5 hours ago
Ammar EbrahimJersey political reporter
BBC
The number of Jersey families using food banks has tripled in four years and a member of the island's Portuguese community says many of its members are moving back to Portugal and Madeira because of the cost of living.
These were the main concerns raised as the BBC spoke to voters in St Helier Central - the second most highly populated district with 12,500 residents - ahead of Jersey's 2026 general election as part of a roadshow visiting every voting district.
Patrick Lynch, head of Caritas Jersey - a charity that supports vulnerable islanders, said ahead of the last election in 2022, they were seeing 195 families at the foodbank run by St Vincent De Paul, but now they were seeing 650 families.
Lynch said: "From 2022 and 2023 inflation and interest rates went up and a lot of people were seeing rent increases of 20-30%.
"So, with those increases in rent, those people on low wages whose salaries used to get them to the end of the month previously, no longer got them to the end of the month.
"Therefore, the only resort is to go to a foodbank because there literally is nothing left in the bank account."
He said the cost of living had become the "buzz phrase" of the election "but no-one is really actually saying what they're going to do and do quickly".
Lynch said: "We would ask all candidates to commit to introducing a living wage over the lifetime of the next assembly.
"So for somebody working 40 hours, that's an extra £1.51 for each of those 40 hours, that could be the difference between them getting to the end of the month or not."
The living wage increased to £15.10 in January 2026 and the minimum wage increased to £13.59 in April 2026.
Claudia Alves, a community advocate who was born in Madeira, said a lot of the Portuguese community were now leaving Jersey and moving back to Madeira in part because of the cost of living.
"The costs in Jersey, especially with accommodation and food, has sky rocketed in the past decade and people are struggling to make ends meet," she said.
"I think the community now feels that Jersey doesn't have much left to offer, back in the 70s, 80s, 90s coming to Jersey was a symbol of empowerment for people because they were able to earn money that they couldn't do back home.
"In Madeira there has been an increase of job availability, which means that people now see a future back home, which they didn't see a few years ago, and they don't see a future in Jersey, so that is the shift."
Alves said Brexit had also impacted the community: "Businesses are struggling to hire staff and with the restrictions put in place post-Brexit, its becoming harder to employ people that aren't Jersey residents already.
"And because so many Portuguese residents are now moving back to Portugal, it's became hard to replace restaurant staff, construction staff and cleaning staff."
Patricia Czapka, a St Helier Central resident, said the cost-of-living pressures meant she was considering moving to the UK, particularly because of the cost of housing.
She said: "One day I want to have a home not just a rental, I want to be able to relax in my own home, I want to be able to paint the walls, have a garden, have my own private parking space, I just want to be able to live in peace."
The election will be held on the Sunday 7 June and the list of candidates standing in St Helier central can be found here.
Related internet links
Extracted and lightly reformatted for readability. · Source: pt