Population management paperwork backlog is coming under control

Wednesday 23 May 2018

Following complaints about a severe backlog when Guernsey's new laws were introduced last year, the island's Population Management Office said it has now processed more than 8,000 applications in the 12 months since the legislation was introduced.

In a statement, the Population Management Office said it has also turned around "early difficulties" that had led to that "significant backlog of applications."

Between April 2017, when the new population management laws came into force, and April 2018, the Population Management Office said it processed a total of 8,188 applications which were made up of 2,902 employment permits and 5,286 residential certificates.

By August 2017, a backlog of 3,430 applications had built up - most of which have now been dealt with, leaving a backlog remaining of 1,190. The Population Management Office said in its statement: 

"This is a manageable rolling total that we would expect for this time of the year as we welcome guest workers to the island for the summer."

As the backlog has been worked through over the last year a number of employment permits have been issued, including:

• 1,547 short term
• 405 medium term
• 410 long term
• and 540 open market employment permits 

The total number of residential applications processed included issuing 2,364 permanent residency certificates.

The Population Management Office said a number of positive steps have been taken to further clear the backlog and to remain on top of applications. They are:

• In August there were 500 outstanding applications that had been made under the former Housing Control Law. These were legacy cases where it was difficult to convert the circumstances into the new law. The number of such cases outstanding is now 47.
• There were 1,790 employment-related applications awaiting processing in August. The current workflow of applications to be processed is 858.
• There were 1,140 outstanding residential applications in August. There are now 285.

Deputy Mary Lowe (pictured above), President of the Committee for Home Affairs, said:

"Moving from a law that was designed in the 1940s to a new population management system was never going to be without challenges. The Committee and staff were clear when we confirmed the extent of the backlog last year that it would take some considerable time and effort to stabilise the service. Staff have worked incredibly hard to recover the initial difficulties experienced."

Deputy Lowe said her staff are not complacent though and will continue working through improvements needed to ensure the service works well for everyone: 

"While not complacent about the need to continue improving the service for our customers, and the policies under the Committee’s control, the reduction of the initial  backlog and the efficiency with which applications are now being processed represents a positive turnaround. The Committee has also been mindful of acting on feedback from industry, via the Population Employment Advisory Panel, and as such has over the last year agreed for additional job roles to be included in the published in-policy list."

Guernsey's new population management policies can be found at gov.gg/pmintro while any questions can be directed to the Population Management Office by calling 717000.