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A decision made 28 March 2014:

Decision Reference: MD-S-2014-0034
Decision Summary Title :	DS - Income Support (General Provisions) (Amendment No. 13) (Jersey) Order 2014		Date of Decision Summary:	27 March 2014
Decision Summary Author:	Policy Principal		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	WR - Income Support (General Provisions) (Amendment No. 13) (Jersey) Order 2014		Date of Written Report:	27 March 2014
Written Report Author:	N/A		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	N/A
Subject: Income Support (General Provisions) (Amendment No. 13) (Jersey) Order 2014
Decision(s): The Minister made the Income Support (General Provisions) (Amendment No. 13) (Jersey) Order 2014
Reason(s) for Decision: The Minister made a statement to the States Assembly on 20 January 2014 announcing his intention to increase the earnings disregard to enhance the financial incentive to work within the Income Support system. He announced that this would be raised in April this year. Changes to the Income Support General Provisions Order increase the disregard in respect of earned income available to claimants who are in paid employment. There are also small changes to the way capital is disregarded in respect of motor vehicles appropriate to the needs of a household, and to the level of capital disregard when one of the adults in a household passes away.
Resource Implications: There are no manpower implications in respect of this Order. The cost of increasing the earnings disregard is estimated to be £1.1 million annually and this has been accounted for through previous savings made by the Department. No additional budget is required to meet this change. The additional changes have no financial implication.
Action required: Policy Principal to notify the Greffe and the Law Draftsman that the Order has been made and to forward the signed and sealed Order to the States Greffe, requesting the Greffier of the States to arrange for the Order to be notified to the States.
Signature:		Position:
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Income Support (General Provisions) (Amendment No. 13) (Jersey) Order 2014

Income Support (General Provisions) (Amendment No.13) (Jersey) Order 2014

Background

The Minister for Social Security made a statement to the States Assembly on 20 January 2014 announcing his intention to increase the earnings disregard to enhance the financial incentive to work within the Income Support system. He announced that this would be raised in April this year.

The Income Support (General Provisions) (Amendment No.13) (Jersey) Order 2014 increases the disregard in respect of earned income available to claimants who are in paid employment.

It also makes a small number of changes to clarify various areas of Income Support policy.

Changes to Schedule 2

An amendment is made to Schedule 2, paragraph 2(1), which provides for situations where a household contains 2 or more adults and one of those adults dies. The order allows for the capital to be kept at the higher (2 or more adults) rate for an additional twelve months after the date of the other adult’s death.

In sub-paragraph (2)(e) of that same article, the Order replaces the text “the value of any motor vehicle up to a maximum of £10,000” with the words “the value of any motor vehicle or vehicles appropriate to the needs of the household”. The Order also makes an amendment to Schedule 1, paragraph 8, that removes the bracketed section “(only required if value in excess of £10,000)” as Income Support will then require details of all vehicles.

To increase the earnings disregard, an amendment is made to Schedule 2, paragraph 5 (a), and also 5 (h), in both instances replacing the figure of “20%” with “23%”.

The changes are implemented on 07/04/2014.

Financial and manpower considerations

There are no manpower implications for these changes. The cost of increasing the earnings disregard is estimated to be £1.1 million annually and this has been accounted for through previous savings made by the Department. No additional budget is required to meet this change.