There have been 37 redundancies within the government since February last year as part of efforts to reduce costs and curb the size of Jersey’s public sector.

Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham, who chairs the States Employment Board – the employer of all government workers – said the redundancies had focused on senior and middle-management roles, and “non-frontline” services.

Seven of the departures were at Tier 1 and Tier 2 levels, the most senior layers of the civil service, and resulted in annual savings of almost £1.2 million.

Deputy Farnham said the move formed part of a wider strategy to address what he described as the “unsustainable growth, cost and size” of the public sector.

A civil service recruitment freeze was first introduced in August last year, targeting senior roles earning £66,000 and above – a move the Chief Minister said could “save millions”.

It was extended in April this year to include civil servants earning £53,500 and above, and will remain in place until at least March 2026.

Deputy Farnham said the extension was intended to make the measure more effective – saying that “growth in the public-sector workforce would have added a further 325 full-time-equivalent roles by May 2025 and an additional £23 million in payroll costs”.

He described the freeze as “the first step” in tackling rising expenditure and pointed to the latest report from the Fiscal Policy Panel, which advises the government on the economy and public finances.

The report warned that “the trajectory of day-to-day spending is unsustainable given Jersey’s revenues, and will need to be curtailed in future Budgets” and that “high levels of public spending, especially on services, is likely to add to existing inflationary pressures”.

But recent figures from Statistics Jersey showed the public sector expanded by 230 jobs (2.4%) to 9,940, while the private sector decreased by 130 jobs (0.2%) to 55,370 in the previous year.

Within government, the largest increases in core staff were in Health and Care Jersey, which added 200 jobs, and Children, Young People, Education and Skills, which added 120.

Responding to the figures, Assistant Chief Minister and vice-chair of the States Employment Board Malcolm Ferey said the growth reflected a focus on “essential health and education roles”, while other areas of the public sector had reduced.