Guernsey States records £135m deficit in 2022

The States of Guernsey recorded a £135m deficit in 2022, a report has found.

The States of Guernsey Accounts 2022 found the poor performance was mainly down to investments.

The accounts showed an operational deficit of £3m, meaning the States spent more than it brought in through tax and social security receipts.

Deputy Mark Helyar blamed the poor year on increasing demand for health services, the war in Ukraine and "international recruitment challenges".

The treasury lead for Policy and Resources said: "The continuing rise in demand for health services is impacting our public finances now, this is not a problem for the future anymore."

In 2022, the States saw an increase of 31 employees working for it, with 4,896 people contracted as full-time employees.

However, the States budgeted for 5,200 - a significant number of vacancies remain as a result of recruitment challenges.

The only committee to overspend on its 2022 budget was Health and Social Care, which was budgeted £207m, but spent close to £211m.

The report found the overspend was "driven by high demand levels across multiple services and a considerable reliance on agency staff to delivery these services".

Mr Helyar said: "What is positive is that we continue to move forward in our transition to International Public Sector Accounting Standards.

"As we get nearer to completing the transition, I hope it puts to bed the myth that the Accounts, which are independently audited, aren't accurate or cannot be relied upon.

"This has never been the case, but it's become a way of distracting from the genuine problem of our deficit which we must deal with urgently."

The accounts for the first time included the depreciation of States assets - which was calculated as £30m for 2022.

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