States tenants' residential status and Social Security benefits (FOI)

Request

A

How many individuals are currently living in States housing that do not fulfil the 10-year residency requirement (p3 and people in wheelchairs or otherwise unable to use stairs not included)?

B

How many individuals are currently in receipt of any Social Security payments that do not fulfil current five-year contribution requirements?

Breakdown:

• Rent support
• Child support
• Income support
• P1, P2 and P3 payments

Response 

A

We do not hold this information.

The tenancy of social rented housing will not be offered to an individual unless they have established Entitled status under the Control of Housing and Work (Residential and Employment Status) (Jersey) Regulations 2013. In addition, an individual will not be accepted on the Affordable Housing Gateway waiting list, through which social rented housing is allocated, unless they have Entitled status and meet all other qualifying criteria.

B

The breakdown refers exclusively to payments that are provided through the Income Support benefit. Entitlement to Income Support is not determined by contribution requirements, it is awarded based on the financial needs of households who meet the qualifying conditions. It is paid on a household basis.

The primary qualifying condition is for adult members of the household to prove they have been continuously resident in the Island for at least five years. So, in this respect the only individuals who are in receipt of payments from Income Support without meeting the residency condition would be an extremely small number of people who have received an exemption to the residency requirements from the Social Security Minister.

These are extremely rare and only issued to people who are close to meeting the test and have suffered hardship. Further detail cannot be given as this could lead to individual households being identified.

An adult who does not meet the residency test (typically a partner) may be included in an Income Support household, but cannot receive any payments in respect of themselves. Payment is made to the partner who meets the residency test in respect of components such as accommodation and any components for children. The non-resident partner does not receive the components that would be paid to the household in respect of an individual: these are the adult component, impairment award (referred to in the question as P1, P2 and P3) or carer’s component.

However, any income such as earnings or child maintenance received will be taken into consideration as an income into the household. The non-resident adult is included in the household so that their income may be taken into account.

Exemption applied

Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011
Article 25 - Personal Information

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.