Income support claims

​​Request 782835050​

How many people are currently claiming income support who 

(a) have lived in the island less than five years 

(b) have lived in the island between five and ten years 

(c) have lived in the island more than ten years 

Please confirm the total amount paid to claimants of income support during 2025 broken down as 

(a) those with under five years residency 

(b) those with between five and ten years residency 

(c) those with more than ten years residency

Response

1, The Income Support (Jersey) Law 2007, Article 1(1) provides the following interpretation of a “claimant” to mean a person claiming income support or a special payment. 

Article 8 of the Income Support Law, which covers special payments, also includes under this heading Ministerial exceptional circumstance payments for those ordinarily resident in Jersey – Article 8(2) and under Article 8(3) the separate provision for those not ordinarily resident but temporarily in Jersey. 

Under Article 8(2) any individual ordinarily resident in Jersey who makes a claim for income support must pass a residence test.

Please see the Income Support Policy Guidance (gov.je) document, but for ease of reference we have detailed the main point below. 

To pass the residence test each adult must be able to prove

1. They have lived in Jersey, without any bre​aks, for the past five years; or

2. They have lived in Jersey without any breaks for at least five years at a time in the past. They are allowed to have moved away since that time, but it must be for less than 5 years. They then must have returned to Jersey for longer than the period spent away; or

3. They have lived in Jersey for at least 10 years at any time in the past, without any breaks; or

4. Jersey born adults only – they have lived in Jersey for a total of 10 years at any time in the past. The 10 years can be made up of a number of separate periods living in Jersey, with gaps in between; or

5. Adult child of a parent with ‘entitled‘ residential status – they have lived in Jersey for a total of at least ten years at any time in the past (the adult must have moved to

Jersey before the age of 20 and the parent must have ‘entitled status under the control of Housing and Work Law.) The ten years can be made up of a number of separate periods living in Jersey, with gaps in between.

As of 31st of January 2026 there were 5252 open income support claims. The department does not record which residence test a claimant has met in a reportable format, therefore, the department is applying for an exemption Article 16(1) as it is unable to provide a breakdown of how many people are currently claiming income support who fall within these categories within the given timeframe.

(a) have lived in the island less than five years

(b) have lived in the island between five and ten years

(c) have lived in the island more than ten years

2, In 2025, a total of £84,856,707 was paid out in income support benefit.

This figure includes all claims made under the Income Support (Jersey) Law 2007, including payments made under Article 8(3) for individuals who are not ordinarily resident for the purposes of claiming Income Support. Under Article 8(2), the Minister may also approve Ministerial Discretionary Payments for individuals who are ordinarily resident.

These payments may be granted in cases involving exceptional circumstances or where the request falls outside the scope of the Income Support (Jersey) Law 2007.

At the end of 2025, there were 5,250 Income Support household claims open.

As the department does not record which residence test a claimant has met in a reportable format, it is unable to provide a breakdown of how much was paid in 2025 to claimants within the following residency categories. Therefore, the department is applying an exemption under Article 16(1), as it is unable to provide a breakdown of how much income support has been paid to claimants in 2025 who fall within these categories.

(a) claimants with under five years’ residency 

(b) claimants with between five and ten years’ residency 

(c) claimants with more than ten years’ residency

Article 16 - A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.

(2) Despite paragraph (1), a scheduled public authority may still supply the information requested on payment to it of a fee determined by the authority in the manner prescribed by Regulations for the purposes of this Article.

(3) Regulations may provide that, in such circumstances as the Regulations prescribe, if two or more requests for information are made to a scheduled public authority –

(a) by one person; or

(b) by different persons who appear to the scheduled public authority to be acting in concert or in pursuance of a campaign, the estimated cost of complying with any of the requests is to be taken to be the estimated total cost of complying with all of them.​