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Around 8,000 outstanding payments totalling £22 million were discovered by the government when it switched over its finance systems, Express can reveal.
At the end of last year, the government introduced a new system, called 'Connect', which suffered several technical issues resulting in the summonsing of the Environment Minister to the Petty Debts Court last month.
However, in a statement released last week in which suppliers were asked for "patience", the Treasury Minister admitted that not all payment delays were "directly related" to the new system.
The system change meant that "a number of overdue invoices from previous years" had come to light during the changeover.
Express can now reveal that the number of unpaid invoices discovered was 8,000, with the value of payments totalling £22 million.
Of this figure, roughly 4,000 invoices – totalling £16 million – have been paid since the start of 2023 and a further 4,000 invoices – the remaining £6 million – are currently being processed.
Pictured: Treasury Minister Ian Gorst said it was "clearly unacceptable" that the invoices were outstanding
In 2022, the Government of Jersey made over 230,000 payments.
Deputy Gorst said last week that the discovery of the unpaid invoices was "clearly unacceptable and falls short of the standards we set ourselves as a government, and that suppliers rightly expect of us."
He added that 14 staff had been "redeployed" to help tackle the backlog.
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