Social Security (Television Licence Benefit) (Jersey) Regulations 2009

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A decision made (29/05/2009) regarding: Social Security (Television Licence Benefit) (Jersey) Regulations 2009 - Amendment.

Decision Reference: MD-S-2009-0027
Decision Summary Title :	DS - Social Security (TV Licence Benefit) (Jersey) Regulations 2009 - Amendment		Date of Decision Summary:	29 May 2009
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:	N/A
Written Report Title :	WR – Social Security (TV Licence Benefit) (Jersey) Regulations 2009 - Amendment		Date of Written Report:	19 May 2009
Written Report Author:	Sue Duhamel Policy and Strategy Director		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Social Security (Television Licence Benefit) (Jersey) Regulations 2009 - Amendment
Decision(s): The Minister noted an error in the draft Regulations and decided to lodge an amendment to rectify the error.
Reason(s) for Decision: The draft Regulations erroneously referred to income limits of £14,110 for a single person and £23,220 for a couple. These should be £14,638 for a single person and £23,748 for a couple.
Resource Implications: There are no manpower implications. A budget of £248,200 for 2009 exists.
Action required: To lodge ‘au Greffe’ an amendment to the Social Security (Television Licence Benefit) (Jersey) Regulations 2009 through the Greffe for debate on 30 June 2009.
Signature:		Position: Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Social Security (Television Licence Benefit) (Jersey) Regulations 2009 - Amendment.

Written Report

The draft Social Security (Television Licence Benefit) (Jersey) Regulations were lodged on 5 May 2009.

The report accompanying the Regulations set out the rationale for the income bars applied to this benefit.

“The Television Licence Scheme is aimed to provide assistance to those elderly people in the community who are on a low income. Regulation 7 of the Social Security (Television Licence Benefit) (Jersey) Regulations 2006 sets out that the income bar for a single person as £12,770, and £20,720 for a couple. These figures were set by the States in 2006 and have remained unchanged since then,

Income tax thresholds in 2006 were –

£12,300 for a single person
£20,250 for a couple.

The income limit for the eligibility to the Scheme was based on the income at which a pensioner would pay £127 tax (the cost of a TV licence at the time). This equates to £470 above the threshold, giving the current limit of £12,770 (single) and £20,720 (couple).

Current income tax thresholds (2009) are –

£14,110 for a single person
£23,220 for a couple.

Bringing the income limit up to date on the same basis gives –

The cost of a TV licence in 2009 is £142.50, which is equivalent to a taxable income of £528 above the tax threshold, giving income limits of £14,638 (single) and £23,724 (couple).”

Owing to an administrative error, the value of the income limit for a couple was incorrectly given in the report as £23,724. The correct figure is £23,748, being the sum of £23,220 and £528.

A further error led to the income limits in the Regulations being quoted as the Income Tax thresholds, rather than the limits for the scheme.

The amendment replaces the original values with the correct ones, which are

Limit for single person: £14,638

Limit for couple: £23,748

There are no financial or manpower implications.