“SIGNIFICANT gaps” in Jersey’s response to domestic abuse and sexual harm have been exposed in a new government report, which warned that frontline services are struggling to keep pace with rising demand.
The findings were published on the same day that a police report revealed “significant increases” in violence against women and girls, domestic abuse and sexual offending last year – crimes described by police chief Robin Smith as causing “profound harm” and placing “considerable pressure” on investigative teams.
The Building a Safer Community report has revealed the “widespread challenges” and “significant gaps” behind that pressure.
A cross-government review found “inconsistency in levels of staff knowledge”, a “lack of mandatory training”, and an “over-reliance on specialist services” in how domestic abuse and sexual harm are handled.
It also identified critical gaps in areas such as “child-on-child harm”, “trauma-informed practice” and “cultural competency”.
The report acknowledges that demand is rising and becoming more complex, placing increasing strain on already stretched services.
Police separately warned that officer numbers are “not sustainable with the increasing policing demand, particularly for violence against women and girls”.
Elsewhere, the Building a Safer Community report highlighted safeguarding concerns linked to Jersey’s rapidly changing migrant workforce.
Work permits surged to 3,280 in 2025 — an “eightfold increase compared with 2020” — creating what officials describe as a “more complex and dynamic migration landscape”.
Frontline agencies have already raised “potential perceived safeguarding risks affecting migrant workers”, with concerns spanning accommodation, employment conditions and possible exploitation.
Meanwhile, problems in the youth justice system point to failures much earlier in the pipeline.
The report admits children are too often entering the system only after problems have escalated, with “missed opportunities for diversion” and cases where “early needs had already escalated”.
It concluded that, while the system is “well-intentioned”, it has “not fully aligned around a shared philosophy, consistent practice, or multi-agency co-ordination needed to support children effectively”.
Despite these challenges, the report outlines some areas of progress, including a fall in reoffending rates and reductions in anti-social behaviour. But it repeatedly warns that such gains may not be sustainable.
The Building a Safer Community programme is being delivered by a “very small core team”, all of whom have “additional responsibilities” in their roles which are “unrelated” to the programme.
There is also “minimal resourcing attached to the delivery of actions”, meaning services are expected to absorb additional responsibilities within existing budgets.
As a result, the report warns that progress could be “inconsistent and challenging to sustain”, with risks that “opportunities for early intervention and prevention are missed”.
Home Affairs Minister Mary Le Hegarat said: “The work set out in this report is significant and will be crucial to the future development and success of the Building a Safer Community framework as it is grown and developed.
“It should be understood as the first phase of a long-term ambition for our island.”
