Severance pay for States Members (FOI)

I understand that a politician that is seated within the states and is not successful in re-election is entitled to severance pay or redundancy pay. What is the amount. Is it limited to term or each reoccurring term. 

How much over the years has been paid out this way to in-elected persons.

It is not possible to determine precisely how much has been paid in total in “severance payments” since the system was first introduced.  To do so would require a manual check of the financial reporting systems and it is estimated that (taking into account the time otherwise required to address this request) such a manual check would take in excess of 12.5 working hours to perform.  This would exceed the cost limit provisions allowed under Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.  Information that is held by the States Greffe has therefore been provided below but the figures for total costs are estimates as it has not been possible to determine whether every member entitled to such a “severance payment” took up the opportunity.

It was a recommendation in 2005 of the former States Members’ Remuneration Review Body (SMRRB) that “a States member should be entitled to payment of salary and expenses for one month following the date on which he or she leaves office.”  This was confirmed in subsequent reports of the SMRRB (the remit of which was to make recommendations in relation to States members’ pay).  The 2005 recommendation was first implemented at the elections held later that same year.  Recommendations of the SMRRB were implemented as a matter of course, without debate by the States Assembly (although it was procedurally possible for a States member to lodge a proposition that any given recommendation not be implemented).

The entitlement to payment of one month’s salary for those members leaving office was therefore in place for the elections of 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2018 (as well as two elections for Connétable that took place in 2006 and 2007). These payments incorporated one month of salary regardless of how long the retiring member had sat in the States; and all members were entitled to receive it upon their departure from the States, regardless of whether or not they had stood for election (unless they declined the payment).  As stated, it has not been possible to determine the precise amount that was paid in total through these payments.  However, the table below calculates the total possible payment that could have been made – on the basis of the number of States members who retired at each election and the salary that was in force at the time.

In 2019, the former SMRRB recommended that the calculation of “loss of office compensation” be amended to be “consistent with the principles of Jersey’s statutory redundancy framework [and] be limited to Members who stand for but fail to secure re-election.”  This is the system that will be in force following the elections of 2022; any sitting member who stands unsuccessfully for re-election will therefore be entitled to “one month’s basic remuneration per 4 years’ continuous service from 2022 (subject to a minimum of two years’ service and pro-rated as necessary).”  One month’s salary in this context will be £4,166.67, in line with the current salary for elected States members.

In 2022, the States Assembly adopted the States of Jersey (Amendment – Remuneration of Elected Members) (Jersey) Law that introduced a new system for the setting of States members’ pay, replacing the role and remit of the SMRRB.

Further information:

This response has been issued on behalf of the States Greffe. The States Greffe is responsible for the information held by (and on behalf of) both itself and the States Assembly.  Neither the States Assembly nor the States Greffe form part of the Government of Jersey and the Government was not involved either in the examination and retrieval of any information required for this response, nor in the drafting of the response itself.