JERSEY’S healthcare watchdog has said it will not be able to shoulder the cost of a new health registration law without extra government funding – after already making “substantial adjustments” over the past two years to meet budget cuts.
Under the proposed Draft Health and Social Care Professionals Register (Jersey) Law, any health or social care professional – from doctors and nurses to dentists, pharmacists and psychologists – who is required to be registered with a UK regulator would also have to be registered locally with the Jersey Care Commission before they could lawfully practise in the Island.
The commission’s role would be to enforce fitness-to-practise decisions made by UK regulators locally, ensuring that someone suspended or struck off elsewhere cannot continue working in the Island.
The regulatory body would be required to maintain a single, comprehensive and publicly accessible register showing who is practising in Jersey, their professional status in the UK, and any conditions attached to their registration.
Health Minister Tom Binet, who proposed the new law, decided that registration fees will not be charged to professionals following concerns around “double charging” professionals who already pay fees to UK regulators.
He said that the associated costs would instead be funded by his department by “reprioritising spending within the commission”.
But chief inspector Becky Sherrington said there is no room left in the regulator’s budget.
In a letter to the Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel, she wrote: “The commission is unable to meet these costs through reprioritisation in either 2026 or 2027 without the provision of additional funding.
“Substantial adjustments have already been made in the last two years to accommodate the required budget reductions, leaving no scope for further internal reallocation.”
She said it was the commission’s “clear understanding” that the government would assume responsibility for funding these costs.
The regulator has estimated ongoing costs of £72,000 per year from 2027 for the proposed new law, alongside one-off set-up costs of £85,000 in 2026. These include external IT project management, system upgrades to accommodate new professional groups, additional administration, enquiry handling and communications support.
Ms Sherrington also warned that that the costings rely on assumptions, including projected numbers of new registrants supplied by the government.
“Where assumptions are used, there is a risk that the associated costs may be underestimated,” she wrote, adding that the commission “would not be able to absorb any financial risk arising from underestimation”.
