Ports of Jersey CEO remuneration package

WQ.299/2025

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND RESOURCES

BY DEPUTY J. RENOUF OF ST. BRELADE

QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 30th JUNE 2025

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 7th JULY 2025

Question

"Further to Oral Question 153/2025 regarding the restructure of the Ports of Jersey, will the Minister –

1. state whether she had sight of the 2024 remuneration package for the Ports of Jersey Chief Executive Officer, including the £120,000 bonus, before it was awarded and, if so, whether she expressed a view on its appropriateness;
2. provide any criteria used to award such a bonus, and
3. clarify how recent actions, such as the Airport going into special attention in December 2024, impacted on the remuneration package?"

Answer

1. Under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Minister for Treasury and Resources and Ports of Jersey, any increase in base salary or changes in the structure of bonus scheme of an Executive Director requires my approval. Consequently, I hold annual discussions with the Chair of the Ports' Remuneration Committee regarding any changes to base salary and the Key Performance Indicators ("KPIs") and objectives linked to performance related pay for the coming year. During the course of a year, I have robust discussions around remuneration generally with the Chairs of the wholly owned States-owned Entities boards.

While I approved the CEO's base salary and structure of the 2024 bonus scheme, it is the Ports' Remuneration Committee that is responsible, and best positioned, to assess an Executive's performance against the approved KPIs and objectives, and for deciding on the awarding of bonuses. I was notified of the proposed bonus.

This process is underpinned by a requirement that the overall remuneration package, including bonus potential, is periodically benchmarked, with the expectation that the package will not be market leading.

2. The criteria for awarding bonuses include KPIs and objectives that are genuinely stretching in nature and are designed to reward superior performance, rather than merely meeting the minimum expectations of an Executive. These criteria are aligned with Ports' five-year strategy, approved by Ministers, which delivers the Policy Framework for the Ports Sector issued by the Ports Policy Ministerial Group in January 2024. The framework sets ambitious policy goals to:

• Further enhance Jersey's connectivity by ensuring safe, secure and competitive services, responsive to the needs of business, tourism and consumers;

• Ensure the resilience of Jersey's life-line air and sea links, by investing in critical gateway infrastructure;

• Maximise the contribution of the Ports Sector to Jersey's economic development and development in accordance with the Future Economy Programme; and

• Ensure actions are guided by our environmental objectives.

The bonus criteria cover several key themes including:

- Company financial performance: this is important because it underpins Ports' ability to borrow for future investment in the Harbour and Airport Masterplans without taxpayer support. The business case that led to Ports of Jersey's incorporation identified a projected £300 million investment requirement. The company's resilient financial performance has meant that neither Jersey Harbours nor Airports have requested taxpayer support, either during or since the Covid pandemic. This achievement is not to be understated, as to the best of my knowledge, they are the only major airport and port throughout Europe not to require any taxpayer support over the last five years.

- Connectivity – this relates to air and sea passenger numbers, which support financial performance and are vital to the resilience of the Island's connectivity resilience.

- Customer service/experience - in which encouraging progress continues to be made ranging from the success of the Assisted Travel service (which has received positive feedback from Islanders needing extra support when they travel), to significant improvements in operational performance such that Jersey Airport is now amongst the best airports with 99% of passengers passing through Security in less than 15 minutes and 90% of bags delivered to the reclaim belts within 20 minutes

- Outreach – significant support has been provided for Government policy and initiatives.

- Strategic objectives – this includes inter alia advancement of the Airport Masterplan and Harbour Masterplan, the latter of which received planning approval, without any objections in November 2024 and is crucial to the future capacity of the harbour to cope with projected freight volumes, including during the construction phase of the Our Hospital Project; and various strategic initiatives in People and Digital transformation.

3. The impact of the Airport's entry into special attention in December 2024 will be considered as part of the 2025 performance of the Executive team.