The States spent more than £20m. on supporting new arrivals to the island between 2018 and 2024, with a further £5m. spent last year. The policy has been blamed for pushing up rents across the private sector.
A report will be considered by the Policy & Resources Committee before the summer recess, president Lindsay de Sausmarez confirmed. It is not known what action might follow.
Deputy Tom Rylatt brought up the review during last week’s States meeting.
‘I asked P&R for an update on the review of relocation packages, as it is now almost nine months overdue from its original completion date,’ he said.
‘I am encouraged to hear that we should soon have sight of that review.
‘Although the packages make up a modest part of the overall States budget, anecdotal evidence suggests that they may be having an inflationary impact on the local rental market, at a time when renting is already becoming unaffordable for too many islanders.’
To help address this, he said that he and his Forward Guernsey colleagues had committed at the election to supporting a ‘Welcome Home’ package for local people looking to return to the island who may otherwise be unable to.
‘I hope P&R’s review will lead to a fairer approach for islanders already living and working here and for those who want to come home,’ he said.
The review looked at all aspects of the relocation directive, the latest version of which is two years old. The States said that workforce needs, changing recruitment environment and the cost and benefit of providing relocation support would all be taken into account in the review.
The most commonly-used element is the relocation allowance, which is currently £5,000 to assist with the initial costs associated with moving, and an additional relocation allowance, which is available for up to four years if criteria is met. The initial support figure is £6,600 for anyone moving to Alderney.
Rental assistance, through the additional relocation allowance, 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.
P&R said last year it was conducting the review to look at how it could balance bringing in essential staff and easing pressures on the rental market.
In 2024, 292 new public sector employees, of the 876 who went into the public sector that year, accessed support in line with the directive. Last year it was 226 new employees out of a total of 742 new staff.
By far the sector attracting most relocation support is health and social care, which tends to take up more than half of the grants made. The next largest sectors are teachers, followed by law enforcement.
Teaching and nursing unions have accepted that there are ‘unintended consequences’ of the relocation packages, particularly rent allowance, which they said created a two-tier employment regime which should be substituted by higher basic pay.