the island's 'Director of Tax Policy' going forward.
Splitting the Director of the Revenue Service role in two will give both postholders separate priorities.
The current Director of the Revenue Service is moving in to the new role of 'Director of Tax Policy'. Nicky Forshaw will be focused on domestic and international policy development going forward while her new colleague will be employed as 'Director of the Revenue Service' and they will be focused on the delivery of the island's revenue service.
That role will include "making further improvements in the customer experience".
They will be paid up to £147,000 for this work, with a relocation package offered to the successful applicant if they are not already living locally.
The decision to split the role was made by the States Treasurer who recently carried out a review of the work being done by Mrs Forshaw as Director of the Revenue Service.
Bethan Haines said that review convinced her that the role had too many responsibilities and the operational and policy functions should be separated.
"The Revenue Service continues to go through a number of changes aimed at improving the services islanders receive," said Ms Haines.
"As is the case with many roles in the public sector, particularly at a senior level, they tend to expand over time as demands on services increase. In the case of the role of Director of the Revenue Service, the postholder is responsible for the delivery of both the service itself – the collection of income tax, contributions and from this year operation of the Secondary Pension scheme – and the development and introduction of policy. An example of policy work would be considering the impact of changes to international tax policy, or the development of new local taxes such as GST as directed by the States.
"I reviewed the role recently, as part of considering wider improvement plans already in progress for the service, and it was clear to me that splitting its operational and policy responsibilities was necessary. We are committed to improving the service islanders receive and allowing the Director of the Revenue Service to focus solely on the operational performance, without also being responsible for significant policy demands, will best support those aims."
A spokesperson for the States confirmed that the total wage bill for the two roles will be "less than double" what the previous post holder was paid given the responsibilities have been split.
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