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Potential liabilities faced by taxpayers on behalf of the Public Trustee continue to rise year on year, jumping from £3.4million in 2020 to just shy of £5million in 2022.
The States of Guernsey cover the liabilities incurred by the Office of the Public Trustee in the form of an annual grant that funds its legal costs – this agreement has led to millions being funnelled to the Public Trustee as the Office continues a long-running legal battle against the former trustees of a failed pension fund.
Guernsey took control of a collapsing fund in 2017 and the Public Trustee is continuing to try and claw back lost funds and investigate what happened.
The States grant - paid out of the public purse - continues to grow. It has increased from a grant totalling £1,499,332 in 2018, to £2,306,115 in 2019; £3,415,233 in 2020, £4,101,714 in 2021 and £4,977,625 in 2022.
Pictured: Figures and an explanatory note from the Office’s 2022 annual report.
The Public Trustee falls under the remit of Economic Development and details about the ongoing case have been kept confidential. In a statement back in 2019 the Committee said:
“This case is a complicated and ongoing piece of work. It has and continues to involve various legal proceedings and it is important those proceedings are not prejudiced by comments made in the media. For that reason, it is not possible to comment further at this stage. It is recognised that this process can be frustrating for some individuals who have been affected by this case and their patience is appreciated.”
More recently, the current President of Economic Development, Deputy Neil Inder – who once called the ongoing case and grant structure a ‘thorn in the Committee’s side’ - responded to a handful of questions:
“[This is] a complicated and difficult case – this remains ongoing and has not yet been resolved.
“As the case is not yet concluded I cannot make any further comments on the matter at the current time and I will not speculate... this is a matter entirely for the Committee of Economic Development.”
A short debate was forced during a States meeting on 22 March by Deputy Gavin St Pier who laid a motion to debate the annual accounts (2022) of the Office of the Public Trustee, which was originally brought to the States simply to be noted.
Pictured: Deputy Inder.
Deputy St Pier wanted to make sure the public was aware of the ongoing grant costs to the Public Trustee, and sought to find out if alternative funding options for the Public Trustee were being investigated, as per a previous commitment made by ED.
This commitment was repeated in Economic Development’s statement earlier in the meeting:
“Members will be aware that the Committee has political oversight of the Office of the Public Trustee. I would like to put on record the Committee's sincere thanks to Mr Luis Gonzalez, the current public trustee, who will be stepping down at the end of his term of office in April. The Committee has nominated Mr Brian Williams, the current Deputy Public Trustee, to take over and the States will be asked to approve that appointment shortly.
“The Committee has commissioned an independent review of the Office of the Public Trustee, to ensure that it remains fit for purpose. This incorporates a review of its mandate, funding and oversight.
“The review is underway and I will update the Assembly in due course on the review's findings.”
He reiterated the commitment to undertake a review in response to Deputy St Pier’s question:
“In my statement earlier this week I made a commitment that a review is underway,” said Deputy Inder.
“I can assure him completely that it will be done by the end of the term and the funding model for [the Office] will look very different.”
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