The States is currently reviewing the support offered, which includes a relocation allowance of £5,000 to help with initial moving costs, as well as assistance with rent, mortgage support and buying a home.
It spent more than £20m. on supporting new arrivals to the island between 2018 and 2024.
Royal College of Nursing Guernsey branch chairman Nick Dove said the nursing union recognised the need to incentivise nurses to come to Guernsey to work, especially due to the high cost of living.
‘A relocation package is fair as we all recognise such a move is expensive,’ he said.
However, he said the rent allowance was a different matter.
‘Rent assistance effectively means that two nurses working side by side doing the same job at the same grade are being asked to work with a £1,800 pay disparity. That is disadvantaging local nurses.
‘If the States don’t feel the nursing wage is enough to cover housing costs that is something they need to look at for the entire nursing workforce.’
Rental assistance, through the additional relocation allowance, currently sees the member of staff pay the first £185 of weekly rent and able to receive a top up from the States to a maximum of £260 a week.
Mortgage support of about £600 a month can also be claimed, and a lump sum of £8,750 is available for anyone buying a home within the first two years of moving to the island.
Some level of relocation support is also available for Guernsey residents living outside the island who are moving back to work for the States. All aspects of the relocation directive will be examined in the next few weeks, taking into account workforce needs, changing recruitment environment and the cost and benefit of providing relocation support.
Wayne Bates, national negotiating official at teachers’ union NASUWT, said no teaching unions had been consulted over any potential changes to relocation packages, despite the fact it could have a significant impact on their members and the services they work in.
‘While relocation packages have proved vital in order to attract the number of teachers needed, they do create unintended consequences as they act as a disincentive to early career teachers who have left Guernsey returning, and encourage higher churn in employment as some teachers leave once relocation assistance ends,’ he said.
‘The review has been prompted by concern over the level of money being spent on relocation packages, but the fact is that if basic levels of pay for teachers and other essential workers was sufficient, these packages would not be needed in the first place.’