Council of Ministers should decide on dozens of Infrastructure redundancies - Deputy

Tuesday 22 March 2016

A Jersey Deputy says outsourcing dozens of cleaning posts and jobs in our Parks and Gardens could end up costing us more than £1M and it should be up to the Council of Ministers to decide if that many jobs should go.

Deputy Geoff Southern believes the Minister for Infrastructure’s plans to outsource the work and cut up to 50 jobs will end up costing the taxpayer more in the long run when the workers who are mostly in their late 40’s and 50’s struggle to get another job.

He says most of the workers Deputy Eddie Noel wants to make redundant are in their late 40’s and 50’s and at an age when it’s more difficult for them to find another job. He thinks many will end up out of work for a considerable time and most likely, dependent on income support.

If all 50 of them end up claiming income support he’s worked out it would cost £1.2 million a year and even if they all find unskilled employment earning either close to, or the minimum wage, the cost per year would only be half that.

He says they’d also be paying over £1,000 a year less in social security contributions, costing the taxpayer about £110k.

As part of the Medium Term Financial Plan the Council of Ministers are committed to saving £60 million in staff costs over the next three years and

Deputy Geoff Southern believes it should be up to them to decide if States departments should get rid of more than a dozen members of their staff.

He said: “The Minister is apparently engaged on a race to the bottom, requiring increased support for a low-wage economy, through Income Support. What is saved by one hand is paid out from the other.”