The Jersey minimum wage debate has spilled into open public conflict, with a coffee shop owner, a poverty charity and a rival minister all rounding on economic development minister Deputy Gerald Voisin after he suggested the island’s minimum wage could be harming its economy. Frank De Jesus, who runs Coffee Republic, said Voisin’s decision to air those views publicly was ‘madness’.
The row began when an article published in the Jersey Evening Post at the end of July by business author Douglas Kruger accused the government of ‘bullying’ businesses into paying higher wages and called for the minimum wage to be scrapped. Kruger is a board member for the political movement Value Jersey, which Voisin endorsed during the election. Voisin subsequently signalled his support for those arguments, prompting the chief minister to publicly distance the government from his position, saying Voisin’s views did not reflect those of the government or the States Assembly.
How the Jersey Minimum Wage Debate Unfolded
De Jesus, speaking about the cost of living and of doing business in Jersey, called it a ‘far-reaching issue’ and urged the council of ministers to ‘get their act together’ before going public with statements. Jersey’s minimum wage currently stands at £13.59 an hour. De Jesus said that to attract good staff he often has to pay above that rate, and described the cost of labour as a ‘polarising issue’, with most high street businesses ‘just getting by’.
‘On one hand, obviously, retailers and hospitality need to make a profit,’ he said, ‘but we’re also very aware that our workers need to feel as if they’re valued and that they have a chance to get on in life.’ He argued that ministers should have talked privately before making statements that would ’cause huge consternation’, and suggested the government raise the income tax threshold so that workers on the minimum wage are not taxed.
Patrick Lynch, head of the poverty charity Caritas, went further, calling Voisin’s comments ‘very sinister’. ‘It’s very disappointing that a government minister would have these views,’ Lynch said, ‘especially with poverty such a prevalent concern in the island, and a growing one, and the threat of modern slavery also very real too.’ Lynch described the spat as the ‘first big issue for the new administration’ and said it was hard to see how Voisin could remain in government if he continued to undermine his colleagues. Lynch added that he had met the chief minister last month, where the chief minister confirmed the government’s commitment to move the minimum wage in line with the living wage over time.
An Island Wage That Outpaces Its Neighbours
Context provided by Jersey Action Group places the island’s pay floor in a broader perspective: Jersey’s minimum wage is 29% above the hourly minimum wage in France, 79% above that of Spain, and 7% above the UK rate. That comparison is likely to feature heavily as the debate continues, with supporters of higher pay arguing it reflects Jersey’s elevated cost of living, while critics point to the pressure it places on businesses.
Those pressures are playing out against a difficult fiscal backdrop. According to the 2025 States of Jersey accounts, as cited by Jersey Action Group, corporate income tax fell by 3% and GST receipts fell by 4% against 2024, figures that those on both sides of the wage argument are likely to draw on as evidence for their respective positions.
The chamber of commerce interim president Eliot Lincoln said he did not want the minimum wage scrapped but believed it could not keep rising at the pace seen in previous years. He called for ‘an independent, evidence led review of Jersey’s approach, including the possibility of greater sectoral flexibility, appropriate trainee and entry level rates, and better use of the tax and benefits system to support household incomes’.
Kruger, speaking to the BBC, defended his arguments. ‘Go back and count how many businesses have closed in Jersey over the past few years and that’s because of the rise in costs,’ he said. ‘If we can get the costs down, and that’s what Value Jersey is fighting for, get the costs down people can be paid more.’ He added: ‘I believe in my heart and soul that if you want good people you pay them well, I do not believe that the government gets to force that.’
Co-leader of Reform Jersey Deputy Montfort Tadier called Value Jersey’s arguments ‘very alarming’ and Voisin’s comments ‘divisive’, warning that people on the island were already struggling with the cost of living and childcare, and were not looking to hear that wages might fall. He called on Voisin and his ‘shadowy party’ to ‘come out and give real solutions to the big ticket items that they have failed to do up until now’. The chief minister has confirmed there are no plans to scrap the minimum wage.
