Jersey voucher scheme should help 'hardest hit' in future

The hardest hit businesses should benefit from any future government-led voucher schemes, a committee has said.

Jersey's Spend Local scheme was launched in September 2020 to help businesses affected by Covid-19.

Islanders were sent a £100 pre-paid card, which could be spent at local businesses.

The scheme, which 91% of islanders used, was reviewed by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Deputy Inna Gardiner, committee chair, said despite the scheme offering a boost to many businesses: "We believe the government can - and should - do more to target any future incentives so they support the sectors most affected by Covid-19.

"We call for the government to ensure that they use the lessons learned from the Spend Local card to develop future policy propositions to support the hardest hit industries, and islanders on low incomes."

The Spend Local scheme was part of a broader £150m economic package to assist with recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

It was not specifically created to maximise the positive impact on sectors most affected by the pandemic, the committee found.

The review recommended that any future schemes should use data gathering to monitor their effectiveness and then further research could be used to develop future policy decisions.

The committee said the scheme had attracted interest from policymakers in Northern Ireland and Scotland and the former had used Jersey as a model for an equivalent Spend Local scheme.

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