Job cuts expected but tax rises 'are inevitable'
JOB cuts could form part of public service restructuring – but tax rises cannot be avoided because of the funding gap faced by government, according to Employment & Social Security president Peter Roffey.
‘There’s always potential that redundancies will happen in a restructuring but I hope they can be minimised or avoided,’ he said.
But he warned tax increases were still inevitable.
‘The funding gap being faced by the government is massive. There isn’t a way of avoiding tax rises.
‘I don’t see how the books would balance otherwise,’ he said.
Plans for reforms of the civil service were announced by the Policy & Resources Committee on Monday to help meet a planned savings goal of £4.8m., before potentially introducing rises in tax.
‘I agree with looking at services in a more efficient way, but whether I agree with the details, I will have to go through and look more closely,’ said Deputy Roffey.
In October 2018, the government announced plans to cut at least 200 posts across the civil service to save money.
Stephen Langford, negotiations executive for the union Prospect/Association of Guernsey Civil Servants, said it was far too early to say how successful the restructuring would be, and that the possibility of strikes or ballots could not be determined at this stage.
‘It’s much too early to say what the impact will be. We are anticipating job cuts or reductions but they’re looking to ensure as few redundancies as possible,’ said Mr Langford.
He said that redundancies would be the last port of call, and the overall focus should be on how people could work efficiently.
‘Alternative jobs will be sought within the States before turning to redundancies.
‘While we are concerned about the anxiety people may feel after Covid, there will also be people who will want to embrace the change.
‘It’s about changing the way people do their jobs to do so more effectively.’
Public service reform has long been discussed on the island, and in 2015 the States agreed the need for significant changes.
More services will be moved online as the public sector moves to become more digitally focused, with a ‘one stop, tell us once,’ approach being introduced through a single point of access to maximise efficiency of communication.
