Income Support claims and Special Payments

​​​​​Request ​827784050​

Provide the following information held in relation to the processing of Income Support claims and Special Payments, particularly where housing, rent, deposit, emergency need, or homelessness is involved:

1. Any current written policy, procedure, workflow, checklist, or staff guidance setting out the steps involved in processing: a. Income Support claims; and

b. Special Payments.

2. Any current written service standard, target, KPI, guidance, or internal instruction referring to the expected processing time for Income Support claims or Special Payments, including any reference to claims taking up to 20 working days.

3. The number of staff currently assigned to processing: a. Income Support claims; and

b. Special Payments.

4. For the most recent 12-month period available: a. the number of Income Support claims

processed per month;

b. the number of Special Payment applications processed per month;

c. the number of Income Support claims refused or not approved per month;

d. the number of Special Payment applications refused or not approved per month; and

e. if held separately, the number of urgent, emergency, housing-related, or homelessnessrelated cases processed per month.

5. For the same 12-month period: a. the average processing time for Income Support claims;

b. the average processing time for Special Payment applications;

c. the median processing time for each, if held; and

d. if held separately, the average processing time for urgent, emergency, housing-related, or homelessness-related cases.

6. Any written policy or guidance on expediting urgent cases, including homelessnessrelated or emergency housing cases.

Response

1. Relevant policy guidance on Income Support is publicly available at the following link:

A Guide to Income Support

The Department also holds internal training documents relating to Income Support and Special Payments. Each document would require individual review to confirm whether it is relevant and appropriate for release.

Based on a sample review, it is estimated that assessing this material would exceed the time limit set out in Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011. 

Information not provided - Article 16 applies.

2. Information relevant to this question is published on the Government website and can be

found here:

Performance statistics for Employment, Social Security and Housing

ESSH-Departmental Service Performance Measures - Datasets - Government of Jersey Open Data​

These sources provide information on departmental performance, including service measures and key performance indicators. They represent the performance data held and published by the Department. They do not, however, present or separate the data in the specific way described in this request.

Income Support and Special Payments processing is divided into multiple workflows and stages. Different activities are subject to different service standards.

The Department operates internal service standards for key stages of processing:

• For new Income Support claims, the service commits to completing processing within 5 working days from receipt of all required information.

• For Changes of Circumstances, the service commits to completing processing within 5 working days, depending on the type of the change and complexity.

• For Redeterminations, the service commits to completing processing within 21 working days from receipt of all required information.

• For Special payment claims, the service commits to completing processing within 5 working days of receipt of all required information.

The Department does not hold any guidance referring to a 20-working-day processing timeframe.

3. The figures below reflect staff currently assigned at the time of preparing this response.

a) There are currently twenty staff assigned to processing Income Support claims.

b) There are currently three staff assigned to processing Special Payments.

Staff assignments may vary depending on operational demand.

4a and 4b. The number of Income Support claims and Special Payment applications processed per month is shown in the table below.

For Income Support, these figures relate to new claims only. They are based on cases opened within each reporting month.

For Special Payments, these figures reflect applications first opened within each reporting month.​

​​4b and 4c. The number of Income Support claims and Special Payment applications not

approved per month is shown in the table below.

For Income Support, these figures relate to new claims where the first outcome (other than

new or pending) was recorded as disallowed.

For Special Payments, these figures reflect applications where the first recorded outcome

was disallowed.

​4e. The Department does not hold this information in recorded form.

Information not held – Article 3 applies.

5a. The Department does not hold recorded information on the average processing time for Income Support claims.

5b. The Department does not hold recorded information on the average processing time for Special Payment applications.

5c. The Department does not hold recorded information on the median processing time for Income Support claims or Special Payment applications.

5d. The Department does not hold recorded information on average processing times for urgent, emergency, housing-related, or homelessness-related cases.

Information not held – Article 3 applies.

6. The Department does not hold formal written guidance specific to the expedited processing of urgent, emergency, housing related, or homelessness-related cases.

Information not held – Article 3 applies.

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 16 - Access to information held by a scheduled public Authority

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.​