Jersey government has no workforce plan, watchdog says

The Comptroller and Auditor General said a sustainable workforce was needed for Jersey to reduce reliance on contractors and consultants

More than £170m of taxpayer's money was spent by the government on consultants and contingent labourers between 2019 and 2022, a watchdog has found.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) said a sustainable workforce was needed for Jersey to reduce reliance on contractors and consultants.

It said the government currently had "no overarching workforce plan".

Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham said reducing the cost of consultants was "a high priority".

C&AG Lynn Pamment said "value for money" could not be demonstrated.

She said: "Where consultants are used, there is a need to ensure robust processes are in place to drive value for money.

"My review has identified that such processes are not in place on a consistent basis across the States of Jersey.

"As a consequence, value for money from the use of consultants cannot be demonstrated consistently."

'No corporate monitoring'

The C&AG found that the government had introduced systems and process to report on consultant and contingent labour spend, bringing an "element of control".

However, it said it was "not clear" whether it had improved the effectiveness of recruitment and retention of a "more stable, permanent workforce".

It also noted the government had "fallen behind" on reporting its spends to the States Assembly - finding reports were being published more than 14 months later than when they were first written.

A report for July 2022 to December 2022 was not published until February 2024, which found a "significant increase" in expenditure on non-major projects when compared to previous periods.

Overall, the C&AG said it had not seen "strong evidence of this expenditure being reported on a regular basis", and that there was no corporate monitoring of expenditure across government.

Some arrangements were found not to have been procured through a tender process, but instead procurement exemptions, and that rates of pay for certain roles were "far" exceeding the costs compared to if the government had just hired the role outright.

At least one role that the C&AG reviewed cost the government £300,000 annually.

Ms Pamment said there would "always be certain skills that are not available on island, and skills that are not needed by the States of Jersey on a permanent basis".

"The States of Jersey should build on earlier progress by implementing the recommendations in this report to secure better value for money from their use of consultants," she said.

Deputy Farnham welcomed the findings and said the government would take the recommendations on board.

He said: "There will always be certain skills we do not have on island.

"However, where it is necessary to use consultants there is a need for a more robust process to be in place to deliver savings and ensure value for money."