--- title: "Constable calls for ageing crisis to be a strategic priority" url: https://www.nsfw.info/constable-calls-ageing-crisis-strategic-priority/ published: 2026-11-02T11:00:53+00:00 modified: 2026-11-02T11:00:53+00:00 author: "Chief Editor" categories: ["Government"] image: https://www.nsfw.info/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/constable-calls-ageing-crisis-strategic-priority-1024x572.webp summary: "St Helier Constable Inna Gardiner has tabled an amendment to Jersey's Common Strategic Policy, arguing the government's four-year plan overlooks the Island's ra" publisher: NSFW (https://www.nsfw.info) --- # Constable calls for ageing crisis to be a strategic priority **In brief:** St Helier Constable Inna Gardiner has tabled an amendment to Jersey’s Common Strategic Policy, arguing that the government’s four-year plan fails to treat the Island’s ageing population as a strategic challenge in its own right. Her amendment calls for demographic change to be embedded across all areas of government policy, alongside a new Age-Friendly Infrastructure Framework. The CSP and all amendments are due to be debated from Tuesday 10 November. ## A Grey Area in the Green Paper Jersey’s government has set out its stall for the next four years in the Common Strategic Policy, covering healthcare, housing, infrastructure and economic growth. Commendable topics, all of them. But according to St Helier Constable Inna Gardiner, the document has a rather significant blind spot: the Island is getting older, fast, and the CSP does not appear to have fully noticed. In a formal amendment to the CSP, Mrs Gardiner argues that Jersey’s falling birthrate and rapidly growing elderly population will place mounting pressure on public finances, the workforce, healthcare and housing. She says the policy refers to “an ageing public estate” and to “anticipating future healthcare demands,” but stops short of recognising population ageing as a strategic challenge in its own right. That, she contends, is not good enough. The numbers behind her concern are striking. The Jersey Evening Post reports that the number of Islanders aged 65 and over increased by 12% between 2019 and 2024, against overall population growth of just 1%. The number of people aged 85 and over is projected to more than double, regardless of future migration levels. Meanwhile, Jersey’s fertility rate has hit its lowest recorded level, with more deaths than births recorded in 2024. These are not distant projections; they are already reshaping the Island’s demographic landscape. ## Independence, Infrastructure and the Economy Mrs Gardiner’s amendment is not simply a call to worry more about older people. It makes a practical, fiscally grounded case. Helping older Islanders remain independent, active and connected to their communities, she argues, would deliver “measurable savings” to health and care systems. Supporting people to remain in employment for longer, if they wish to do so, could benefit both individuals and the wider economy. In other words, investing in age-friendly policy is not a cost; it is a saving. The amendment also calls for the introduction of an Age-Friendly Infrastructure Framework, building on work Mrs Gardiner has already done. During the previous political term, she successfully brought a proposition calling for walkable “ten-minute neighbourhoods,” where elderly Islanders can access essential services on foot. That initiative now forms part of the broader framework she is seeking to embed in the CSP. She is also asking the government to support businesses in responding to an older workforce and to promote greater social inclusion within the economy. As she put it in her amendment: “An age-friendly approach to all policy considerations is a social imperative and a financially sound investment in Jersey’s future.” ## The Debate Ahead The CSP, along with all proposed amendments, is due to be debated by States Members during the sitting beginning on Tuesday 10 November. Mrs Gardiner’s amendment will not be the only one on the table, but it addresses what many would consider one of the most consequential long-term trends facing the Island. The question for the Council of Ministers will be whether they accept that demographic ageing deserves its own strategic thread running through government policy, or whether they continue to treat it as a sub-theme tucked beneath healthcare and housing headings. Given the figures involved, the former seems rather more prudent than the latter. ## The NSFW Perspective There is something quietly refreshing about a politician bringing an amendment that is simultaneously compassionate and fiscally conservative. Mrs Gardiner is not asking for a new spending programme; she is asking the government to think more clearly before it spends, and to design policy that keeps people independent rather than dependent. That is the kind of joined-up thinking that tends to get lost in the machinery of government, where each department guards its own budget and nobody quite owns the big picture. Jersey’s demographic trajectory is not a surprise. The numbers have been visible for years. If the CSP genuinely does not treat population ageing as a strategic priority in its own right, that is a curious omission for a document meant to guide the Island through the next four years. The States Assembly will have its say on 10 November. One hopes Members read the figures before they vote. *Source: [Jersey Evening Post](https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2026/11/02/call-for-greater-focus-on-ageing-population)*