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Income Support (Special Payments) (Cold Weather Payments) (Amendment No. 2) (Jersey) Regulations 201-

A formal published “Ministerial Decision” is required as a record of the decision of a Minister (or an Assistant Minister where they have delegated authority) as they exercise their responsibilities and powers.

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A decision made 19 May 2014:

Decision Reference:  MD-S-2014-0061

Decision Summary Title :

DS - Income Support (Special Payments)(Cold Weather Payments) (Amendment No. 2) (Jersey) Regulations 201-

Date of Decision Summary:

16 May 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 (Special Payments)(Cold Weather Payments) (Amendment No. 2) (Jersey) Regulations 201-

Date of Written Report:

16 May 2014

Written Report Author:

Policy Principal

Written Report :

Public or Exempt?

 

N/A

Subject:  Income Support (Special Payments)(Cold Weather Payments) (Amendment No. 2) (Jersey) Regulations 201-

Decision(s):  The Minister decided to lodge ‘au Greffe’ the draft Income Support (Special Payments)(Cold Weather Payments) (Amendment No. 2) (Jersey) Regulations 201-

Reason(s) for Decision: 

 

The Regulations support changes made by the Income Support (Special Payments)(Child Personal Care) (Jersey) Regulations 201.

 

The Income Support (Special Payments)(Cold Weather Payments) Regulations 201- allow an Income Support household with a child qualifying for PC3 to continue to qualify for the cold weather payments made under Income Support legislation.  These amendments also allow the cold weather payments to be made in respect of adults qualifying for Personal Care Level 3 if they share a dwelling with a separate income support household in which an accommodation component is payable.

 

Resource Implications:  There are no manpower implications for these changes.  The children who will qualify for the new award are already being paid either as part of an Income Support claim or as a Ministerial exceptional payment.  

Action required:  Policy Principal to request the Greffier of the States to make the necessary arrangements to lodge ‘au Greffe’ the draft legislation and to request a States debate on the sitting commencing 1st July 2014

Signature:

 

Position:

 

Date Signed:

 

Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

 

Hide report
Income Support (Special Payments) (Cold Weather Payments) (Amendment No. 2) (Jersey) Regulations 201-

Income Support (Special Payments) (Cold Weather Payments) (Amendment No.2) (Jersey) Regulations

 

1.     Summary

 

These amendments to the Income Support (Special Payments) (Cold Weather Payments) Regulations are necessary to facilitate changes made by the Income Support (Special Payments)(Child Personal Care)(Jersey) Regulations 201-, and related amendments to the Income Support (Jersey)(Regulations) 2007. 

The proposed Income Support (Special Payments)(Child Personal Care)(Jersey) Regulations 201- create a mechanism whereby the parents of children that meet the requirements for the highest level of the Income Support personal care impairment award can always receive a payment in respect of the care needs of the child, independently of parental income.

These Regulations support that change by allowing families who receive Income Support to continue to receive the separate cold weather payments if the family includes a child who formerly met the qualification for the Personal care level 3 element of the Income Support impairment component, and instead meets the qualifications of the new Income Support (Special Payments)(Child Personal Care) Regulations 201. 

These amendments also allow the cold weather payments to be made in respect of adults qualifying for Personal Care Level 3 if they share a dwelling with a separate income support household in which an accommodation component is payable.  At present, the cold weather payments are only available to  the owner or tenant, meaning that payments are often not available to severely ill/disabled young people who have their own claims but share a property with parents or other family members who also receive Income Support.

2.     Cold weather payments criteria

 

The Income Support (Special Payments) (Cold Weather Payments) (Jersey) Regulations 2008 create payments that are made automatically to eligible households in which a member of that household satisfies the following criteria for the entirety of a given ‘cold weather’ month’:

a)      is under the age of 3 years;

b)      is over the age of 65 years; or

c)       meets the criteria to receive Personal care level 3

In addition, that household is required to occupy a dwelling other than a hostel or lodgings.

The proposed Regulations insert an additional criterion which allows for these payments to also be available when the household contains a child who meets the criteria in Regulation 2 of the Income Support (Special Payments)(Child Personal Care)(Jersey) Regulations 201-. 

In the case of adults who qualify for Personal Care level 3 and who are sharing a dwelling with a family member, it has become clear that there are situations where the existing criteria can prevent some individuals from accessing this payment, when the policy intent was for a payment to be made. This can occur when two Income Support households physically occupy the same dwelling, and each  household satisfies one, but not both, of the conditions. 

The amended Regulation 2 addresses this situation by allowing for the cold weather payments to be allocated where a dwelling is shared with another Income Support household that qualifies for the accommodation component. 

 

3.     Financial and manpower considerations

 

There are no manpower implications for these changes.  The children who will qualify for the new award are already being paid either as part of an Income Support claim or as a Ministerial exceptional payment.   There will be a small additional cost in respect of children in which the family entitlement to income Support is less than the value of Personal Care level 3.  This cost is estimated to be approximately £22,000 per annum which is available as part of the overall project to create savings of £3 million from the Income Support budget for 2014, as announced by the Minister in his statement made on 21 January 2014.

 

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