Jersey's minimum wage to rise to £10 an hour from October

Jersey's Social Security Minister has increased the island's minimum wage.

Deputy Elaine Millar has set the new rate at £10 an hour from Saturday 1 October. It was previously £9.22 an hour.

The minimum wage for trainees is also going up to £7.49 an hour, or £8.73 an hour once they have completed 12 months' training.

The new minimum wage goes against the advice of the Jersey Employment Forum, which traditionally makes recommendations to the government on what the minimum wage should be.

The Employment Forum called for an increase to £10.10 an hour from January 2023 and specifically opposed any increase in October 2022:

"The Forum notes a political commitment to a rate of £10 an hour from October 2022. However, the evidence the Forum has received reveals little support for an interim increase.

"The Forum is concerned that the steps needed to be taken to implement an interim increase to £10 an hour in October – with a further recommended increase to £10.10 in January 2023 place a significant administrative burden on businesses to accomplish two increases in such a short space of time."

Jersey's Chamber of Commerce supported the Employment Forum's recommendations.

  • Murray Norton warned the 'surprise' decision doesn't give businesses time to bring in the changes.

Jersey Chamber of Commerce CEO, Murray Norton, said the news is "disappointing" and came as a "surprise":

He said: "There are so many different levels of administration that will have to be done in a very short space of time. The Employment Forum have clearly done their research and clearly recommended that it should be January 2023.

"There's going to have to be an awful lot of work involved in that and, of course, there's going to be costs involved in that. It'll be very difficult for businesses to adjust their costs to absorb the extra costs of this price rise," he added.