Jersey government spending increased by £146m last year

Sunday 04 August 2024

Government costs rose by £146 million last year in Jersey, the Public Accounts Committee has revealed in their annual review of States’ spending habits.

Deputy Raluca Kovacs, who led the committee’s deep-dive into the States Annual Reports and Accounts 2023, said "we must address overall government cost increases”.

Overall Government costs rose by £146 million between 2022 and 2023 – a 16.7% increase.

This included an extra £83 million spent on Health, and staffing costs increased by £72 million.

Following the review, the PAC – which scrutinises whether taxpayers are receiving value for money – made recommendations in the report published this week, mainly aimed at addressing the rising cost of running the island. 

It said the number of people employed by the Government, and the pay brackets they fall into, should be published clearly.

Asserting the need for greater transparency on the public sector workforce, it said: "Within the 2024 report and accounts, reporting on employee numbers per pay bracket should be included and compared with the prior year.

"This should be expressed as number of employees per pay bracket as opposed to only percentages of overall headcount."

Pictured: There needs to be "greater focus on undertaking local training" in Health to "reduce the need to rely on agency staff", according to the report.

And updates should be given every three months on the progress to clear Health's £32.5m deficit, the PAC concluded, citing the Financial Recovery Programme, which has been developed to save £25 million over the next three years.

It noted that part of the plan was "a reduction of the reliance on agency staff", which could cost Health between £14m and £15m this year.

The review said: "There will need to be greater focus on undertaking local training, in order to better upskill the workforce in the coming years and reduce the need to rely on agency staff."

The review did note that "there are efforts ongoing to continually improve efficiencies in key performance areas, while reducing or removing expenditure in non-essential areas".

Deputy Kovacs said: "We must address overall government cost increases, enhance the clarity and accessibility of annual reports, and improve local training programmes to reduce reliance on costly consultants."

She added that the annual report and accounts had not been well enough publicised or made available, saying: "Efforts should be made to better engage stakeholders and communicate effectively about the report's findings."