States Employment Board Annual Report 2025

Contents

Our Appreciation to all Colleagues .................................................................................................. 4 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 4 Accountability Report ....................................................................................................................... 5 An overview of 2025 ..................................................................................................................... 5 Constitution of the States Employment Board ............................................................................. 6 States Employment Board Responsibilities ................................................................................. 6 Independent Advisor .................................................................................................................... 7 Governance .................................................................................................................................. 8 Assessment of the Board of Governance and Assurance ........................................................... 8 Financial Report ........................................................................................................................... 9 Delegations .................................................................................................................................. 9 Audit Reports / Reviews ............................................................................................................... 9 PERFORMANCE REPORT ........................................................................................................... 10 Statement of Performance ......................................................................................................... 10 Priorities for the States Employment Board - 2025 ................................................................... 10 Vacancy Management:........................................................................................................... 10 Analytics: ................................................................................................................................ 11 Talent Management: .............................................................................................................. 12 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: .............................................................................................. 13 Wellbeing: ............................................................................................................................... 14 PRIORITIES AND PERFORMANCE ............................................................................................. 16 Pay, Terms and Conditions Reviews ......................................................................................... 16 Data quality, improvement and reporting ................................................................................... 16 Succession planning .................................................................................................................. 16 Curbing growth in Public Sector................................................................................................. 17 Absence Matters ........................................................................................................................ 18 Gender Pay Gap 2025 ........................................................................................................... 18 Health, Safety and Wellbeing including Occupational Health................................................ 19 Performance Management ..................................................................................................... 20

Connected Performance 2025: end of year performance reviews completed for all in-scope colleagues: ............................................................................................................................. 21

People Development .............................................................................................................. 22 OPERATIONAL FOCUS ................................................................................................................ 24 People Strategy .......................................................................................................................... 24 Be Heard Employee Engagement Survey ................................................................................. 24 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ................................................................................................... 24

RECOGNITION AND AWARDS .................................................................................................... 26

Long Service Awards ............................................................................................................. 26 PRIORITIES FOR 2026 ................................................................................................................. 27 Appendix 1 Public Sector Pay and Conditions .............................................................................. 28 Appendix 2: Key Workforce Information – Headcount by department .......................................... 29 Appendix 3: Proposition P.107/2022 ............................................................................................. 30 Appendix 4: Fair Pay ...................................................................................................................... 32

Our Appreciation to all Colleagues

The Members of the States Employment Board (SEB) would like to express their sincere thanks to all colleagues for their hard work and dedication throughout 2025. We remain deeply grateful to everyone working in the public service and appreciate their continued commitment to delivering high-quality services to Islanders.

Introduction

The States Employment Board is constituted under the Employment of States of Jersey Employees (Jersey) Law 2005.

Our responsibilities are wide-ranging and include employment matters, pay, health and safety, organisational structures, and ensuring that the public service is supported and performing effectively for the benefit of the Island community.

The current Board began its term in February 2024 following a change in Government. During 2025, we focused on a number of key priorities, including:

• Absence Matters

• CEO Recruitment and Succession Planning

• Curbing Growth in the Public Sector

• Developing Organisational Talent

• Health and Safety

• Pay, Terms and Conditions Reviews

• Performance Management

• Wellbeing

This report outlines the work undertaken during 2025 to deliver against these priorities. We will continue to build on this progress as we move into 2026.

Work to responsibly curb growth in the public sector will remain a focus, supporting the development of internal talent and enhancing career progression opportunities across the organisation.

We have also maintained constructive dialogue with union representatives through quarterly meetings and ongoing engagement, and we are committed to continuing these positive working relationships.

Signed:

Deputy Malcolm Ferey

Vice-Chair, States Employment Board Date – 31 March 2026

Accountability Report

An overview of 2025

The States Employment Board met on 14 occasions during 2025, maintaining a strong focus on its statutory responsibilities as the employer of Jersey's public servants. Across the year, the Board continued to address key workforce priorities, including controlling public sector growth, developing internal talent, succession planning, chief executive recruitment, and strengthening wellbeing.

We continued to place people at the centre of our decisions, balancing consideration, compassion, and fairness in all aspects of workforce governance.

Throughout 2025, the SEB applied strong financial discipline by reinforcing vacancy management practices to help control overall workforce growth across the public service.

In April 2025, the existing recruitment freeze was extended further to include:

• Civil Service posts at grade 9 and above

• All non-clinical, non-teaching, and non-social worker roles within Health and Care Jersey (HCJ) and Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES)

These changes strengthened restrictions already in place for:

• Non-essential, non-frontline roles

• Senior posts at Civil Service grade 11 and above

This approach ensured tighter control of workforce expenditure, supported organisational prioritisation, and reinforced the focus on developing talent from within the organisation.

Health and Safety remains a key area of oversight.

Throughout 2025, we continued to monitor:

• Suspension processes, ensuring proportionality and fairness

• Cases progressing to the Jersey Employment and Discrimination Tribunal, ensuring lessons learned inform improvements in people management and organisational practice

The SEB also undertook to provide public sector staffing data at intervals of no more than six months, enhancing transparency and confidence in our workforce reporting.

In February 2026, we published the 2025 Gender Pay Gap Report, reaffirming our ongoing commitment to transparency and equality.

Our pay policies are designed to address disparities in pay and progression within the workplace, supporting fairness, equity, and consistency for all colleagues.

The SEB, as the employer of Jersey's public servants, pleaded guilty to charges brought following an investigation by the Health and Safety Inspectorate under the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989.

This related to matters arising from:

• The Emergency Services Control Centre

• The Jersey Fire and Rescue Service response

• The tragic events at Haut du Mont in December 2022

The Board has taken this outcome extremely seriously. The findings underline the need for continued improvement in safety governance, operational assurance, and organisational learning across emergency services and the wider public service.

Constitution of the States Employment Board

The SEB is constituted under the Employment of States of Jersey Employees (Jersey) Law 2005. Our functions are wide-ranging and include responsibility for employment matters, pay, health and safety, the organisation of States employees, and managing legal matters that fall within the Board's remit.

We employ all public employees in Jersey and are responsible for setting their terms and conditions of service. The Board is chaired by the Chief Minister (or a nominated representative) and comprises two States Members who serve as Ministers or Assistant Ministers, and two States Members nominated by the States Assembly who are not part of the Government.

To support the discharge of our functions, we issue Codes of Practice. Each Accountable Officer in a States- funded body (including non-ministerial bodies) is responsible for ensuring compliance with these codes.

The following table shows the Members during 2025.

States Employment Board Responsibilities

Remuneration for all employees of the States of Jersey is determined by the States Employment Board. On behalf of the States Employment Board, People Services provides an employer-side secretariat for the purpose of negotiation and consultation with the recognised trades unions and associations. Pay scales are published here and cover the following groups of employees:

• Civil Servants (which includes Workforce Modernisation (Ambulance, Family Support Workers, Youth Service and Residential Childcare Officers) and Education Support Staff (formerly Teaching Assistants)

– both for whom separate pay scales exist),

• Civil Servants - Allied Health Professionals (as defined by the Health and Care Professions Council)

• Doctors and Medical Consultants

• Jersey Fire and Rescue Service

• Individual contract holders (normally senior civil servants, who are paid outside of the negotiated pay scales)

• Legal Appointments (this pay group was created in 2022. It previously sat under Civil Servants)

• Manual Workers (which includes Energy from Waste)

• Non-Ministerial Departments

• Nurses and Midwives

• Police Officers

• Prison Officers

• School Leaders (formerly Headteachers and Deputies)

• Teachers

In addition, the States Employment Board is responsible for the remuneration and terms of engagement of those who are office holders, but not employees of the States Employment Board:

• Bailiff

• Deputy Bailiff

• Attorney General

• Solicitor General

• Viscount

• Deputy Viscount

• Judicial Greffier

• Deputy Judicial Greffier

• Judicial Pay

• Greffier of the States

• Deputy Greffier of the States

• Master of the Royal Court

• Magistrate/ Deputy Magistrate

• Children's Commissioner

The States of Jersey Codes of Practice have been issued to all employees of the Board. The six codes of practice are:

• Employee rights at work

• Engagement

• Performance and accountability

• Reward and benefits

• Standards in Public Services

• Talent development

Independent Advisor

The Independent Advisor is independent of the Government of Jersey and officers and reports directly to the Board to:

• Provide advice and opinion to the States Employment Board in the lawful discharge of their duties

• Ensure good governance, probity, and decision making

• Advise on strategy development and risk management in respect of the workforce

• Advise on the development of Codes of Practice and the policy framework

• Challenge officers and probe recommendations

• Ensure independence of decision-making for the Board

• Assist sub committees of the board

Mrs Beverley Shears continues in the role of Independent Advisor. Mrs Shears acted as the Independent Advisor to the Board throughout the year. She is an experienced executive and non-executive director across the public and private sectors, with an expertise in strategic employment matters.

Governance

The States Greffe provides administrative support and minute taking to the Board.

The Chief Executive and Head of Public Service provides advice and guidance to the Board, supported by senior officers as required.

Legal advice is provided by the Law Officers' Department. People Services provide secretariat and coordinating functions.

Assessment of the Board of Governance and Assurance

The Board has implemented the following areas to assure ourselves in the discharge of our duties:

Health and Safety

Monthly reporting of Health and Safety matters generally and, key risks within the organisation.

Case Management Report

Monthly reporting focusing on numbers of and reasons for suspensions/ exclusions, tribunal cases and case types by department.

People Dashboard

Monthly reporting providing an overview of the workforce profile, turnover, sickness absence, and staff costs, including pay and overtime. The dashboard also tracks organisational progress in completion of objective setting, as well as mid-year and year-end performance reviews. This enables effective oversight of workforce capacity, cost management, and performance outcomes.

Control of Establishment

Proposed organisational changes are agreed by the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and are then shared with SEB for noting. We may on occasion also call items to be discussed in relation to any changes which may result in redundancies.

Control and Monitoring of Salaries (Proposition 59/2011 (P59))

The use of consultants and senior recruitment is controlled through the P59 process, whereby the Board is requested to approve a business case to go to recruitment or for the use of external consultants and interim contractors. For any salaries up to £150,000, these can be signed off by the Chief Executive under delegated authority – they are presented to the Board at the next meeting for noting. All roles for non-ministerial departments which meet the P59 criteria are presented to the Board.

Public Sector Staffing Report  - link to reports are here.

Proposition 69, as amended (P.69/2023 Amd.2), requires the publishing of public sector staffing statistics, in line with the Code of Practice on Statistics, inclusive of:  

• the headcount of each Government and non-ministerial department, to include a breakdown of full-time, part-time, fixed-term, zero-hour, and *contracted staff

• the number of vacancies in each Government department; and

• staff turnover in each Government department

Financial Report

The Board does not have a budget. Any expenditure linked to a department is covered by that department. Administrative costs, where incurred, are the responsibility of the People Services department.

Members of the Board are remunerated as Members of the States Assembly. There are no additional allowances or expenses paid to Members of the States Employment Board.

Delegations

At the start of their term, the Board considered and re-issued their Scheme of Delegation with minor amendments to ensure greater control of staffing expenditure.

As part of their delegations, the Board delegated:

• the approval of P59's to the Chief Executive for amounts up to £150,000. These are shared with the Board at the next meeting for noting

• Organisation change cases to ELT for approval and then shared to note at the next meeting

The Board has considered the need to improve scrutiny and accuracy of information provided to them, particularly in their focus on Health and Safety, performance management, people data, and case management cases.

Audit Reports / Reviews

The Comptroller and Auditor General published their report on Staff Recruitment and Retention in March 2025. Any recommendations made in reports are considered by officers and the States Employment Board.

PERFORMANCE REPORT

Statement of Performance

The Board's structure, constitution and diversity continue to be regarded as key strengths. The size and composition of the Board provide an effective balance of skills, experience and perspectives, ensuring optimum governance and high-quality decision-making. The frequency of meetings and the governance arrangements in place are considered appropriate and effective.

Board members participate actively in discussions, providing robust challenge and constructive support. This enables the Board to fully engage with and shape the organisation's strategy and values, while maintaining a clear understanding of the strategic direction and the financial and human resources required to meet organisational objectives.

The Board has taken a strong and sustained interest in establishment control, health and safety, risk management, case management and people data. Each month, the Board receives detailed reports on the number of formal cases across departments, including suspensions, exclusions and tribunal claims. The progress of these cases is continuously reviewed to ensure timely resolution, compliance with internal policies and employment law, alignment with best practice, and a restorative approach that places employee welfare and wellbeing at the centre.

During 2025, a series of improvements were delivered to strengthen how absence is recorded, monitored and reported, with a clear focus on giving managers better and more timely insights. New absence dashboards and enhanced features within MyView now give managers quick and easy access to attendance information - enabling earlier identification of issues and more proactive support for colleagues.

Data quality has significantly improved through regular reconciliation across our three core HR systems, ensuring accuracy and highlighting areas requiring attention. This work will continue under a dedicated 2025 / 2026 action plan. Managers can now run their own absence reports, reducing delays, while key compliance updates such as Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) status are automated to ensure timely action by the appropriate teams.

In our 2024 report, we outlined our priorities for the year ahead. The following sections detail the progress made during 2025 and the actions taken against each priority area.

Priorities for the States Employment Board - 2025

Vacancy Management:

We will continue to curb workforce growth and right size the public service in line with the Government's Common Strategic Policy, as approved by the States Assembly. This work includes strengthening internal capability so the organisation can rely less on external consultants.

Achievements:

Recruitment freeze maintained throughout 2025

The Jersey Public Service strengthened financial discipline by maintaining the recruitment freeze introduced in 2024 and applying tighter vacancy management across all departments.

In April 2025, the recruitment freeze was extended to cover:

• Civil Service posts at grade 9 and above

• All non-clinical, non-teaching and non-social worker roles within Health and Care Jersey (HCJ) and Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES)

These measures built upon earlier restrictions applying to non-essential, non-frontline and senior roles (grade 11+). The States Employment Board approved a further extension of the freeze, ensuring continued control of workforce growth in December 2025.

Strengthening Workforce Governance

The Workforce Expenditure Approval Request (WEAR) process was introduced to:

• Improve oversight of all workforce related expenditure

• Strengthen organisational controls and transparency

• Support more consistent and effective decision-making on staffing matters

Internal mobility remained a priority, with all vacancies reviewed against the redeployment register before any advertisement.

Improving People Policies and Employee Experience

Updated HR policies were published to support talent attraction, strengthen retention, enhance organisational reputation and improve overall employee experience. This work continues into 2026, with further refinement of policies to maintain alignment with organisational priorities, reinforce responsible workforce management and support right-sizing efforts.

Analytics:

We will collect, maintain, and utilise high-quality data and information to gain comprehensive insights to guide informed and effective decision-making and performance. We will continue to review and develop our business operations while continually enhancing processes for greater efficiency and effectiveness.

Achievements:

Developing our people analytics capability remains central to enabling evidence-based decision-making and ensuring early identification of workforce trends and emerging issues. Throughout 2025, we delivered a series of improvements to strengthen how absence information is recorded, monitored, and reported, with a focus on providing managers with timely and actionable insight.

Enhanced Absence Monitoring and Reporting

• New MyView dashboards give managers quick access to attendance data, supporting earlier identification of potential issues

• Regular HR system data reconciliation has improved accuracy and strengthened assurance across reporting processes

• A comprehensive 2025–2026 action plan is in place to continue driving improvements in data quality and integrity

• Key compliance updates (e.g., DBS checks) are automatically routed to the appropriate teams, ensuring timely action and reducing risk

Strengthened Case Management and Insight

• Case management data is analysed to identify organisational trends and emerging patterns

• Monthly reports are produced providing transparent oversight of people-related matters

• Insights are reviewed with departments, highlighting themes, root causes, and areas for improvement

• Findings inform updates to people management practices and operational processes

• Insight-led evidence has shaped updates to HR policies, ensuring legal compliance, best practice alignment, and organisational relevance

Targeted Interventions

• Targeted interventions were introduced to strengthen the proactive use of people analytics across the organisation

• These actions ensure workforce decisions are underpinned by accurate, insight driven data aligned with organisational priorities

• The Absence Matters campaign supports managers in addressing attendance concerns consistently, constructively, and in line with policy

• The executive leadership programme delivered focused leadership development to enhance people management capability and foster a positive organisational culture

Talent Management:

We will ensure a sustainable skilled workforce for the future by developing and delivering sustainable programmes to build an adaptable workforce. We will do this by creating and maintaining positive working relationships by valuing and improving the employee experience. We will attract and recruit the right people into the right role at the right time and cost. We will use workforce planning data, attraction focussed sourcing approaches and digital tools to tap into diverse candidate pools.  

Achievements:

Talent Attraction and Onboarding

The Jersey public service careers portal was relaunched in March 2025, significantly improving the candidate experience and streamlining recruitment processes. The enhanced site now includes:

• Clear employee benefits through the Our Offer to You page

• Updated departmental profiles

• Live current vacancies

• Pathways into public service (including apprenticeships and internships)

• Featured opportunities to support executive recruitment

• Digital resourcing capability was strengthened, particularly for hard-to-recruit specialist roles

• Increased use of LinkedIn Recruiter enabled more targeted and proactive sourcing

This approach supported successful recruitment within Health and Care Jersey, including:

• Hospital Consultants

• Allied Health Professionals

• Strengthened nursing talent pool

These improvements have modernised our attraction strategies, enhanced candidate engagement and increased reach into local, national and international talent markets.

Employee Development

A comprehensive programme of colleague, management and leadership development continued throughout 2025 to support the creation of a skilled and resilient public service workforce. The programme focused on strengthening capability, embedding inclusive practices and ensuring colleagues have access to the learning they need to succeed. Key elements included:

• Introduction of statutory training for budget holders to strengthen financial governance and support responsible decision-making

• Launch of new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) learning, including an online pathway covering protected characteristics to build awareness and promote inclusive behaviours

• Refresh of the manager recruitment and selection programme, incorporating enhanced safer recruitment content to support safeguarding responsibilities and ensure consistent hiring standards

• Two new modules on discrimination and disability inclusion, designed to embed equitable and accessible working practices across the organisation

• Expanded access to statutory training, providing alternative delivery methods for colleagues unable to use online learning platforms, ensuring learning remains accessible and inclusive for all

These initiatives form a key part of our commitment to continuous improvement and the development of a workforce that is skilled, adaptable and equipped to provide high-quality public services.

Leadership Framework

A new leadership framework was developed in 2025 to clearly define the standards, behaviours and competencies expected of managers and leaders across the organisation. The framework was shaped through:

• Research into sector and international best practice

• Engagement with colleagues, stakeholders and senior leaders to ensure relevance and alignment with organisational needs

The framework was formally approved in 2025 and integrated into the performance management process from January 2026. Throughout 2026, further work will continue to embed the framework across the full employee lifecycle, including recruitment, development, performance and succession planning. This will ensure leadership expectations are applied consistently and help build a more capable and aligned leadership community.

In parallel, a leadership identification process was designed in 2025 to strengthen enterprise level leadership capabilityparticularly important during the recruitment freeze. This process aims to:

• Support internal mobility

• Broaden organisation wide knowledge and experience

• Strengthen succession planning for critical roles

Together, the leadership framework and leadership identification process create a more structured and sustainable approach to leadership development, ensuring the organisation is equipped with strong, adaptable and future ready leaders.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:

We will educate, support and build the capability of leaders to ensure DEI is part of our way of working, this will enable us to build a culture of trust which facilitates people to speak up and feel safe. We will put mandatory training in place and a delivery of training opportunities for colleagues.

Achievements:

We continued our commitment in 2025 to creating an inclusive and respectful workplace where all colleagues feel able to be themselves. Throughout the year, people policies were reviewed and updated to ensure alignment with organisational values and relevant codes of practice, reinforcing our commitment to fairness, dignity and inclusion.

Policy development took place collaboratively, involving unions and associations, colleagues and employee led networks. This approach ensured shared understanding, transparency and consistent application across the organisation.

This policy improvement programme will continue into 2026 to maintain legal compliance, reflect emerging best practice, and remain responsive to the evolving needs of the organisation and its workforce.

These updates strengthen clarity, compliance, fairness, and consistency across all people management processes.

DEI Learning and Development

Mandatory training on DEI and sexual harassment was released early in 2025, with 80% of colleagues completing the modules by year end. To further embed DEI principles across the organisation, we developed and launched a DEI development pathway, releasing new online modules each month to promote continuous learning and reinforce inclusive behaviours.

Employee Networks and Engagement

Employee led networks continued to play a significant role in promoting inclusion and supporting colleagues across the organisation. Key developments in 2025 included:

• The Women's Health Employee Network who expanded its remit to include menstrual health, fertility and maternity, in addition to menopause

• This broader focus has strengthened access to safe spaces for open discussion, peer support, and tailored resources for colleagues

• New internal webpages were created to provide clearer information on the purpose, role and scope of each DEI network

• Networks were further promoted through events, targeted communications and a new monthly internal DEI newsletter, accessible to all colleagues

• Under senior executive sponsorship, DEI network membership grew to more than 2,000 colleagues in 2025, demonstrating strong engagement and increasing visibility of DEI priorities across the Public Service

Future Developments

Work to strengthen our DEI foundations will continue into 2026. A revised DEI Policy has been drafted and will be published in early 2026, setting clear expectations and reinforcing our commitment to an inclusive workplace culture.

We have also developed a new set of DEI data collection questions, which will go live in the HR system in 2026. These enhancements will improve the quality of workforce insights, support more informed decision- making, and strengthen our ability to assess progress against DEI goals.

Wellbeing:

We will continue to educate and support colleagues to build the resilience of the organisation and ensure that the management of wellbeing risks is embedded in our ways of working. This will enable us to continue to build a culture where people can thrive at work.

Achievements:

By strengthening awareness, capability and early intervention across all departments, we aim to create a consistent and proactive approach to wellbeing.

This continued focus will enable us to foster a culture where people can thrive at work, feel supported, and are equipped to manage the pressures and demands of public service. Our work in 2026 will continue to promote healthy workplaces, strengthen managerial confidence and ensure wellbeing remains a core component of our organisational culture.

Key groups of wellbeing colleague supporters were formally established, with clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Training was delivered by accredited providers to equip supporters with the skills to identify when colleagues may require assistance and to direct them to appropriate wellbeing resources.

Tailored support materials were developed and issued to each supporter group to ensure consistency of guidance and practice.

• Signposting to the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) was enhanced to strengthen awareness and improve access to confidential support services

• Presentations were delivered to departmental leadership teams to increase understanding of the EAP, outline its benefits, and encourage leaders to actively promote the service within their teams

EAP Usage Insights (2025)

Data from the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for 2025 shows a significant increase in colleague engagement with wellbeing support:

• 55% increase in EAP usage compared with 2024

• The 41–50 age group represented the highest level of usage

• Anxiety and worry were the most common issues presented for support

These insights provide valuable understanding of workforce needs and continue to inform our wellbeing interventions, ensuring that support remains responsive, accessible and relevant.

Internal Standards for Work-related Mental Health and Wellbeing

We operate an internal standard for managing work-related mental health and wellbeing, which sets the baseline requirements for identifying, assessing and managing psychological risks in the workplace.

This standard also clarifies the responsibilities of leaders and managers in creating psychologically safe working environments, promoting early intervention and fostering a culture where wellbeing is prioritised across all departments.

Wellbeing Resources and Campaigns

Implementation of the internal standard was supported in 2025 through the delivery of a comprehensive suite of wellbeing resources and tools, including:

• Harmony Hub resources, offering self-help tools and guidance

• Stress risk assessment toolkits, available for both individual and team based assessments

• A programme of 12 Educational Wellbeing Webinars, accessible to all colleagues

These resources formed an important part of the wider Absence Matters campaign, helping colleagues and managers understand the factors influencing attendance and promoting early, supportive and consistent intervention.

PRIORITIES AND PERFORMANCE

Pay, Terms and Conditions Reviews

We committed to undertaking the following reviews as part of our pay negotiations.

Data quality, improvement and reporting

As part of our ongoing focus on improving data quality and reporting, we continued in 2025 to release statistical reporting on the public sector workforce in Jersey. Work is underway to expand the breadth and depth of data included in these reports, in consultation with Statistics Jersey, to further enhance users' understanding of key workforce developments and trends.

We are also continuing to strengthen our people dashboards. Significant progress has been made in improving the visibility and accessibility of sickness related insights available to managers. Managers now have access to more comprehensive sickness data than ever before, enabling earlier identification of issues and more timely, tailored interventions through clearer trigger levels and real-time reporting.

These improvements support more consistent decision-making, strengthen accountability, and contribute to a more data informed approach to workforce management across the organisation.

Succession planning

In 2025, our succession planning priority was to focus on roles that are critical to the effective functioning of the organisation. This included significant investment in executive leadership development and the establishment of a formal succession planning process for the chief executive officer (CEO). This work is designed to identify and develop strong internal successors for our most senior roles, ensuring we can maintain continuity of leadership and organisational stability.

The CEO succession planning process, scheduled for completion in 2026, will provide potential internal successors with targeted development plans. These plans will enable them to be fully prepared for future opportunities either to compete for senior roles or to be ready for progression when vacancies arise.

Recognising the importance of strong enterprise level leadership, particularly in the context of the ongoing recruitment freeze, we worked closely with senior leaders throughout 2025 to design a robust approach for identifying individuals with the capability and potential to lead across Government. This approach aims to:

• Enhance internal mobility

• Deepen organisation wide knowledge and experience

• Strengthen succession pipelines for roles that are vital to long-term organisational success

By prioritising leadership development and succession planning, we are building a resilient and future focused leadership that can guide the organisation through ongoing transformation and deliver effective public services for the community.

Curbing growth in Public Sector

By continuing to implement measures to curb workforce growth, we have been able to focus resources where they are most needed and ensure the public sector remains sustainable and aligned to organisational priorities. These measures have enabled us to:

• Strengthen frontline services, particularly in Health and Education, by recruiting more colleagues into permanent positions while maintaining a recruitment freeze in non-priority areas.

• Ensure that almost all workforce increases in 2025 were directed into frontline departments, with +157 net additional staff in Health and Care Jersey (HCJ) and +50 in Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES).

• Avoid significant cost escalation. Without the August 2024 decision to introduce an external recruitment freeze, early 2024 trends indicate the Public Sector would have grown by an estimated 515 additional Full-time Equivalent (FTE) employees by the end of 2025representing approximately £31 million in annual staffing costs avoided.

• Strengthen financial control by expanding the recruitment freeze in April 2025 to include Civil Service posts at Grade 9 and above, as well as all non-clinical, non-teaching and non-social worker roles within HCJ and CYPES.

Investing in our people

Managing our growth responsibly has also enabled us to enhance the opportunities available for colleague development and progression. Over the past year, we have strengthened our people development offer through a range of programmes and initiatives, including:

• Leadership development pathways to build capability at all levels

• Succession planning frameworks to identify and prepare future leaders

• Enterprise wide leadership programmes supporting consistent leadership standards across Government

• Acting up and secondment opportunities to broaden experience and support career progression.

• Implementation of a new leadership framework, providing clear standards, behaviours and expectations to strengthen management capability

• Targeted initiatives to support attendance and wellbeing, ensuring colleagues are well supported in the workplace

• Enhanced pathways for interns and apprentices, providing early career opportunities and supporting talent pipelines

These initiatives collectively support capability building, broaden career pathways and ensure colleagues are equipped to grow and progress into future leadership roles across Government. By aligning workforce controls with investment in development, we continue to build a public sector that is skilled, resilient and responsive to the needs of the Island community.

Absence Matters

In September 2025, we launched the Absence Matters – Let's Get It Right' campaign across Government to promote and improve employee attendance. The campaign aims to provide colleagues and managers with practical tools to support attendance, address attendance issues constructively, and ensure a consistent, supportive approach across the organisation.

The campaign features a suite of online tools, resources and guidance including information pages, top tips, and how-to' videos for both colleagues and managers. These resources also signpost to existing wellbeing services and support tools. To maintain momentum and engagement, themed topics are promoted monthly through newsletters, posters and online communications.

Topics featured to date include:

• Absence recording – including instructional videos to support timely and accurate reporting

• Stress and anxiety – the top cause of absence, with content focused on early intervention, stress assessment tools and links to wellbeing support

• Return to work – including the launch of a new online return-to-work recording form

The campaign will continue throughout 2026, with planned topics including:

• Supporting colleagues with disabilities or health conditions

• Processes for managing colleagues with low attendance

• When and how to undertake occupational health referrals

The campaign plays a central role in strengthening attendance management practice, supporting colleague wellbeing and promoting a culture of early, consistent and compassionate intervention.

Gender Pay Gap 2025

The published Gender Pay Gap Report 2025 (link here) shows the gap has reduced by 1.8% since 2024, and 6.5% since 2022. Minor changes in our workforce, especially colleagues in higher-paid roles, can cause substantial changes in our headline median gender pay gap, month by month and year by year.

However, it is important to note that when we refer to the gender pay gap, in the context of the Public Sector, we are referring to the average pay disparity between men and women in our workforce. This is different to equal pay for the same role. We have structured and transparent pay grades and scales in place, alongside increased flexibility, particularly for working parents and carers as part of the flexible working policy.

Health, Safety and Wellbeing including Occupational Health

We continue to prioritise our responsibility for health and safety across the public service. Health and Safety is a standing item at each monthly SEB meeting, reflecting the Board's commitment to ensuring a safe and healthy working environment for all colleagues.

Throughout 2025, significant progress has been made across several key areas:

Oversight of key health and safety risks

The Board receives monthly updates on Health and Safety performance, informed by the activity of the Health and Safety Board. Reporting focused on key areas of organisational risk, including:

• Improvements across the Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES) estate, particularly enhancements to fire safety and mitigation measures

• Continued delivery of core occupational health services, supporting colleagues' health, wellbeing, and capacity to deliver effective public services

Implementation of the internal assurance review programme

The internal health and safety assurance programme was further embedded to monitor departmental compliance with published health and safety standards. Reviews were undertaken in line with departmental risk profiles and covered:

• Fire safety management

• Incident reporting and investigation

• Noise

• Risk assessment

• Violence and aggression

• Working at height

These reviews supported the Board's oversight of risk management and the consistent application of Health and Safety standards across the organisation.

Review of health and safety standards

Several internal health and safety standards were reviewed to ensure they remain current, legally compliant and, aligned with operational requirements across the public service. Updated standards included:

• Confined spaces

• Control of contractors

• Lone working

• Risk assessment

• Working at Height

Mandatory training

Mandatory health and safety training remains in place for all colleagues. Departments now receive regular training completion reports, enabling them to monitor compliance and take appropriate action where required.

Occupational health service provision

The Board oversaw the continued delivery of an effective occupational health service for colleagues. Key developments in 2025 included:

• The withdrawal of AXA from the occupational health market and the secure transfer of occupational health provision to Health Partners

• Continued provision of the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) by AXA as part of the wider wellbeing offer.

• Provision of updates to the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel as requested.

These arrangements ensure continuity of support and maintain effective occupational health provision across the workforce.

Wellbeing and absence management support

Wellbeing activity during 2025 contributed to the wider Absence Matters programme. Key outputs included:

• Development and launch of the Harmony Hub

• Introduction of stress risk assessment tools for both individual and team assessments

• Delivery of twelve educational wellbeing webinars, providing colleagues with guidance and signposting to relevant support services

Employee assistance programme usage

Targeted work to raise awareness of the EAP has resulted in a year-on year increase of 55% in utilisation. This reflects improved understanding of the service and greater employee confidence in accessing confidential wellbeing support.

Performance Management

Performance management is a key area of focus for the SEB. In support of the Code of Practice: Performance and Accountability, we continue to strengthen our approach to ensuring every public service colleague is supported, managed and developed through a robust, evidence-based appraisal system.

Our performance management framework is designed to improve individual effectiveness, support leadership accountability and ensure clear alignment between personal objectives and organisational priorities. This framework includes:

• Regular 1:1 progress discussions between colleagues and managers

• Annual performance objectives that measure impact and results in line with job descriptions

• Development objectives that promote long-term growth in skills, knowledge and capability

• Assessment of readiness and aspirations for future roles or career progression

• Behavioural assessment aligned to the new leadership framework and our core organisational values

A continued area of focus during 2025 was the utilisation of connect performance, the system used to capture objectives and record performance conversations at three key stages of the year:

• Start of year – Setting objectives

• Mid-year – Reviewing progress

• End of year – Completing a final evaluation

At the time of reporting, 3848 colleagues completed the 2025 performance cycle, representing a 63.1% increase from 2359 completions in 2024. This reflects sustained improvement in engagement with performance management processes over the past three years across all departments.

The continued growth in participation demonstrates the organisation's commitment to embedding a consistent and accountable performance culture, ensuring colleagues receive the feedback, support and development they need to perform at their best.

Connected Performance 2025: end of year performance reviews completed for all in-scope colleagues:

*completion rates in Infrastructure and Environment are lower than last year due to the inclusion of manual workers in connected performance for the first time in 2025. Completion percentages are calculated based on the number of colleagues in scope for connect performance in that year. The number of people in scope is not static as employee numbers in departments change due to staff turnover.

In addition to increasing participation in the performance cycle, efforts throughout 2025 focused on embedding a stronger performance culture and introducing measures to provide assurance around the quality and consistency of reviews. Leadership remains critical to this work, and the active engagement of senior leaders, particularly in reviewing and following up on performance outcomes continues to be essential.

In preparation for the 2026 performance cycle, separate development plans for colleagues were designed and piloted. These plans create a dedicated space for colleagues and managers to reflect on training, learning and development needs relating to both current and future roles. This improvement supports greater clarity, structure and ongoing dialogue throughout the year.

Additional training was introduced during 2025 to support managers and colleagues, including:

• Star rating guidance to promote greater consistency in performance ratings

• Webinars delivered at key points in the cycle (objective setting, mid-year review and year-end evaluation)

• Enhanced guidance for managers to strengthen the quality of 1:1 performance conversations

These interventions are designed to improve the quality of feedback, support more meaningful conversations and build confidence in the overall process.

Pilot audits were undertaken to review the quality of performance reviews across departments. These audits were designed solely to support internal learning and the development of good practice for managers, rather than to act as scrutiny or compliance mechanisms. Insights from the pilots informed targeted training, and audit activity will continue throughout 2026 to support ongoing improvement and embed higher standards of performance practice across the organisation.

The 2026 cycle will introduce further tools to support a more holistic assessment of performance and strengthen the consistency of development and talent discussions. These enhancements will help ensure that performance, capability and potential are considered more comprehensively.

These improvements align with the Jersey Public Service Strategic Workforce Plan and ensure that all departments regardless of their starting point continue to make incremental progress in embedding a strong, consistent and high-quality performance culture.

Resourcing and Talent

Despite a highly competitive recruitment market and the continued challenges associated with attracting new colleagues to Jersey, recruitment activity in 2025 delivered targeted growth across CYPES and HCJ. This represents a major achievement and reflects the impact of strengthened recruitment strategies, improved candidate engagement, and more targeted workforce planning.

Key areas of growth include:

• Allied Health Professionals, which include psychology/psychotherapy and other mental health clinical roles, social and support workers, pharmacology, biomedical scientists, pathology roles, and other clinical practitioners.

• Doctors and Consultants

• Educational Support roles (formerly Teaching Assistants)

• Nurses and Midwives

• Teachers

In parallel, strong progress was made in developing the future talent pipeline. Activity across the early in careers space included the recruitment of apprentices, graduate trainee teachers, and 73 interns. Alongside the annual skills show, the public service also maintained a visible and active presence at school careers fairs, helping to promote public sector careers and inspire future talent.

People Development

Mandatory and Statutory Training

As part of our commitment to the ongoing development of colleagues and to ensuring they meet the expectations we set as an employer, we continue to prioritise the completion of all mandatory and statutory training. In 2025, we expanded our programme of online mandatory learning to include enhanced content on diversity, equity and inclusion, ensuring that all colleagues and managers are fully aware of their responsibilities under discrimination legislation.

In direct response to the recommendations of the Violence Against Women and Girls Task Force, we also introduced a compulsory module for all colleagues on sexual harassment. This training reinforces our zero-tolerance stance on inappropriate behaviour and supports the creation of a safe and respectful working environment for everyone.

To strengthen financial governance, we further introduced new statutory training for budget holders, ensuring they are equipped to meet the standards required in managing public funds responsibly.

Completion rates for Statutory and Mandatory training for 2025

Leadership Development

The development of a leadership framework, one of our key deliverables for 2025 provides a clear and consistent articulation of the standards, behaviours and competencies expected of managers and leaders across the organisation. The framework was formally integrated into the performance management process in January 2026, ensuring that leadership expectations are embedded within objective setting, feedback and evaluation.

Work will continue throughout 2026 to fully embed the Leadership Framework across the entire colleague lifecycle, including recruitment, development, performance and succession planning. This will support a more consistent, aligned and capability focused approach to leadership across the public service and strengthen our long-term leadership pipeline.

OPERATIONAL FOCUS

People Strategy

Our People Strategy, relaunched in 2024, continues to set out our commitments to colleagues and articulates our long-term ambition for the organisation. A key component of this strategy is the Standards in Public Service, which replaced the previous Code of Conduct. These Standards outline the behaviours and principles expected of every public servant, supporting informed decision-making, promoting ethical conduct, and providing clarity on the expectations placed on colleagues in all roles.

Throughout 2025, we continued to strengthen our policy framework to ensure it remains modern, fair, and aligned with organisational values. Significant updates and new policies, procedures and guidelines introduced during the year included:

• Compulsory Redundancy

• Domestic Abuse Guidelines

• Grievance Policy

• Integration of Sexual Harassment into the Dignity & Respect at Work Policy

• Market Supplement Policy

• Medical Redeployment

• Organisational Change

• Over & Under Payments

• Pay Protection

• Recruitment & Selection

• Redeployment

• Relocation

• Safer Recruitment

• Sickness Entitlement Panel Procedures

These developments form a key part of our commitment to ensuring a safe, inclusive and well governed working environment, where colleagues are supported throughout every stage of their employment journey.

Be Heard Employee Engagement Survey

The Be Heard employee engagement survey is conducted bi-annually and, in 2025 the organisation focused on embedding the learning and insights gained from the 2024 survey. Each department's progress against its strategic workforce plan, setting out the actions required to drive engagement improvements is monitored through quarterly updates. This structured approach ensures accountability, supports continuous improvement, and strengthens alignment between departmental actions and wider organisational priorities.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

The States Employment Board is committed to pursuing diversity, equity and inclusion across the public sector. This commitment underpins our approach to policy development, leadership expectations, workforce practices and employee experience. We continue to work toward building a public service where every colleague feels respected, valued and able to contribute fully.

Employee Led Networks:

Our employee led networks provide a meaningful platform for colleagues to connect, share experiences and foster understanding across our public service. These networks play an essential role in promoting inclusivity, supporting personal and professional development, and strengthening our sense of community.

Membership across all networks grew by 42% in 2025, with participation now exceeding 2,000 colleagues. This growth reflects both the commitment of our people and the trust placed in these networks as safe, constructive spaces for discussion, support and advocacy.

Our current networks include:

• Disability Network

• Heads Up Network

• IWILL (Inspiring Women into Leadership & Learning)

• LEAN IN Network (Listening, Encouraging and Nurturing Inclusivity)

• LGBTQ+ Network (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning or Queer +)

• Neurodiversity Network

• REACH (Race, Ethnicity and Celebrating Cultural Heritage)

• Women's Health Networks, covering menopause, maternity, menstrual health and fertility

These networks offer valuable insights into the experiences and needs of colleagues from diverse backgrounds. They help shape organisational understanding, influence policy development and contribute to a workplace culture where everyone feels they belong. Their continued popularity demonstrates how colleague led initiatives can foster shared responsibility for inclusion and strengthen our collective commitment to creating a supportive and respectful working environment.

RECOGNITION AND AWARDS

The Jersey Public Service Awards: Celebrating Our Stars' continues to play an important role in recognising outstanding contributions across the organisation. The awards foster colleague engagement, reinforce our values, and support a positive organisational culture by celebrating those who go above and beyond in their roles.

Since its launch in 2021, Our Stars has helped unify the public service by recognising individuals and teams who make exceptional contributions each year. In 2025, the format evolved to enable department led celebrations, with each department recognising winners and runners-up across six award categories. This brought the celebrations closer to colleagues, increasing visibility and engagement compared with the previous centralised ceremony.

In 2025, a total of 1,944 colleagues were nominated the highest number recorded to date. This included 1,578 individual nominations and 366 team nominations, reflecting the pride colleagues take in recognising one another's achievements. Winners and runners-up from each department were celebrated at small events hosted by their Chief Officer, ensuring a personal and meaningful experience for nominees and recipients.

Long Service Awards

The Long Service Awards provide an important opportunity to recognise and thank colleagues for their dedication and commitment. In 2025, three afternoon tea events were hosted to celebrate the careers of valued colleagues who reached significant service milestones of 25, 30, or 40 years.

A total of 143 colleagues attended the celebratory events, with a further 104 colleagues receiving an award but choosing not to attend in person.

The breakdown of awards presented in 2025 was:

• 25 years: 119 colleagues

• 30 years: 116 colleagues

• 40 years: 12 colleagues

These celebrations continue to reinforce our appreciation for the long-standing contribution of colleagues who have dedicated many years of service to the island community.

PRIORITIES FOR 2026

Our focus during 2026 will be on the following priority areas, designed to further support the right-sizing of the Public Sector and ensure we have a workforce that is sustainable, efficient and aligned to organisational needs.

Policies review and alignment

We will prioritise a review of people policies to ensure consistency, clarity, and alignment with our organisational expectations. Each policy will be supported with practical toolkits and targeted management training to strengthen capability and reduce variability in people practice.

Leadership development (people leaders)

We will build a clear and structured development pathway for leaders, aligned to our leadership framework. This pathway will combine mandatory core training with targeted advanced development opportunities to support capability growth at all levels.

Organisational Change and Workforce Resilience

We will strengthen People Services' capability to lead and support organisational change activity across the organisation. This includes enhancing our capacity to provide expert HR advice, effective change management support, and consistent guidance to departments as we deliver transformation and service improvement initiatives.

Data insights and organisation performance

Continue to improve and develop the quality, consistency, and accessibility of workforce data to strengthen insight driven decision-making across the organisation. Enhanced reporting and more reliable metrics will provide clearer visibility of workforce trends, risks, and opportunities, and will support leaders in making informed strategic choices. This data will inform organisational performance.

Pay, Terms and Conditions Review for New Starters

We will initiate a structured review of pay, terms, and conditions for all new starters to ensure our employment offer is competitive, affordable, and aligned with organisational priorities. This work will assess current arrangements, benchmark externally, and identify opportunities to modernise and streamline contracts for greater clarity and consistency.

Appendix 1 Public Sector Pay and Conditions

The States Employment Board has 11 recognised trade unions and associations across the range of the Public Service. Additionally, there are 83personal contract holders (normally senior appointments or office holders).

We have strong professional working relationships with our trade unions and associations. From time to time, disputes and complaints arise – most of which are resolved without escalation to the States Employment Board.

In 2024, pay negotiations were completed for all pay groups in accordance with the three-year pay strategy developed in 2023.

Officers, on behalf of the States Employment Board, negotiate annual increases with the unions and associations. The main pay groups are shown below. Annual uplifts in pay are negotiated with the trade unions and associations, with protocol to September inflation. 2025 and 2026 pay awards have been agreed as RPI + 1%.

Annual uplift by pay group compared to inflation for 2016 to 2025

Notes: * Includes Workforce Modernisation, Education Support Staff and Allied Health Professionals.

Appendix 2: Key Workforce Information – Headcount by department

Employees are counted once per Department they work in, with the overall total only counting them once. Employees total full-time equivalent (FTE) for all roles held are counted against the applicable Department and in the total.

*previously Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance and Office of the Chief Executive

** previous Chief Operating Office department has been split into Digital Services and People Services

*** for transparency, from 2025 all non-ministerial departments are shown as separate entities

**** Grand total reflects headcount across all departments and where an employee has posts in multiple departments they will only be counted once

Appendix 3: Proposition P.107/2022

The States Employment Board and Council of Ministers accepted the Proposition P.107/2022, for enhanced reporting of States salary statistics, which will further improve openness and transparency in relation to the composition of the Public Sector workforce.

Consultancy spend will be included in the six-monthly reporting of P59/2019 by the Treasury and Exchequer.

Total remuneration for all Government of Jersey staff paid through payroll during 2025, split into salary bands and department:

Percentage of Total Payroll Expenditure by salary band and department:

Appendix 4: Fair Pay

The following table provides details of pay ratios and multiples. The median remuneration is a form of average, representing the individual where 50% of employees earned more and 50% earned less. This is the mid-point of remuneration. The calculations are based on a full-time equivalent annual salary (including benefits but not including pension contributions by the employer). This represents all public servants on a permanent, temporary or fixed-term contract, but not including those on zero-hour contracts. This also includes public office holders who are not employees the SEB.

Pay ratio between the highest paid employee and the 25th percentile pay of all

8:1  7:1

employees  

Pay ratio between the highest paid employee and the median pay of all employees  5:1  5:1 Pay ratio between the highest paid employee and the 75th percentile pay of all

4:1  4:1

employees

Median Remuneration  £61,041  £56,857

Gender Pay Gap Median Hourly Pay  8.5%  10.3%

The methodology is based on UK government guidelines and uses a snapshot month to calculate ordinary pay. The snapshot month for these calculations was June. This monthly figure is then converted to an annual figure and divided by total working hours to get ordinary hourly pay inclusive of supplements, shift pay, skill related payments and standby payments. Further information on the Government Gender Pay Gap is available here.

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