And Islanders have been told not to throw away the £100 voucher cards they are due to receive from the government next week, as they may be topped up.
In July the government announced it would be distributing the cards, at a cost of £11 million, to each and every Islander, including children, as part of the plan to kickstart Jersey’s economy as it recovers from the Covid-19 crisis.
The vouchers, which are due to be delivered to Islanders from next week, will be in the form of a debit card which can only be used in Jersey, albeit not online and with betting shops excluded.
They will expire at the end of October, with all unspent money to be returned to the Treasury.
The move has received some criticism for not being well targeted for businesses that need the most support, such as event organisers and the hospitality sector.
During a webinar hosted by the Jersey Chamber of Commerce, Treasury Minister Susie Pinel and Customer and Local Services director-general Ian Burns advised Islanders not to throw away the cards once they were spent or had expired.
‘It’s really important to make sure that the cards are kept and not given away to anybody else permanently,’ said Mr Burns.
‘It may be if the scheme is successful, and one of the advantages of having a card is this, it would allow the government to top up the card further. That would mean if you retain the card you would get further funds in the future. So it’s a very important message not to give the card away.’
The minister said that whether there was another round of funding would depend on the success of the pilot scheme, which she said was an ‘experiment’, and how the economy fared.
‘We will evaluate how this goes. For the adult cards – those issued to over-16s – we advise those people to hold on to them because there may well be a second package,’ she said.
‘We just need to see what is going to happen with the current situation and if there is a big dip in the economy, there may well be another opportunity to issue another £100 on those cards.’
She admitted that the voucher scheme was risky and said that the government would trace and evaluate how Islanders spent the money as part of their assessment of it.
‘It’s a chance that we are taking. But it’s a very well-balanced chance. I think the work that has gone into it from Customer and Local Services has covered as many angles as possible,’ she said.
‘There’s always a risk in anything you do like this. I think that if people take advantage of it, use it sensibly and spend it wisely it will be a huge boost to our economy, which is the whole reason behind it.’
During the webinar, Mr Burns said the cards would be able to be used over the phone with local businesses, for example by students who were away from the Island.
