Rules on temporary workers like 'the wild west'

A deputy has described the rules on trades businesses coming to the island to undertake work as being like "the wild west".

It comes after Guernsey resident Carole Cook was left with "shoddy" work after hiring a UK company which was staying on the island to undertake roof repairs.

Deputy Ross Le Brun said there was currently no way of enforcing the rules that a non-Guernsey-based business can work in the island without a permit for up to 10 days.

He said there was no way of telling how long businesses were staying on the island or ensuring they were paying social security contributions.

Le Brun said the situation Cook found herself in was "just typical of the things that have been happening for a long time".

"Local customers are being taken for fools basically, because these companies are coming over knowing that once their job's done they're gone and there's no come back to them," he said.

Le Brun, who used to run a labour hire business, said he had campaigned for better legislation on visiting businesses since 2016.

"When a UK company comes to the island, before they leave the UK, they're supposed to get what's called a certificate of continuing liability," he said.

"Now if they haven't got that in place they're supposed to sign up with our social security, but because we've got no system in place, it's like the Wild West really."

He said better legislation would be "basic, good, due diligence" for government and registering the companies would ensure they pay social security contributions.

Le Brun said any businesses coming to the island and doing unsatisfactory work were not breaking any laws.

"The police need something to work on, that's the problem, we haven't got the laws," he said.

"Although they rip people off they probably weren't breaking any actual laws because all the laws are so lapsed.

"It sort of totally ignores people and obviously the economy.

"That money that they're earning is actually supposed to be being paid here, but we've just got no system in place to collect it or to even know who's here."

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