Altogether, residents spent just over £10 million with local businesses during the initiative, which was part of the government’s £150 million fiscal stimulus package to help the economy to recover from Covid-19.
The Spend Local scheme saw every Islander receive a debit card containing £100 worth of credit, which could only be spent on local businesses during September and October.
A report issued by the government has indicated that 97.5% of Islanders activated their cards, £10.12 million was spent in total and just under 360,000 transactions took place.
Breaking down the spending by sector, £4 million was spent on ‘wholesale and retail’ and £2.2 million on ‘supermarket, fast food and food retail’.
Islanders used their cards for £1.57m of purchases in hotels, bars and restaurants, while just over £500,000 was spent on ‘education, health and other services’.
The report says: ‘By the end of October, 105,964 Jersey residents had been issued with a card. In total 103,364 Islanders activated their cards, spending a total of £10.12 million.
‘Therefore 97.5% of Islanders activated a card and spent 95.5% of the possible total available. Approximately 4,300 cards were returned to Customer and Local Services either as people had moved
address or had left the Island.
‘Approximately 1,000 were redirected to customers’ new addresses and are included in the totals. Islanders were advised to retain their cards as they might be “topped-up” in the future.’
Ministers have hinted that further ‘top-ups’ may be on the cards early this year, although the restrictions may be different, as previous suggestions have included narrowing down the businesses where the cards could be spent, or reducing the level of credit issued.
The report says that the cards were not distributed when there were doubts over whether people still lived in the Island.
‘Cards were not automatically sent to people where there was a low confidence in their current residency in Jersey,’ it says.
‘If a person was not sent a card, or did not receive a card at their current address, they could apply online or via phone.’
The busiest day of card activations – with 19,829 – was 10 September, shortly after the scheme launched. The highest number of transactions was on Saturday 12 September, when 19,653 payments were made.
