Amendment of Income Support (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2008 (18.09.08)

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A decision made (18.09.08) to amend the Income Support (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2008 to increase the value of the monetary parameters by approximately 3.7%

Decision Reference: MD-S-2008-0055
Decision Summary Title :	DS - Income Support (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2008 - amendment		Date of Decision Summary:	16 September 2008
Decision Summary Author:	Sue Duhamel Policy and Strategy Director		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:
Written Report Title :	Income Support (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2008 - amendment		Date of Written Report:	16 September 2008
Written Report Author:	Sue Duhamel Policy and Strategy Director		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Income Support (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2008
Decision(s): The Minister decided to amend the Income Support (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2008 to increase the value of the monetary parameters contained therein by approximately 3.7% and accordingly requested the Law Draftsman to prepare the necessary draft legislation.
Reason(s) for Decision: Income Support components will rise by 3.7% from 1 October 2008. The component rates are set by Regulation which has been approved by the States. Other monetary parameters are set within the General Provisions Order. These values also need to be increased by 3.7% (subject to slight adjustment to ensure that income parameters are divisible by 7). Maintaining these parameters in line with the components ensures that the calculation of Income Support benefit is consistently uprated.
Resource Implications: There are no manpower implications. The cost of increasing these parameters is included within the cost of uprating Income Support which has a full year estimated cost of £1.6 Million. This will be met from within proposed cash limits.
Action required: Instruct the Law Draftsman to amend the Income Support (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2008.
Signature:		Position:
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

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Amendment of Income Support (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2008 (18.09.08)

Income Support Law – General Provisions Order

Income support components will rise by 3.7% from 1 October 2008. The component rates are set by Regulation which has been approved by the States.

Other monetary parameters are set within the General provisions Order. These values also need to be increased by 3.7% (subject to slight adjustment to ensure that income parameters are divisible by 7).

The following table sets out the current parameters and the revised parameters effective from 1 October 2008.

Component Type	Ref	2008 Disregard	01/10/2008 disregard
Capital disregards		£	£
single adult with personal care element	2(1)(a)	11,443	11866
Other single adult under 65	2(1)(b)	7,629	7911
couple with at least one with personal care element	2(1)(c)	18,967	19669
Other couple under 65	2(1)(d)	12,645	13113
Single adult 65 or over	2(1)(e)	11,443	11866
Couple 65 or over	2(1)(f)	18,967	19669
Income and earning disregards		£
Pension – First pensioner	5(c)	26.11	27.09
Pension – Additional pensioners	5(d)	16.38	17.01
Lone Parent – 1st level	5(e)(i)	15.68	16.24
Lone Parent – 2nd level	5(e)(ii)	26.11	27.09
Lone Parent – 3rd level	5(e)(iii)	47.04	48.79

Appendix

Extract from GPO of Income Support Law – the values to be amended are shown highlighted.

SCHEDULE 2

(Article 10)

CALCULATED INCOME

1 Capital to be treated as income

(1) Every £250 of capital belonging to a household other than any capital disregarded under paragraph 2 shall be treated as providing the household with an income of £1 a week.

(2) The value of capital shall be calculated at its current market or surrender value in the country or territory in which the capital is situated.

2 Capital to be disregarded

(1) The following amounts of capital shall be disregarded in assessing calculated income –

(a) in the case of a household containing a sole adult under the age of 65 years where a member of the household meets the criteria for the personal care element of the impairment component under paragraph 6 of Schedule 1 to the Regulations	£11,443
(b) in the case of any other household containing a sole adult under the age of 65 years	£7,629
(c) in the case of a household containing 2 or more adults who are all under the age of 65 years where a member of the household meets the criteria for the personal care element of the impairment component under paragraph 6 of Schedule 1 to the Regulations	£18,967
(d) in the case of any other household containing 2 or more adults who are all under the age of 65 years	£12,645
(e) in the case of a household containing a sole adult aged 65 years or over	£11,443
(f) in the case of a household containing 2 or more adults, at least one of whom is aged 65 years or over	£18,967.

(2) The following capital shall also be disregarded –

(a) subject to sub-paragraph (3), the value of any dwelling owned by a member of the household and occupied by the household as its principal residence;

(b) the value of any dwelling purchased by a member of the household that is intended to be occupied by the household as its principal residence, until the property is so occupied or for a period not exceeding 13 weeks from when the property was purchased, whichever is the earlier;

(c) the value of assets integral to the running of any business owned by a member of the household for which a member of the household is normally engaged in remunerative work, or for which the person would be so engaged were he or she not prevented from being so engaged by reason of ill health, for a period of more than 26 weeks;

(d) the household furniture and effects of any dwelling occupied by the household and articles of clothing and personal effects of any member of the household, other than a motor vehicle or any item bought as an investment;

(e) the value of any motor vehicle up to a maximum of £10,000;

(f) any capital that has been accumulated solely to provide for the future care of a member of a household who meets the criteria for the rate of personal care element of the impairment component payable under paragraph 6(3)(c) or (d) of Schedule 1 to the Regulations, for as long as the member continues to meet that criteria.

(3) If the dwelling mentioned in sub-paragraph (2)(a) is not appropriate to the needs of the household the capital to be disregarded is the average market value of a dwelling that is so appropriate.

(4) In this paragraph a dwelling is appropriate to the needs of the household if it is no larger than is reasonably necessary for that household or if, having regard to all the circumstances, it would be unreasonable to expect the household to move from that dwelling.

3 Treatment of capital and income

(1) If a person has directly or indirectly deprived himself or herself or any other person of any income or capital in order to qualify for income support or a special payment, the amount of that income or capital shall be included in his or her total income or capital as the case may be.

(2) Any income or capital that is available to a person in the household if he or she applied to acquire it shall be treated as having been acquired by that person on the date on which the person was capable of acquiring it.

4 Calculation of income

(1) The income of a household shall be calculated on a weekly basis by –

(a) estimating the average weekly income of the household;

(b) adding the amount derived from capital in accordance with paragraph 1; and

(i) contributions payable under Article 4(2)(a)(i) and (b) of the Social Security (Jersey) Law 1974[9], and

(ii) any qualifying maintenance payment up to the amount specified in paragraph 2(a) of Schedule 1 to the Regulations in the case of a payment to a spouse and up to the amount specified in sub-paragraph (c) of that paragraph in the case of a payment to a child.

(2) If the income of a household includes earnings from employment, the average weekly earnings from that employment shall be calculated over a period immediately prior to the determination of –

(a) if the earner is paid weekly, 5 weeks;

(b) if the earner is paid monthly, 2 months,

or over such other period as will most accurately enable average weekly earnings to be assessed.

(3) If the income of a household includes the earnings of a self-employed person, the average weekly earnings shall be estimated over such period as will most accurately enable average weekly earnings to be assessed.

(4) If the income of the household includes any unearned income, the average weekly income of the household from that unearned income shall be estimated over such period, not exceeding one year immediately prior to the determination, as will most accurately enable average weekly income to be assessed.

5 Percentage of income to be disregarded

In assessing the weekly income of the household there shall be disregarded –

(a) 6% of the earnings of any adults in the household who are not entitled to a basic component under Article 5(2)(b) of the Law;

(b) 100% of the income of any children in the household derived from earnings;

(c) 100% of the first £26.11 of any income derived from a pension or annuity of one person in the household aged 65 years or over;

(d) 100% of the first £16.38 of any income derived from a pension or annuity of any other person in the household aged 65 years or over;

(e) in the case of a person entitled to a basic component under Article 5(2)(b) of the Law, either –

(i) 100% of the first £15.68 of earnings;

(ii) 50% of earnings over £15.68 but under £26.11; and

(iii) 25% of earnings over £26.11 but under £47.04,

or 6% of total earnings, whichever results in the greater amount to be disregarded.