Top issues for islanders

Published:

Mar 5, 2025

Updated:

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Introduction

This Brief explains the importance of assessing the issues about which the public are concerned and presents the results of a survey commissioned by the Policy Centre in January 2025.

Summary

It is important to know what people consider to be the most important issues facing the Island. This should influence the issues that are prioritised by politicians and others. Properly structured research surveys are the most effective way to understand people’s views.

The Government’s Engagement and Information Improvement Report (October 2022) recommended that a structured centralised approach to observing public opinion should be implemented to provide Ministers with information about current issues that matter most to Islanders.

The Government commissioned one such survey, in January 2024. Unprompted, the top issues were economic concerns (34%), followed by housing (21%) and faith in government (12%). Young people (17-24) were more likely to cite housing as their top issue, those aged 25-74 economic concerns (eg cost of living, inﬂation) and those over 74 faith in government.

The Policy Centre repeated the survey in January 2025. Unprompted, the most important issues were cost of living (29%), housing (17%), faith in government (9%) and population levels (9%). When asked about other issues the combined figures for most important/other issues were cost of living (64%), housing (59%), the hospital (51%), healthcare (49%) and faith in government (45%).

Cost of living was significantly more important for respondents with dependent children than for those without and for those in the 35-54 age group than those in the other age groups. This is not surprising, as people in these groups are likely to have higher expenditure on housing as well as expenditure on children.

For the under 35s housing was the most important prompted and unprompted issue and significantly more important than for other age groups.

While cost of living was the top prompted and unprompted issue it was less of an issue in 2025 compared with 2024, which may reflect the increase in real earnings over the past year. Healthcare and ageing population showed significant increases between the two surveys.

In the most recent (January 2025) IPSOS Issues Index for the UK, economy was the most important/other issue (37%), followed by NHS/hospital/healthcare (33%) and immigration/immigrants (33%).

Assessing issues that concern people

It is important for policy makers and interest groups to understand the issues that concern people. This can most effectively be done by properly structured research surveys. The model is the well-established Ipsos Issues Index in the UK. This is conducted every three months and asks just one question: “What do you see as the most/other important issues facing Britain today?” In the absence of such surveys public policy discussions are more likely to be based on anecdotal evidence or campaigns, with comments, not supported by evidence, such as “everyone I speak to is concerned about…..” or “the overwhelming weight of public opinion is in favour of……”, or “what I am hearing on the doorstep is…..”.

The Government’s Engagement and Information Improvement Report (October 2022) included the following comment –

Having compared Jersey’s current practice with best practice in other jurisdictions an identified gap is polling (i.e. the continuous monitoring of public opinion through mass surveying). Polling would assist Government in understanding public opinion on a broad range of issues in a timely fashion, in turn allowing Government to assess its priorities and how policies might be received.

Recommendation A10 in the report was that –

A structured centralised approach to observing public opinion should be implemented to provide Ministers with information about current issues that matter most to Islanders.

The January 2024 survey

One survey was duly done in January 2024. The fieldwork was done by the market research company 4Insight. The results have not been published, but were released in November 2024 in response to a freedom of information request. The key results were -

Unprompted, the top issues were economic concerns (eg cost of living) (34%), followed by housing (21%) and faith in government (12%).
Young people (17-24) were more likely to cite housing as their top issue, those aged 25-74 economic concerns (eg cost of living, inﬂation), those over 74 faith in government.
Regardless of income levels, economic concerns (eg cost of living, inﬂation) were the most important issue.
Other frequently mentioned issues included the hospital (7%) and population levels (5%).
When asked to select (up to four) “other Important Issues” facing Jersey, economic concerns (eg cost of living, inﬂation) was still the most commonly selected (50%), followed by the hospital (43%) and faith in government/politicians (36%).
Talent leaving the island (32%), healthcare (32%) and housing (31%) were also selected frequently.
Weighting the data by ethnicity and age had little eﬀect on the results.

The January 2025 Survey

The Policy Centre has taken up the concept, using the format adopted for the January 2024 survey with the research being done by the same company 4Insight. The survey had 1,362 respondents, compared with 1,801 in the 2024 survey. The results are published on the Policy Centre website.

The following charts shows the top issues mentioned spontaneously and the top/other issues.

Figure 1 What do you see as the most important issues facing Jersey today

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Figure 2 What do you see as the most important/other issues facing Jersey today

Unprompted, the most important issues were cost of living (29%), housing (17%), faith in government (9%) and population levels (9%). When asked about other issues from a list the combined figures for most important/ other issues were cost of living (64%), housing (59%), the hospital (51%), healthcare (49%) and faith in government (45%).

It is important to analyse the results by different categories of respondent. Clearly, the issues facing young people with children are likely to be different from the issues facing retired people. The following three charts show breakdowns by age group, household composition and household income.

Figure 3 Most/other important issue by age group

Figure 4 Most/other important issue by dependent children

Figure 5 Most/other important issue by household income

Key points –

Cost of living was significantly more important for respondents with dependent children than for those without and for those in the 35-54 age group than for those in the other age groups. This is not surprising as people in these groups are likely to have higher expenditure on housing as well as expenditure on children.
Housing was the most important/other issue for 17-34 age group and significantly more important than for other age groups. This reflects that this age group is most likely to be paying a high proportion of their income on housing costs. Those in the older age groups have in many cases paid of mortgages and therefore had minimal housing costs.
Poverty and inequality were seen as an issue by 36% of those with dependent children but 22% of those with no dependent children.
Population levels were seen as an issue by 39% of the 55+ age group but 20% of the 17-34 age group.
Healthcare and the hospital were more significant issues for the elderly than for the other age groups.
Faith in government was an issue for 51% of the 55+ plus age group but 32% of the 17-34 age group.
Climate change and the environment were issues for 27% of the 17-34 age group but 16% of the 55+ age group.
Perhaps one surprise was that cost of living was more of an issue for the highest income group (72%) than for the lowest income group (63%). This may partially reflect the age point, that is that some in the low income group are elderly people with lower expenditure on housing and children than those in other age groups. Also, the question was about issues for the Island, not issues for themselves. Many high income people may well recognise that cost of living is an important issue for the island if not for them.

It is useful to compare the results with those from the Jersey Opinions and Lifestyle Survey Report 2024. The proportions of people who reported that they found it difficult to cope financially ranged from 82% for single parents to 47% for couples with children, 36% for working age people living alone and 24% for pensioners. So families with children are more likely to cite cost of living as the main problem facing the Island and also are the group that have most difficulty in coping financially.

Comparison with the 2024 Survey

The results of the 2025 survey can be compared directly with those in the 2024 survey as the same questions were used. Table 1 shows the data for the most important/other issues.

Table 1 Most important/other issues, 2025 compared with 2024

There were few significant changes between the two surveys. While cost of living remained the top issue it was however less of an issue in 2025 than in 2024, which may well reflect the substantial reduction in the rate of inflation from 7.5% in the year to December 2023 to 2.5% in the year to December 2024. Healthcare and ageing population showed significant increases between the two surveys.

Comparison with the UK

The survey is broadly comparable with the regular survey conducted by Ipsos. The following chart is reproduced from the most recent survey Ipsos Issues Index (January 2025).

Figure 6 IPSOS Issues Index, January 2025 - most/other important issues facing Britain today

Economy was the top issue (37%), followed by NHS/hospital/healthcare (33%) and immigration/immigrants (33%). That economy was identified as a separate issue from inflation and prices complicates the comparison with Jersey. The most significant difference between Jersey and the UK was in respect of immigration. One reason for this may be that immigration is constantly in the news in the UK and public opinion is influenced by what is in the news as well as the news being influenced by what the public think.

The IPSOS figures are disaggregated by sex, social grade, ethnic background and age. For example, immigration scored 25% in the 18-34 age group but 41% in the 55+ age group. By contrast, housing scored 24% in the younger age group but 9% in the older age group. This pattern is similar to that in Jersey.

The reports track trends since 2014. For example, inflation scored just 2% in June 2021, then rising to 54% in August 2022 and falling to 17% in January 2025. Immigration scored 56% in September 2015, falling to 5% in April 2020 rising to 38% in October 2024 and falling to 33% in January 2025.

Comparison with Guernsey

There is no directly comparable survey in Guernsey.

The political organisation Future Guernsey has published the results of a survey on “what issues are islanders facing”. The chart published by Future Guernsey is reproduced below. There is no detail about the survey so it should be interpreted with caution. However, the top three issues were the same as for Jersey. Education scored significantly higher than in Jersey. The high figure for transport off the Island may well reflect that the survey was undertaken when there was uncertainty about the ferry service.