The recent decision to rebrand what was the Border Agency probably cost around £5,000 but the final figure is still not known.
The department is now called Guernsey Customs and Immigration again, which is what it used to be called before it was changed to the Guernsey Border Agency and incorporated into Bailiwick Law Enforcement.
Since Brexit, it has been decided that a focus needs to be put back on the team’s customs and immigrations duties so the name was changed back.
When this was announced in December, BLE said there were “no significant ramifications to this change” and in response to queries from the public it was said that “the cost is extremely minimal, if not nothing”.
A Freedom of Information request has now confirmed what that cost is.
The estimated £5,000 total is made up of up to £2,000 spent on ‘signage’ and up to £2,000 spent on ‘other branding matters’, and £635 on ‘crest design’.
“The majority of work was completed through internal resources, and as such the associated costs were minimal,” confirmed Home Affairs in its response.
“Work is ongoing to make the relevant changes (including replacement signage) with total costs for the change estimated to be approximately £5,000.”
Home Affairs said that all officer uniform has been branded with Customs and Immigration for a number of years anyway so that it reflected the duties the staff were tasked with delivering. This meant no uniform changes were needed for existing staff.
The rebranding costs came from the Bailiwick Law Enforcement revenue budget.
BLE itself still exists as the umbrella organisations that includes both Guernsey Police and Customs and Immigration.
Last month the former Bailiwick Law Enforcement Facebook page was changed back to Guernsey Police – a change noticed by a few eagle eyed social media users.
A spokesperson for the States said that was done to bring the social media branding inline with wider Guernsey Police branding.
This move was unrelated to the rebranding of Customs and Immigration.