Guernsey Health and Social Services advert in the JEP for Nursing staff.

A GUERNSEY nursing recruitment advertisement damning Jersey’s goods and services tax should never have appeared in the Jersey Evening Post.
The ad, which says ‘move to Guernsey and you won’t have to pay GST on goods – in fact, we’ll tax you in all the right ways’, slipped through the net, according to the Health and Social Services Department.
A spokesman said the advertisement had passed through its system in error without the knowledge or approval of either the board or its senior management.
‘It is certainly not the department’s policy to compete against Jersey for staff or to issue statements criticising Jersey’s taxation policies. The department fully apologises to Jersey’s health authorities for this error,’ he said.
The advert also read: ‘So if you’re a nurse with acute experience or experience in other specialities, why not swap the GST for something a little more taxing and a little more fun.’
Health and Social Services minister Hunter Adam said Jersey and Guernsey suffered the same recruitment difficulties
‘I know that our respective staff have a good working relationship and have an informal understanding that the islands will not actively compete against each other in the manner of this unfortunate advertisement,’ he said.
‘I can therefore only apologise to Senator [Ben] Shenton and his staff on behalf of the department for this error and can assure Jersey that this department would wish to disown the sentiments expressed in the advertisement.’
Deputy Adam said he would be contacting Senator Shenton informally to apologise to him personally.