Jersey job freeze worth looking at

Well you’d think that something was necessary when your spending goes up £146m. in a year, even if you argue that most of the extra was planned in advance.

So redundancies are said to be on the way, associated with a nine-month recruitment freeze for all senior posts paying above £66,000 a year and a proposal for greater transparency on the public sector workforce.

Knee-jerk responses and across-the-board solutions to financial issues rarely work well. But it could be argued ‘tis better to try than not to bother?

How much damage might a senior officer recruitment freeze (excluding frontline health workers, teachers and the uniformed services) do over here? And how much would it save?

The Government of Jersey has indicated that it’s really looking at its six-figure salaries, which nowadays covers the top eight senior officer pay grades within the Guernsey civil service.

The other focus announced is to cut spending on off-island consultants, a not-uncommon refrain over the years.

At this stage it’s impossible to assess the value of such an exercise. But the intent, and the signal it sends to the public, will surely be appreciated by hard-pressed taxpayers. One hopes our deputies are looking on with interest.