Funding requested for social housing maintenance

Policy and Resources had budgeted about £7m for social housing maintenance in 2025

The committee responsible for social housing in Guernsey has asked for £670,000 to cover maintenance of the properties it manages.

Employment and Social Security (ESS) President Peter Roffey has proposed an amendment to the 2025 budget asking for the extra funding.

Proposals from Policy and Resources (P&R) had suggested ESS should get just under £7m for social housing maintenance in 2025.

P&R is expected to respond later.

In the explanatory note for the amendment to the budget Roffey had said "all responsible landlords should, as a minimum, reinvest sufficient sums in their property portfolios to maintain those properties to a decent standard".

"With the allocation suggested, coupled with the higher costs being experienced for this work, the committee will simply be unable to meet this core duty."

ESS has asked for an extra £1m for the budget, but P&R has recommended a £370,000 increase in the committee’s cash limit for social housing building maintenance.

Nineteen amendments submitted

Alongside proposals to increase the amount of money for social housing maintenance, 18 other proposals to change the budget have been put forward.

They include Roffey's plans for a 5% GST, lower income tax rates and social security reforms, Deputy Charles Parkinson's plans for higher corporate tax and Deputy Mark Helyar's plans for a freeze on States spending.

Scrutiny Management Committee President Yvonne Burford has suggested moving forward the deadline to publish plans to reform the island's tax system to March 2026. The deadline is currently September 2026.

Education, Sport and Culture's president and vice-president have put forward proposals for a £151,000 increase to the grant for St James.

They've also suggested increasing the tax on some alcohol by 0.9% to fund that increase. P&R has proposed freezing the tax on alcohol, a move which was welcomed by the Guernsey Hospitality Association.

'Over-reliance on fuel duty'

P&R hasn't proposed any new transport taxes in this budget, despite being asked by the States last year.

Environment and Infrastructure President Lindsay de Sausmarez has put forward a motion to "progress without delay the work to reduce the States’ over-reliance on fuel duty" ahead of the tax review in 2026.

Deputies Sam Haskins and Dave Mahoney have put forward plans for further tax breaks for landlords.

While two other deputies are pushing to raise more money from local companies through the registry.

Proposals to request the Registrar of Companies considers increasing the revenue generated by Guernsey Registry by up to 20% from the start of 2026 have been submitted by Deputies Sasha Kazantseva-Miller and John Dyke.

All of these will be considered at the States meeting starting on 5 November.