Income Support figures (FOI)

Request

A

How many people, in the active process of claiming Income Support, LTIA OR STIA, have committed suicide whilst waiting for adjudication of their claims?

B

How long does the average claim take for:

i) STIA take for approval and payment?

ii) LTIA take for approval and payment?

iii) Income Support take for approval and payment?

C

How many claims are currently in existence for where more than 90 days has elapsed since a claim was initiated in (i), (ii) and (iii) above, - as 31 July 2022 ie., how many claims have been pending for more than 90 days as at 31 July 2022?

D

What is the official Social Security policy re treatment of persons under the care of Jersey Mental Health Unit or identified with mental health problems due to circumstances beyond their control? 

When was that policy introduced? If no Policy exists as at 31 August 2022 when will the Minister bring forward such a written Policy?

E

What is the official Social Security policy for the treatment of all persons with disabilities?

When was that policy introduced? If no Policy exists as at 31 August 2022 when will the Minister bring forward such a written Policy?

Are any Leaflets freely available to the public outlining how such persons will be treated when dealing with the department of Social Security?

Response

A

The information requested is not held. Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

B (i)

If a medical certificate is correctly completed and not related to any existing benefits the customer is receiving, a payment is made within two days. If there are errors or missing information it can take longer to approve whilst clarification is sought.

B (ii)

When an LTIA application has been approved by the Medical Board Doctor, the claim will be processed within five working days and payment will be made by the following Thursday. If further medical evidence is required by the Medical Board Doctor, the department will write to the GP immediately and request this. The Department cannot continue the process until a response is received. 

B (iii)

Once the department has received all required evidence for an income support claim it will be approved to be authorised and put into payment within five working days. 

Ci)

There are no STIA claims that have been pending going into payment for more than 90 days as of 31st July.

Cii)

There are no LTIA claims that have been pending going into payment for more than 90 days as of 31st July.

C (iii)

Due to the small number of cases (fewer than five) disclosure control has been applied to income support claims to avoid breaching the privacy of individuals involved. Article 25 (Personal Information) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

D

The department does not have a specific policy, however, officers at Customer and Local Services are supported by Health and Community Services, Mental Health department for anyone experiencing mental health problems.

Curators or Agents may be assigned in situations where a person does not have capacity and are authorised to act on their behalf. Any individual can also nominate a person to act on their behalf via an Authority to Disclose form and can be accompanied by someone for any appointments in the department. 

Customer and Local Services also have a Safeguarding process whereby any Safeguarding concerns are referred onto the Safeguarding Panel. 

E

The department does not have a specific policy, however, the Government of Jersey Disability Strategy was launched in 2017 and updated in 2021. There is also a disability and inclusion team in Customer and Local Services that was formed in 2021, the team are responsible for enhancing accessibility for all, by driving the delivery of the disability strategy for Jersey. Information regarding this is available on www.gov.je: 

Disability Strategy Update 2020 (gov.je)

Disability Team for Government of Jersey (gov.je)

There are no leaflets available to the public outlining how such persons will be treated when dealing with the department of Social Security, however information regarding this is available on www.gov.je in the links above.  

Three months bank statements are just one requirement to satisfy eligibility for Income Support. Determining Officers are unable to authorise a claim into payment without verifying all evidence that has been requested to ensure the criteria to receive income support is met as required by the Income Support Law.

Income Support (Jersey) Law 2007 (jerseylaw.je)

Articles applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(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.

3)      In determining for the purposes of this Article whether the lawfulness principle in Article 8(1)(a) of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 would be contravened by the disclosure of information, paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 2 to that Law (legitimate interests) is to be read as if sub-paragraph (b) (which disapplies the provision where the controller is a public authority) were omitted.