Newsletter – April 2026

Management Committee changes

Wendy Dorman has joined the Management Committee. Wendy is a former Partner of PwC, Chair of Jersey Institute of Directors and non-executive director of Jersey Electricity.  Kate Wright, Chief Executive of Freeda, a founding member of the Centre, has stood down because of other commitments.

Mark Boleat, the Centre’s Senior Adviser, has announced his intention to stand for Senator in the election and is stepping back from the Centre  during the election period.

General election

Jersey’s General Election will be held on Sunday 7 June. The Policy Centre’s publications explain the political system in Jersey and cover the full range of policy issues that will be discussed in the campaign.

The Knowledge Centre paper Jersey’s Political System explains the political system in detail and in the context of political systems generally.

Jersey traditionally has had very low turnout at elections – lower than in all OECD countries.  The Research Paper Election turnout in Jersey analyses the statistics and discusses the reasons for the low turnout.

The Policy Brief 2026 General Election sets out the legal provisions governing the election and analyses the consequences of the three significant changes in the electoral system compared with the 2022 election –

• The reinstatement of the position of senator with a corresponding reduction in the number of deputies.
• The election will be held for the first time on a Sunday.
• Electors are being registered automatically rather than by completing a form.

The Policy Brief Top issues for islanders sets out the results of a survey conducted in January 2026 of the issues that islanders think are the most important for Jersey. Unprompted, the most important issues were cost of living (38%), housing (13%), faith in government (11%) and Jersey’s economy (8%). When asked about other issues, the combined figures for most important/other issues were cost of living (82%), faith in government (56%), housing (54%), the hospital (53%) and healthcare (50%).

Policy Centre papers cover all the issues identified in the survey and many others.  Key ones include Cost of living, Housing, Hospital, Healthcare, Primary and secondary education, Economic trends and Restoring trust in Jersey politics.

Policy Briefs updated

The Centre’s 33 Policy Briefs cover all current policy issues and are regularly updated or expanded.  In March, a substantive new brief Arts, culture and heritage was published.  Key points –

• Jersey’s arts, culture, and heritage (ACH) are a key part of the Island’s distinctive identity.
• The Government of Jersey currently has developed several strategies to help support and promote the Island’s cultural sector, namely the 2022 Arts Strategy, 2022 Heritage Strategy and 2024 Music Manifesto. An annual report is published on the collective delivery of these strategies – the Arts, Culture and Heritage Delivery Update – with the most recent update covering 2024.
• The Government of Jersey currently allocates 1% of its net revenue expenditure to ACH. The longevity of this commitment is uncertain.
• Other jurisdictions with similarities/cultural ties to Jersey also significantly invest into their arts and heritage, though most lack a formal ring-fenced net revenue expenditure target like Jersey.

Eight Policy Briefs were substantially updated.

• Ageing population and Population policy were updated to include new population projections. The projections suggest that with net nil migration the dependency ratio will increase from 52.5% in 2024 to 64.2% in 2040.  Even net migration of 800 a year would result in a significant increase in the dependency ratio to 58.0%. 
• Alcohol licensing was updated following the approval by the States Assembly of a new licensing law, which includes a reduction in the number of licence categories from seven to three.
• Carbon neutral roadmap was updated to include the report of the Independent Climate Council on progress in implementing the CNR during the 2022-2025 delivery period. This concluded that: “on the current trajectory, the 2030 targets laid out in the Roadmap and associated policies are unachievable”. The Council identified its main concerns under four overarching themes: just transition failures, over-reliance on technological fixes, falling behind international best practice and focus on end use rather than supply.
• Financial services was updated to cover Time to Win,  the final report of the Government’s financial competitiveness programme –
  • Jersey’s financial and related professional services (FRPS) sector is the bedrock of the Island’s economy and has funded public services that would otherwise have been impossible without higher rates of tax.
  • But Jersey’s FRPS sector is facing multiple and converging threats.
  • Jersey’s core advantages remain real and valuable: legal certainty, political stability, strong courts, and a well-understood tax regime with tax neutrality at its heart. But Jersey is losing momentum because friction, complexity and institutional overlap have eroded advantages that were once converted into growth.
  • A reset is required of how Jersey operates as a system. This reset is not about changing the brand but about execution discipline, service culture, clarity of responsibility, and a renewed hunger to win.

• Healthcare was updated to include the publication of annual Health and Care Plan and the mental health strategy.
• Housing was updated to include the 2025 Q4 house price figures – 1.5% lower than a year earlier and 14.7% lower than the peak in 2022 Q3. In real terms the reduction was 24.4%.

Policy Centre Jersey aims to improve the quality of public decision-making and civic engagement in Jersey. It provides accessible, evidence-based research, policy briefings and public forums that help residents, decision-makers and institutions better understand the challenges facing the Island. The Centre is a registered Jersey charity, reliant on donations and sponsorship to fund its work. If you would like to support the work of the Centre, please contact the Director Jenny Bevis – director@policy.je.