Where a decade of state hiring went, Guernsey against the UK
Staff growth by function, 2016 to 2025: health 57.7% in Guernsey against 33% in the UK, administration 12% in Guernsey against 34.6% in the UK, education 16.2% in Guernsey against 1.3% in the UK, uniformed 19.2% in Guernsey against 15.2% in the UK.
Read this with the chart: Percentage growth, not levels, and the categories are matched rather than identical. Guernsey's established staff is the nearest thing the island has to a civil service but the accounts define it more widely, taking in social workers, psychologists, environmental health, safeguarding, regulatory, justice and probation roles. Its uniformed line carries prison, fire and border officers the UK police figure does not. Guernsey figures are average FTE from the accounts' staff-by-pay-group tables with controlled entities excluded from both years; UK figures are FTE at June from ONS public sector employment by industry, except the Civil Service line, which is from the sector-classification table.
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Sources
- ONS, "Public sector employment, UK: March 2026" reference tables (Tables 3, 4 and 5), June figures
- States of Guernsey Data & Analysis, Guernsey Quarterly Population, Employment and Earnings Bulletin (issued 29 October 2024) and supplementary data
- States of Guernsey Accounts, staff by pay group (2016 note 7, 2025 note 6c)
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