Two top-paid civil servants taking payouts for early exits

Thursday 24 September 2015

Two of Jersey’s top-paid civil servants are among the 104 States workers leaving under a voluntary redundancy scheme over the next few months.

The two civil servants are listed on the “A Grade” structure – which means that they are effectively around Chief Officer level, and that their pay is anywhere between £100,000 and £220,000 – and under the terms of the voluntary redundancy scheme, they will not be replaced.

The scheme was set up as part of Ministers' package to fill the £145 million black hole in States finances which will open up by 2019. The voluntary redundancy scheme is part of a package of measures – including a pay freeze and restructuring of pay grades – to save £70 million from the States’ pay bill, which is almost £1m per day.

Also going under the scheme are 63 other civil servants, 26 manual workers, eight nurses and midwives, four lecturers and three managers at Highlands College.

Among those who applied unsuccessfully to take a pay-off to leave their jobs were 89 more civil servants, 68 manual workers, 37 nurses and midwives, five child care officers, two lawyers, and two doctors.

Last week, Chief Minister Ian Gorst confirmed for the first time that compulsory redundancies would be coming to the public sector.

He said: “In some areas there will need to be compulsory redundancies.

“We said all along that we would go through voluntary redundancy and reorganisation and that we would have pay restraint, and then we would consider whether compulsory redundancies were necessary and we thought that they probably would be.

“But we need to go back. There are a number of people who applied for voluntary redundancy who were older and therefore did not fit within the payback period, so we did not accept them.

“We are now devising a scheme for those who are older and nearer to retirement with a smaller payback amount.

“There are a number of pieces of work that have got to be undertaken prior to getting to that point.”