Guernsey's States record £36m surplus in 2025

Guernsey's States recorded a £36m surplus in its public finances last year despite budgeting for a £20m deficit.

In an update to States members, Gavin St Pier, vice president of Policy and Resources, said some of the additional money came from one-off payments which emerged last year, including an £11m tax repayment from a local bank.

It follows a loss of £44m in the public finances in 2024.

"£23m of the £37m in additional revenue is exceptional and cannot be built into our baseline and relied on in future years," said St Pier.

St Pier continued: "This is not a basis on which to build sustainable and reliable public finances.

"Having such a high dependency on whether banks have a good or bad year is neither sensible nor sustainable."

Last year two parts of the States, health and social care (HSC) and central corporate services, both overspent their budget.

St Pier blamed the £3.3m overspend at HSC on "general demand pressures and the costs of off-island care".

He said the £2.6m overspend by corporate services was mainly due to the cost of moving States' IT services from Agilysis to a multi-vendor model after the States cancelled Agilysis' contract in 2025.

St Pier stressed there were still about 300 vacancies in the public sector which led to the use of agency and temporary staff.

The provisional figures from 2025 show revenue income was just short of £716m in total and 9% above budget.

Document duty receipts for 2025 were £27m, compared to a budget of £16m.

Housing committee member Garry Collins said this could be a sign of the housing crisis easing. But St Pier said he was reluctant to take this as a sign it was over.

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