Government of Jersey

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A decision made 25 February 2011:

Decision Reference: MD-S-2011-0009
Decision Summary Title :	DS - Amendments to Christmas Bonus (Jersey) Law 1991 – Law drafting instructions		Date of Decision Summary:	24 February 2011
Decision Summary Author:	Business Manager		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	WR - Amendments to Christmas Bonus (Jersey) Law 1991 – Law drafting instructions		Date of Written Report:	28 January 2011
Written Report Author:	Policy Director		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Law drafting instructions for amendments to the Christmas Bonus (Jersey) Law 1991
Decision(s): The Minister approved the Law Drafting instructions for the Christmas Bonus (Jersey) Law 1991.
Reason(s) for Decision: As part of the Comprehensive Spending Review, the Minister for Social Security put forward changes to the Christmas Bonus to create a saving of £439,000 in 2011. During the Annual Business Plan debate, the States approved an amendment to these changes brought by Senator Le Gresley to create a saving of £445,632 in 2011. The amended proposal, as approved by the States, is that the Christmas Bonus should no longer be paid to individuals living outside Jersey, or individuals living in Jersey who currently only qualify on the grounds of residency and age. In addition the value of the Christmas bonus should be reduced to £78 in 2011, £80 in 2012 and £82 in 2013.The Christmas Bonus is administered through the Christmas Bonus (Jersey) Law 1991 and this legislation will need to be revised to bring about the agreed changes.
Resource Implications: There are no financial or manpower implications.
Action required: Policy Director to submit instructions to the Law Draftsman’s Office.
Signature:		Position: Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Christmas Bonus (Jersey) Law 1991 - Law drafting instructions for amendments

Comprehensive Spending Review 2011 -

Amendments to Christmas Bonus (Jersey) law 1991

Law drafting brief

As part of the Comprehensive Spending Review, the Minister for Social Security put forward changes to the Christmas Bonus (SS-S8) to create a saving of £439,000 in 2011. During the Annual Business Plan debate, the States approved an amendment to these changes brought by Senator Le Gresley (P.99 6th amendment) to create a saving of £445,632 in 2011.

The amended proposal, as approved by the States, is that the Christmas Bonus should no longer be paid to:

Individuals living outside Jersey;
Individuals living in Jersey who currently only qualify on the grounds of residency and age.

In addition the value of the Christmas bonus should be reduced to £78 in 2011, £80 in 2012 and £82 in 2013.

The Christmas Bonus is administered through the Christmas Bonus (Jersey) Law 1991 and the following articles will need to be revised to bring about the agreed changes to the Bonus:

Article 1 Interpretation

The concept of “pensionable age” will no longer be required as the benefit will no longer be payable on the grounds of age alone.

Article 2 Entitlement

Articles 2(2) and 2(5) currently provide entitlement to individuals on the basis of residency in Jersey and age. Entitlement will no longer be available on these grounds.

Articles 2(3) and 2(6) currently provide entitlement to individuals not ordinarily resident in Jersey. Entitlement will no longer be available on these grounds.

Article 3 Amount of bonus

Article 3(2) provides for the value of the Christmas bonus in every year after 1991.

The value of the Christmas bonus in 2011 should be set at £78.

The value of the Christmas bonus in 2012 should be set at £80.

The value of the Christmas bonus in 2013 should be set at £82.

From 2014, the value of the Christmas bonus should revert to a formula, based on the change in the percentage figure halfway between the percentage change in the retail price index and the percentage change in the earnings index during the 12 months commencing in July of the preceding year.

Please note that the reference to rounding up to the next highest 50p should be removed from the formula. The power of the States to set the amount of Christmas bonus under Article 8 should remain.

Article 4 Time of payment

Article 4(2) refers to claims for Christmas bonus being made up to the end of January. As the Christmas bonus will now always be linked to a qualifying benefit, it will be paid automatically and there will be no need to make a claim. However, it would be sensible to retain this article to cover the situation in which an individual did not receive an automatic payment for some reason, or wished to challenge the decision of the Minister not to make a payment.

In addition, the following areas of the current Law require updating:

Article 1 Interpretation

The “Jersey cost of living index” and the “Jersey index of earnings” have now been replaced by indices produced by the Statistics Unit.

Article 6 Administration

The current law does not allow for any appeals against decisions made in respect of the Law. Under the revised Law, the only decision that could be challenged would be that of determining ordinary residence. Even though decision-making is limited under the revision, a proper appeal process should be included. This could be based on paragraphs 7 to 15 of the schedule to the Food Costs Bonus Regulations.

Article 6(3) could be replaced by the relevant sections of paragraph 5(1) of the same Schedule.

Article 7 Penalties

Please ensure that this Article is brought up to date as appropriate.

A provision similar to paragraph 16 of the Schedule to the Food Costs Bonus Regulations should also be included to enable recovery of amounts paid incorrectly.

NB. References to the Food Costs Bonus Regulations are included as an example of recent law drafting practice. It may be possible to create a link between the Christmas Bonus Legislation and another law that contains similar articles.

Schedule

The Income Support (Jersey) Regulations 2007 no longer include paragraph 6(3)(d).