19 January 2026
Statement from the Minister for Social Security, Deputy Lyndsay Feltham:
I want to provide clarity and reassurance regarding the current situation with JET, following
understandable concern arising from recent media coverage.
Just to be clear from the outset, I have not cut base funding to JET, nor would I ever consider doing so, as
it would go against everything I believe in and would be in contradiction with the strong disability
inclusion agenda that I have pursued as Minister for Social Security.
JET supports an average caseload of 336 people. They are operating on an old and out-of-date funding
arrangement which, given the difficulties JET have raised, clearly needs to be updated so they can
continue to provide their services on a sustainable footing for the future, as well as play their part in an
overall coordinated approach to ensure all Islanders with disabilities are supported.
Last year, I was able to offer a one-off top-up grant to JET of £785,000 (on top of their £1.9m baseline
funding), due to the underspends we had achieved in the departmental budget which we were able to be
reallocated. I made it clear to JET that it was just fortuitous that I was able to offer this, and that we could
not guarantee it on further occasions, because underspends will always vary. In providing that funding
my aim was to use 2025 to work collaboratively with JET to produce a new contract for 2026 that provided
appropriate baseline funding and ensured that service provision is coordinated across JET, Social
Security, CYPES and Health.
A key part of this work would involve a data-sharing agreement so we could understand the scale of
support provided by JET to its clients, and what other support each of them was receiving, which would
ensure we could provide the best coordinated approach across all appropriate agencies. This would have
put us in the best position to develop a business case which, if necessary, I could submit to Treasury for
extra funding for an enhanced baseline funding budget for them (with future-proofing safeguards
included).
Unfortunately, despite ongoing dialogue, this work was not completed during the year, in large
part because the JET Board did not come to an agreement with us to share data. This year, I do not have
the flexibility with underspends that I was able to enjoy last year. Nonetheless, my Chief Officer has
worked extremely hard to find anything we could offer, and we have been able to provide a top-up grant of
£200,000, plus an RPI uplift on their baseline funding. This funding was paid in December.
Within this year’s Budget I also secured more funding for disability and inclusion initiatives and my
intention was to use that money to make meaningful progress on the delivery of priority areas agreed by
the Disability and Inclusion Advisory Group. Whilst it had not been the intention to use this money for an
additional top-up for JET, I am also conscious that the Group has cited the need for data sharing
between Government and partner agencies as one of the best ways to ensure that people have access to
services in the most efficient way. Therefore, I intend to use this money to provide stabilisation funding
for JET in 2026 to enable us to continue to work in a collaborative manner to develop a business case for
a sustainable future funding model.
My team and I (along with our colleagues in CYPES and Health and Care Jersey) are eager to work with JET
to produce a business case which we can submit to Treasury to put all JET funding on a permanently
sustainable footing, so we can all focus on what matters here which is ensuring all Islanders with
disabilities have the support they need to help them reach their potential.
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