Assembly votes to give deputies a parting £4,000

The sum – effectively one month’s basic salary – will also be available in future to States members who have to resign during a political term owing to ill health, but not to those who stand down voluntarily at the end of a term.

The proposal originated from an independent panel on politicians’ pay. The panel said it had been recommended by some States members who felt that deputies who had served two terms or more in the States faced reduced employment prospects and should be supported financially while seeking alternative work.

That was strongly criticised by Peter Ferbrache, one of the few members expected to retire from the States this summer.

‘This is a slippery slope,’ he said. ‘Why should you get anything at all if you are not elected by the people? That’s the people’s choice. You should not be making provision for your life on the basis that you are going to get re-elected and re-elected and re-elected.’

Deputy Ferbrache believed that for most deputies the role should not be seen as full time.

‘They should be doing other things, by and large. If you come here as a 30 or 35-year-old, you need energy and commitment to do other things,’ he said.

‘We are paid too much. We make too much of it. We should realise that this is a public service and that is the main reason we are here.’

But loss-of-office payments were approved by a minority of the Assembly, by 17 votes to 11, with eight members abstaining, one declining to vote and three absent.

Other proposals agreed, which will also come into effect after the general election, included increasing the guaranteed minimum rate for deputies by about £1,000, to just over £49,000 a year, and cutting rates by a couple of thousand pounds for most committee presidents’ roles to between about £56,000 and £82,000 a year.

The pay scheme recommended by the independent panel would have increased deputies’ pay overall by an estimated maximum of £195,000 a year, but alterations were made by P&R before it laid proposals before the Assembly, which should result in no overall costs to taxpayers.

States members’ next pay increase, in July 2026, will be based on changes in inflation, after a decision to scrap the existing system of linking annual adjustments to changes in average earnings across the island.

Sasha Kazantseva-Miller was unhappy about the proposal to cancel this year’s annual increase.

‘I appreciate that for some deputies keeping up with the cost of living may not be important as they have other income, but I know that for other deputies, and for many who probably will be standing, that is actually quite important,’ she said.

‘In periods of high inflation, like we’ve had over the past couple of years, your pay can quickly get out of line.’

Deputies Kazantseva-Miller and Chris Blin prepared an amendment to re-establish this year’s pay adjustment. But they submitted it after P&R vice-president Deputy Heidi Soulsby started replying to the debate and therefore Bailiff Sir Richard McMahon ruled it out.

One amendment laid in accordance with the rules of procedure, through which Deputy Peter Roffey tried to encourage deputies to put a portion of their remuneration into the island’s new secondary pensions scheme, was heavily defeated, with only seven votes in favour.

All but a handful of deputies are now expected to seek re-election and many said yesterday that they were uncomfortable talking about the next Assembly’s pay scheme, although the debate still lasted nearly three and a half hours.