The Social Security Minister signed off on the decision yesterday morning following a push by Reform Jersey for a transitional increase in the minimum wage, ahead of moving to a full Living Wage.
Last week, the Employment Forum – an independent group tasked with advising government on wage changes – recommended against upping the minimum wage in phases.
However, Deputy Millar decided to go against this advice, and wrote to Reform Jersey leader Sam Mézec yesterday to advise him of this.
Her letter read:
Dear Sam,
Following our meeting on 31 August and the publication of the Employment Forum’s recommendations last week, I have decided to set a minimum wage of £10 per hour from 1 October. This is also relevant to your proposition P.78 which will be debated next week.
I have made a Ministerial Order which you can read on www.jerseylaw.je – here is a link to the order itself.
You will appreciate the Government is not issuing proactive announcements during the period of mourning. A full press release will be issued next week. We will, however, be taking steps to ensure that employers are notified as soon as possible.
Kind regards
Elaine
The Minister will not be commenting any further on the matter, as the Government’s policy is not to do so during the national period of mourning.