THE number of civil servants levelled off last year and the aim to bring the headcount “down slightly” the Chief Minister has said, as the government’s recruitment freeze continues.
Deputy Lyndon Farnham told a Chamber of Commerce lunch on Friday that the freeze that he had introduced in August 2024 had meant that 515 additional staff had not been recruited and £31m of extra costs avoided.
Curbing the growth in the civil service has been a flagship policy of Deputy Farnham since he became Chief Minister in February 2024. Last June, there were just under 10,000 public sector jobs, nearly a sixth of the total workforce
Since 2018, the public sector workforce has grown by around a third.
Deputy Farnham told the 260-strong audience at the lunch: “Over time, government became larger, more complex and more expensive than a small island economy should sustainably support.
“And, when the public sector grows faster than the private sector, the cost ultimately falls on taxpayers and businesses. So, we have begun to change course.”
Later taking questions, he added: “When we say a recruitment freeze, let’s be clear, when we took over, we took 1000 job vacancies out of the system.
“The number of FTEs have increased significantly, and there were still 1,000 job vacancies. We have a very good public service, but we’ve just allowed it to get too big. You then get to a stage where these things become self evolving, and they are difficult to stop.”
He continued: “When I say it is a freeze, it stops departments going out and just recruiting and creating new positions, which had become a norm over the last six years or so.
“We make sure essential jobs are replaced and, of course, there is a scheme where any part of the public service can make an appeal to the chief executive. We have levelled off in 2025 and the growth has reduced significantly, but we have to start bringing that down slightly, and it’s about reorganisation and reprioritization”.
Deputy Farnham added that he thought one new area where working with Guernsey would bear fruit is a combined GST service, if the island followed Jersey in introducing the tax.
In his speech to the Chamber, the Chief Minister described how his government had “stabilised” public finances after inheriting “a fragmented position”.
“We have begun a comprehensive review of public spending, with a clear emphasis on productivity, efficiency and better value for money rather than austerity,” he said.
He also listed a number of initiatives that his government had introduced, including the ‘Investing in Jersey’ infrastructure plan, a ‘Financial Services Competitiveness Programme’, starting to build the new acute hospital at Overdale and implementing the recommendations of the Violence Against Women and Girls Taskforce.
Deputy Farnham also told the ensemble that he had asked for plans to build the final International Finance Centre building on the former Esplanade car park to start this year.
In November, Treasury Minister Elaine Millar said that construction of ‘IFC2’ could not begin until Jersey Development Company secures a business to take on at least 25% of the building.
She went on to reveal that two local businesses had expressed interest in the office block – which already has planning permission – since 2023, but that both ultimately “decided to remain in their existing premises or relocate to a refurbished office”.
