New measures to 'protect lives and livelihoods' announced in Jersey

Channel
Jersey
Wednesday 25 March 2020 at 9:36pm

New measures to help protect and support islanders through the coronavirus outbreak have been announced by the Chief Minister.

Health

From next week GPs in Jersey are to be employed directly by the Health and Community Services department.

All GP's in the island will now be directly employed by the Government for the next four months. This is the first time in history all private doctors are working for the health department.

I can announce today that from next week more than a hundred GPs in Jersey are to be employed directly by the Health and Community Services department, for the first time ever. This is a landmark agreement for our Island. Our shared priority is to save lives. So we have come together to ensure that Islanders can have access to health professionals as quickly as possible, at a time when health resources are needed most. Starting today, and initially for the next four months, all GPs will be directly employed by the Health department. It will provide more resilience for the hospital to care for seriously ill patients. This agreement gives Health and Community Services more capacity and more flexibility to adapt to changing needs, and puts Jersey’s healthcare system in a stronger position to tackle Covid-19. It is a significant step forward in ensuring that we have a resilient health service which is prepared and able to save lives.

Housing and food

The Government has secured emergency powers to prevent evictions.
Islanders can let the Government know what support they need via the Connect Me form on gov.je.
The Salvation Army will run a central food bank with Waitrose guaranteeing supplies to it.
The Housing Gateway will manage the need to rehouse homeless people in hotels.

Livelihoods

In his statment the Chief Minister also spoke about how the Government would help protect islanders livelihoods.

Measures already in place

The Chief Minister said the following measures have already been announced to help islanders put food on the table.

An immediate deferral of all GST payments and social security contributions from employers and employees due to the Government over the next six months.

The Government has agreed to consider rent deferrals or renegotiations on a case-by-case basis, where or a Government-owned company is a landlord to a local business.
A £50 million loan guarantee scheme to support business.
A Jersey Recovery Fund, also worth £50 million, to support larger businesses.
A payroll co-funding scheme, which will initially provide a Government wage subsidy of £200 a week for six weeks for businesses and the self-employed who are severely impacted by Coronavirus, with the first payment due at the beginning of April.
Utility companies have agreed to give customers flexibility in their payment terms, including payment deferrals.