This Is Guernsey

GUERNSEY and Jersey could save millions of pounds if the governments worked together, a leading accountant has claimed.

Kevin Keen, a chartered management accountant who helped turn around the Jersey Dairy, urged the islands to work together administratively to help cut costs.

He said taxpayers in Jersey were paying for government overspends and said both islands’ black holes could be reduced with a bit of teamwork.

‘I’m not proposing the islands merge together and lose their independence or identity,’ he told the Chamber of Commerce monthly lunch.

‘I’m just proposing we do simple things to save a lot of money for both islands.’

Mr Keen, who has spent his holidays investigating ways the States of Jersey could save money, claimed that tax and social security administration could be performed jointly between the islands.

‘I’m not saying the islands should decide how much people will be taxed together,’ he said.

‘But when it comes to collecting money from people, sending out reminders, or sending out rebates, you’re not losing the independence of the two islands by working together.

‘The same with social security because it’s accounting people and administration.’

He put forward ideas such as having a Channel Island Post Office, passport office and driving licence authority.

‘Both islands need to cut down on administration in the public sector. By doing so, they will save money.’

Mr Keen, who was president of Jersey’s Chamber of Commerce from 2005-2007, was also critical of the number of public-sector workers employed by the States.

‘I can only really speak for Jersey, but it may be the same in Guernsey,’ he said.

‘Jersey has 6,500 public sector workers. That’s about half the number of people in our finance industry. I think there are too many civil servants doing jobs we can’t afford.’

He criticised the system within the public sector whereby civil servants cannot be made redundant, even if they are proved to be incompetent.

‘The reality in the private sector is that if you cannot afford something, you change it and the same should apply to the public sector,’ he said.

‘For example, Jersey has 50 human resources staff for the 6,500 public-sector workers. If that was a private-sector organisation, it would have halve that number.’

He added that he believed that public-sector staff were paid too much.

‘In Jersey, public-sector workers are 40% more expensive than their UK counterparts,’ he said.

‘If you take the business approach, you would look at what is best for the taxpayer. There are at least 10,000 people working in the public sector across the two islands.’

Mr Keen said his only concern was trying to save money for the taxpayer.

‘Maybe we could do things jointly which don’t just save money,’ he said.

‘Are we really in competition with each other with regard to tourism? Could some regulations be shared? We have waste-disposal issues. You have them as well.

‘I think the only thing Guernsey and Jersey have co-operated on is lottery tickets and that seemed to work OK. It’s only a very short stretch of water between the two islands. Lots of businesses operate in both islands, so why can’t the public sector?’