Jersey civil servant numbers have increased by 10% in seven years

The study is being carried out to see whether Jersey's 6,400 civil servants offer value for money.

The States' staff are estimated to cost about �240m in wages each year.

Policy and Resources Committee President Senator Frank Walker said his committee will have the results of the exercise in January.

Service cuts

BBC Jersey Home Affairs Producer John Henderson said: "The importance of the process, known as benchmarking, cannot be underestimated for disgruntled taxpayers.

"For the first time, they and the island's politicians will be armed with the facts and figures as to how good, or bad, Jersey's civil servants are.

"It's vital that before the politicians can start doing what the public says it wants, and that's reducing the size of the public sector, they understand which civil servants come up to scratch and which don't."

The number of people working for Jersey's States has increased by 10% in the last seven years.