Guernsey's £5m relocation grant bill draws scrutiny over rent pressure

Guernsey's States spent more than £5m on relocation packages in 2025 — the highest total since the support scheme was introduced — and a growing number of deputies want to know what that money is doing to the island's rental market.

The figure came out of a freedom of information request earlier this year. It lands in the middle of a political row over a review of relocation allowances that Policy and Resources (P&R), Guernsey's top political committee, promised to finish by the end of September 2025. That deadline has passed, and the review is still unfinished.

What does the delay change for islanders?

For renters, potentially a lot. A recent report from the Scrutiny Management Committee linked the relocation allowances to the current high price of renting a home in Guernsey. Rents have risen 65% in the last decade, reaching an average of £2,138 per month, according to the States of Guernsey — roughly £25,600 a year for a typical rental household.

Deputy Tom Rylatt, from Forward Guernsey, said the review should "be a priority for P&R" and called the delay disappointing.

"It is disappointing that the review has still not been completed, having originally been due in September 2025," Rylatt said. "With housing costs continuing to place enormous pressure on islanders, it needs to be a priority for P&R that we understand the impact these packages may be having, particularly on the rental market. I hope the committee will now bring this work to a conclusion and set out what changes, if any, it intends to make."

How generous is the current package?

The policy, as it stands, is substantial. Here's what people relocating to Guernsey for States jobs can claim:

• A £5,000 relocation grant, rising to £6,600 for Alderney
• Help with rental costs for up to four years
• Storage cost contributions
• In some cases, support with the mortgage on an unsold home elsewhere

Those buying a home in Guernsey can also qualify for an £8,750 house purchase grant. Short-term recruits can receive smaller payments towards travel and moving costs.

Why P&R says it's running late

P&R President Lindsay de Sausmarez said "several stages of work on the review have been completed" and the committee was due to consider it again shortly. She blamed the delay on how busy the committee has been, including delivering reforms to the island's tax system and drafting a budget for 2027.

In June 2025, P&R said the review would examine different options for relocation support, including possible alternatives, using workforce data and financial analysis. It also set out a constraint that will shape whatever comes next: any changes must balance potential savings against the need to recruit and retain staff in essential public services — health, education, social care and law enforcement among them.

Officials added that the review itself is unlikely to be made public because it examines an internal policy, though any changes would be clearly communicated by P&R.

'Excessive' by design?

Scrutiny Management Committee President Andy Sloan has gone further than most critics. He called the current policy "excessive" and said he believes "such a subsidy is likely to have an upward impact on local market rents."

That's the practical question now hanging over the committee. If the Scrutiny report is right, every year of delay leaves a subsidy in place that may be feeding the same rent inflation squeezing islanders — while the States simultaneously absorb a record £5m-plus annual bill for the packages themselves.

The counterweight is staffing. Guernsey's public services depend on attracting workers from outside a small island with some of the highest rents in the British Isles. Cut the packages too hard, and the recruitment problem in hospitals and classrooms could get worse before the housing market gets better.

P&R's next move — and whether it publishes any resulting changes in full — will show which side of that trade-off the committee thinks matters more.