Social Security scheme

About the Social Security contributory scheme

The Social Security contributory scheme is like an insurance scheme.

You pay in contributions and the scheme pays out contributory benefits at times when you might not be able to earn a living, for example:

when you have an illness or disability
if you are starting a family
if you are caring for someone
if your partner dies
if your employer goes out of business
in later life

Benefits that are currently available

The following table shows all the contributory benefits currently available.

Benefit	Payable when
Parental Allowance	You have a baby
Parental Grant	You have a baby
Adoption Grant	You adopt a child
Short Term Incapacity Allowance	You’re signed off work with a medical certificate
Long Term Incapacity Allowance	You have a long-term illness or disability
Invalidity Benefit
Incapacity Pension
Home Carer’s Allowance	You’re looking after someone with a long-term illness or disability
Survivor’s Allowance	Your husband, wife or civil partner dies
Survivor’s Pension	Your husband, wife or civil partner dies and you have dependent children
Old Age Pension	You've reached pension age
Death Grant	Someone dies, to help with funeral costs
Insolvency benefit	You lose your job because your employer goes bust

These benefits are paid based on how much you’ve contributed, known as your contribution record, and the rules of that benefit.

Contributory benefits don’t take into account your level of income or your savings.

Find out more about benefits and financial support.

Social Security contributions and who pays them

During your working life up to pension age, you’re liable to pay contributions, whether you’re working or not.

These contributions are used to pay contributory benefits, including the old age pension.

In 2024, for every pound of expenditure:

77p was used to pay for old age pensions
20p was used to pay for working age benefits
3p was used to run the scheme

For more detailed information on how your contributions are used, visit our contributions page.

How the Social Security scheme is different to Income Support

With the Social Security scheme, you pay in contributions and the scheme pays out contributory benefits at times when you might not be able to earn a living.

This means that if you pay your contributions, you can get benefits, regardless of how much money you have.

Income Support is a different kind of benefit. It’s designed to help low income households. You can claim Income Support if you have a low income and you meet the necessary residency and working tests.

Income Support is funded through general taxation. Social Security contributions are not used to pay Income Support.

Find more information about Income Support.

Social Security Funds

The Social Security scheme is run through a ring-fenced Social Security Fund, which is separate from the Island’s general finances.

Your contributions are paid into the Fund, along with an annual States Grant from general taxation.

There is also a Social Security Reserve Fund which holds reserves that have been built up since the late 1990s and generates investment returns.

Together, these sources of income help maintain the Fund’s long-term stability and ensure that contributory benefits, including the Social Security pension, can continue to be paid well into the future.

Financial and investment performance

Each year, the financial information and investment performance of the Social Security Funds are published in the Annual Report and Accounts for the States of Jersey in the following sections:

Performance Report
Notes to the Accounts

Actuarial reviews

There is a legal requirement for the Social Security Fund to be reviewed by independent actuaries every 4 years. The actuarial reviews:

assess the Fund’s financial position
provide 60 year financial projections
consider long-term sustainability

The reports can be found on the States Assembly website. The most recent reports are listed below:

Report by the Government Actuary on the Social Security Fund as at 31 December 2021 on the States Assembly website

Report by the Government Actuary on the Social Security Fund as at 31 December 2017 on the States Assembly website

As of 31 December 2025, the next actuarial review will take place during 2026.