Report: Chief Minister should get a pay rise

Friday 10 February 2017

States Members are being paid just the right amount and so should keep their £46k annual salaries for the next 5 years, a review has concluded. But this doesn’t apply to the Chief Minister, who could see his income go up by £7,000.

Following a public survey, the States Members’ Remuneration Review Body have recommended that Senators, Deputies and Connètables’ pay should remain at £46,600 per year up until 2022.

The Chief Minister, however, would stand to benefit from the scrapping of Article 44 of States of Jersey Law 2005 – the one that keeps all States Members’ income at the same level.

It’s a move backed by 40% of respondents to a survey conducted by Island Global Research, which heard the views of 563 islanders.

The Goldilocks-style survey saw 38% said that States pay was not too high, not too low, but ‘about right’, while 54% say that it was ‘too high’ or ‘far too high’.

In comparison, according to the Statistics Unit’s latest figures, average full-time employee income in Jersey stands at £36,000 per year – or £700 each week.

Pictured: Average weekly income across the Island's different sectors, as recorded by the Statistics Unit in June last year.

But over two fifths of respondents thought that higher pay for politicians was necessary to attract a higher calibre of candidate.

All of the subsequent recommendations were made in line with the principle that no one should be precluded from serving in the States due to insufficient income, which could disincentivise those from lower income backgrounds, while also allowing the elected group to enjoy a, “…reasonable standard of living.”

The findings come following numerous debates over States pay increases in recent years, which have seen Unite the Union – Jersey’s largest trade union – hit out at the States for upping their own pay, while incurring a freeze on other public sector workers.