The Policy & Resources Committee said yesterday that it hoped to finalise agreements in the next 12 weeks with seven staff groups who remain on their 2025 rates.
However, formal talks are yet to commence between the senior committee and union representatives, and negotiations are not expected to be straightforward, with some groups having already submitted claims for an increase of inflation plus 2%.
Hundreds of health workers on ‘Agenda for Change’ contracts have requested a rise of 5.7%, backdated to 1 January, and one of the unions involved in that claim has accused the States of dragging its feet on pay talks which it said were initially requested in September.
‘We are in direct contact with the Royal College of Nursing and the other three unions who also represent our Agenda for Change staff, who are largely those who work in healthcare, to set up a pay talk meeting this month,’ said P&R vice-president Gavin St Pier.
‘We have received proposals from these unions and are considering them before the planned discussion.
‘This is the approach we are taking with all pay groups.
‘In terms of a status update with where we are with the various staff groups, there are seven groups that we still need to come to an agreement with for 2026, which we hope to do by the end of March.’
In addition to nurses and other Agenda for Change staff, employees still on last year’s deals include public sector employees, who are largely manual workers, prison officers, firefighters at the Town brigade and airport, doctors directly employed by the States, and a small number of bar workers at Beau Sejour who are defined as a distinct staff group under the public sector collective bargaining arrangements.
Deputy St Pier, whose role as resources lead for P&R includes responsibility for pay negotiations, hoped for wide-ranging talks with union representatives, despite the ambitious March target for deals.
‘While pay understandably takes centre stage, we are keen that these talks provide an opportunity to look at other matters relating to terms and conditions for staff,’ he said.
The employees involved received a 5% increase from 1 January last year, in line with other public sector employees.
But they were not part of a longer-term deal which provided most staff, including civil servants and police officers, with an increase of 3.7% at the start of this year, in line with the rate of inflation in June.
P&R would like talks about next year’s pay settlements to start soon after concluding the outstanding deals for this year.
‘The majority of staff groups have deals in place for 2026 and we will begin discussions in quarter two [April-June] on seeking agreement for 2027 and perhaps beyond, depending on negotiations,’ said Deputy St Pier.