Government of Jersey Key Worker Housing Final Report December 2018

Government of Jersey Key Worker Housing Final Report December 2018 Government of Jersey Key Worker Housing Project – Final Report Contents Executive Summary 1 Section 1: Introduction and Context 7 Introduction 8 Socio-Economic Context 9 Political Context 11 Population Context 13 Housing in Jersey 16 Section 2: Key Worker Definition 19 International use of the term ‘Key Worker’ 20 Developing a Definition 22 Recommended Government of Jersey Key Worker Definition 25 Section 3: Key Worker Situation and Drivers for Change 28 Recruitment 29 Retention 32 Implications of Recruitment and Retention Challenges 34 Section 4: Key Worker Accommodation Options 36 Introduction to Key Worker Accommodation 37 Options for Key Worker Accommodation 39 Affordable Leasing 41 Affordable Ownership 47 Section 5: Recommendations 51 Options Appraisal 52 Suggested Approach 54 Financial Implications 58 Recommendations and Next Steps 61 Page | i Government of Jersey Key Worker Housing Project – Final Report Appendix 1 | Document Review List 62 Appendix 2 | Interviewees and Focus Groups 64 Appendix 3 | Affordability Calculations 65 Appendix 4 | Financial Assumptions 69 Appendix 5 | Best Practice Case Studies 71 Appendix 6 | Technical Annex: Housing Demand Analysis 73 Page | ii Government of Jersey Key Worker Housing Project – Final Report Tables and Figures Table 1: Key Worker Recruitment Push and Pull Factors 2 Table 2: Key Worker Retention Push and Pull Factors 3 Figure 3: Options for a key worker housing solution 4 Figure 4: Key worker journey 5 Table 5: Residential and employment statuses 14 Table 6: Rental Affordability Calculations 17 Table 7: Example Uses Of the term ‘Key Worker’ 21 Figure 8: Stepped key worker definition 22 Table 9: Suggested key worker definition 26 Table 10: Aspects of a key worker definition 27 Table 11: International approaches to key worker accommodation 38 Figure 12: Options for a key worker housing solution 39 Table 13: SFA analysis 40 Table 14: Illustrative financial performance of the leasing options 43 Table 15: SFA analysis of short-term leasing 44 Table 16: SFA analysis of long-term leasing 45 Table 17: Illustrative financial performance of the ownership options 48 Table 18: SFA analysis of partial ownership 49 Table 19: SFA analysis of full ownership 50 Table 20: Summary of SFA for key worker options 52 Figure 21: Key worker journey 54 Table 22: Demand Analysis of Three Housing Options 56 Table 23: Unit mix required for key worker accommodation based on census data 57 Table 24: Assumed delivery of Key Worker Accommodation 58 Figure 25: Annual Surplus for Block Leasing and Development approaches 58 Table 26: Business plan debt and financial ratios 59 Figure 27: Interest Cover 59 Figure 28: Debt per Unit 59 Figure 29: Net Debt 60 Figure 30: Operating Costs per Unit excluding inflation 60 Table 31: Assumptions for illustrative modelling of options 69 Table 32: Base assumptions for financial modelling 70 Page | iii Government of Jersey Key Worker Housing Project – Final Report Our report is addressed to the Government of Jersey. We stress that our report is confidential and prepared for the addressees only. It should not be used, reproduced or circulated for any other purpose, whether in whole or in part without our prior written consent, which consent will only be given after full consideration of the circumstances at the time. If the report is released to a third party without prior consent from Altair, we do not acknowledge any duty of care to the third party and do not accept liability for any reliance placed on the report. Page | iv Government of Jersey Key Worker Housing Project – Final Report Executive Summary 1.1. Introduction 1.1.1. In September 2018, the Director General Department for Strategic Policy, Performance and Population (SPPP) appointed Altair to undertake research into the suitability of a key worker accommodation solution to address staff recruitment and retention difficulties faced by a number of the Government of Jersey’s (GoJ’s) departments. This report summarises our findings and makes recommendations as to: ▪ How the term key worker could be defined for use by GoJ ▪ Options for delivering a key worker accommodation solution 1.2. Context 1.2.1. Jersey has high vacancy rates in a number of areas of Health, Education and Children’s Services provision, and there have been difficulties in both the recruitment and retention of staff in these areas. Jersey’s island geography and limited training opportunities means that Jersey often has to rely on off-island recruitment (whether of people new to Jersey or returnees) to fill vacant positions. 1.2.2. The provision of services, and therefore the need for staff, in these departments can be seen as essential to the health and wellbeing of the island, but are made more critical by both the findings of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry (IJCI) and subsequent OFSTED inspection which found failings in Jersey’s child care system, and changing demographics on the island as the population, in common with many other Western nations ages. 1.2.3. On the island, restricting access to work and housing is used to control population (e.g. inward migration) but can create difficulties for key workers and their families when moving to the island. However, the government has taken steps to reduce these barriers, and while our qualitative research suggests these measures are not currently widely understood, it is hoped that this will in future support key workers and their families to remain on the island. 1.2.4. Jersey has a high cost of living, and low housing affordability in both the rental and ownership markets. This can make it challenging for all residents, including key workers to afford accommodation. However, housing assistance through the housing gateway is only open to those who have been resident on the island for ten years. This has left many key workers in the private leased sector where accommodation is reported to be of a low standard, although the introduction of the recent Public Health and Safety (rented dwellings) Law should begin to address this. 1.2.5. In addition to the private market, GoJ provides c.224 homes in locations located near to key worker workplaces. Of these 134 (60%) are provided to Health or Education staff. Page | 1 Government of Jersey Key Worker Housing Project – Final Report 1.3. Key Worker Definition 1.3.1. The term ‘key worker’ is widely used in the UK and has also been adopted by the States of Guernsey, and to some extent in New Zealand and Australia. The term is specifically linked to housing solutions for particular employee groups where there are skills shortages, or their roles are seen as essential. The purpose of defining what it means to be a key worker is to enable policy interventions targeted at this group of workers. Internationally approaches generally focus on four key factors: ▪ The service that the key worker is involved in providing ▪ A skills shortage, or other recruitment difficulties ▪ The public sector as an employer ▪ Income threshold that determines qualification 1.3.2. Through workshops with cross-departmental stakeholder engagement, we developed the following recommended definition of key worker in the context of Jersey: Those in (1) delivering statutory services or those akin to statutory services, where there is (2) evidenced difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff, who have a (3) household income below a minimum threshold. 1.3.3. Further analysis will be required for this definition to be able to be adopted, and Jersey will need to determine: ▪ Which roles are statutory or akin to statutory for the delivery of public services? ▪ Which roles are difficult to recruit to and retain staff in? ▪ What should be the household income threshold? 1.4. Barriers to Recruiting and Retaining Key Workers 1.4.1. Key workers in Jersey come from both on-island (where training may be required) and off-island (whether having previously lived in Jersey, those from the UK or those from other nations). While there are common pull factors and barriers in recruitment for these pools, some factors may be specific to the expectations and experiences of each group. Further, an individual’s circumstances (e.g. household composition, lifestyle preferences, culture and values) will influence the extent to which they experience the pull factors and barriers. 1.4.2. Table 1, below highlights the competing recruitment pressures for key workers Table 1: Key Worker Recruitment Push and Pull Factors Pull Factors Barriers ▪ Funding for training ▪ International skills shortages ▪ Higher salaries ▪ Significance of moving to Jersey ▪ Additional responsibilities ▪ Employment, health and housing ▪ Low tax regime ▪ Difficulties in securing ▪ Similar culture to the UK accommodation prior to moving ▪ Moving benefits ▪ Probation period ▪ Perceived lifestyle benefits Page | 2 Government of Jersey Key Worker Housing Project – Final Report 1.4.3. In terms of key worker retention there is also a competing set of pressures determining whether a key worker is retained or exits (either by leaving the island or leaving the profession). These are summarised in table 2. Table 2: Key Worker Retention Push and Pull Factors Key Push Factors ▪ Provision of key worker ▪ Cost of living, particularly housing accommodation (where this is affordability available) ▪ Housing quality ▪ ‘Settling’ of family members ▪ Lack of preparedness to make the (particularly dependents) move to Jersey ▪ Lifestyle benefits ▪ Weaknesses in the on-boarding ▪ Reported good work-life balance process ▪ Better career progression ▪ Lack of clarity over employment and opportunities housing policy ▪ Sense of inequity between permanent and locum / agency staff 1.4.4. The recruitment and retention difficulties for GoJ have implications both in terms of the need to rely on short-term staff and increases in the cost of recruitment. This has not only financial consequences for GoJ, but creates difficulties in workforce sustainability, morale, quality of service delivery, and the relationships with service users.

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