Written Report
CHIEF MINISTER’S DEPARTMENT
Annual Business Plan 2009 (P.113/2008): Twelfth Amendment
(Public)
Introduction
The Amendment (P.113/2008/Amd.) proposed by Deputy Southern sought to place an additional commitment within the Housing Department’s Business Plan objectives.
The Chief Minister, with the support of the Minister for Social Security, is proposing this replacement Amendment, setting an additional objective against the Social Security Department.
Background
Income support is administered by the Social Security Department.
The Income Support system replaced rent abatement and rent rebate and the budget for those schemes held by the Housing Department has been transferred to the Social Security Department. Likewise the staff previously administering rent abatement and rent rebate have also been transferred to Social Security. The Housing Department has no role in the administration of Income Support.
Rent arrears cannot be incurred due to a delay in the processing of an Income Support claim. However, if a change of circumstance, such as an increase in income, is not notified to the Social Security Department in a timely fashion, then the Department has the power to recoup the overpayment of benefit paid during this time. This would be done by reducing the level of future benefit available for a period of time until the overpayment has been recovered.
The introduction of Income Support has led to a significant decrease in the number and value of Housing Department rental arrears. This is of benefit principally to the individual tenants, who no longer have the worry of being in debt.
The report set out by the Deputy refers to a specific case under the previous rent abatement scheme, at that time under the administration of the Housing Department.
Proposal
Whilst the original amendment was wholly unnecessary as the Social Security Department is already committed to the timely processing of applications, to oppose it might suggest that the Social Security Department is unwilling or unable to provide efficient administration. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Chief Minister has therefore lodged this amendment so that the intention of the Deputy can be included in the 2009 Annual Business Plan. This Amendment :-
- Places the responsibility for the administration with the correct department
- Refers to Income Support claims rather than the accommodation component, as it is impossible to process a single component in isolation from the whole claim
- Identifies the claimants that occupy rental accommodation as this appears to be the area of concern for the Deputy
- Removes the phrase “service level agreement” which is a term normally used to describe an agreement between organizations in which one organization provides a service on behalf of the other one, as opposed to a customer service target between the Department and many applicants
This Amendment will add an extra success criterion to the Social Security Department objective -
“Deliver benefits and high quality services now and in the future”
Financial or Manpower Implications
There are no manpower or financial implications to the amendment.
S.Duhamel/09.09.08
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