(342) States of Jersey employees who have taken either redundancy or early retirement

1240/5/1(342)

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHIEF MINISTER BY DEPUTY J.A.N. LE FONDRÉ OF ST. LAWRENCE ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 20TH JUNE 2017

Question

Will the Chief Minister advise whether, since 1st January 2012, there have been any instances whereby –

1. someone has received compensation for redundancy from the States of Jersey and has subsequently received any form of remuneration or payment from the States of Jersey for subsequent services supplied to the States of Jersey or any one of its underlying entities (such as States of Jersey Development Company, Andium Homes, Ports of Jersey, Jersey Sport, Visit Jersey); or
2. has taken early retirement from the States of Jersey and has subsequently received any form of remuneration or payment from the States of Jersey for subsequent services supplied to the States of Jersey or any one of those underlying entities?

If so, will the Chief Minister detail for both categories (separately), by year, the number of personnel that this applies to, the total amount of redundancy received (by year for (a) only) and the total amount of remuneration / payment subsequently received?

Answer

Staff who leave the organisation through redundancy are offered professional support to help them find alternative employment in the private sector or to set up their own company. In the case of outsourcing we require companies that have successfully tendered for the work to provide all affected employees the opportunity to transfer or be considered for jobs with the new provider.

We do not prevent any ex-employee, or employer of an ex-employee, from competing for work advertised through open tender. We do not track individuals once they have left our employment so are unable to provide any data on ex-employees who may now be supplying services to the States of Jersey, other than those who have been re-employed on a direct contract of employment.

The States of Jersey are not party to employment arrangements between other entities that the States may have an interest in. This information remains confidential between the employer and the employee.

Any direct re-employment of people who have received redundancy payments from the States of Jersey is governed by the 'Re-employment guidelines', effective since the 20th June 2016. Before this date re- employment was governed by the terms of individual agreements. The current guidelines say that employees who have been made compulsorily redundant can seek re-employment after 6 months and 1 day. Those who have taken Voluntary Release, (which includes voluntary redundancy, voluntary severance and voluntary early retirement) cannot be re-employed for 2 years or until their payback period has expired, whichever is the longer. Recruitment applications are monitored to ensure these terms are adhered to.

Since January 2012 seven employees have received a redundancy payment from the States of Jersey and have been re-employed in some capacity at a later date.

The following table provides the details. In all of these instances the re-employment guidelines in place at the time were adhered to.

(*re-employed on zero hours contract)

No employee who has left through the voluntary early retirement scheme since January 2012 is currently in direct employment with the States of Jersey.