Government of Jersey

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A decision made 2 September 2011 regarding:

Decision Reference: MD-S-2011- 0067
Decision Summary Title :	Youth Incentive Payments		Date of Decision Summary:	1 September 2011
Decision Summary Author:	Policy and Strategy Director		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	WR - Youth Incentive Payments		Date of Written Report:	1 September 2011
Written Report Author:	Policy and Strategy Director		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Youth Incentive Payments
Decision(s): The Minister decided to implement a non-statutory Youth Incentive Payment scheme with effect from 5 September 2011 until 31 August 2012.
Reason(s) for Decision: In line with changes to the treatment of young jobseekers aged under 19 in the Income Support system, a Youth Incentive Payment scheme (YIP) will be funded from temporary savings within the Income Support budget. The YIPs will encourage young people to make best use of the support available to them in terms of improving their employability and supporting them into paid employment. The YIP scheme will ensure that individuals successfully completing voluntary work placements and intensive training courses receive a payment in respect of their reasonable costs and will further reward young people for successfully completing a 13 week voluntary work placement. YIPs will initially be available to all jobseekers aged below 19 supported by: Advance To Work Work Wise Enhanced Work Zone Prince’s Trust Jersey Employment Trust The YIP scheme will commence on 5 September 2011, to coincide with the implementation of the changes to the Income Support scheme and will continue until 31 August 2012. This date represents the end of the current funding for the Advance To Work scheme. Dependent upon the success of the YIP scheme and other measures taken during 2011/2012 to support young jobseekers, the YIP scheme may be continue beyond August 2012. This decision will be taken during 2012.
Resource Implications: There are no manpower implications. The additional administration will be absorbed within existing Social Security processes. The cost of the YIPs has been estimated at £110,000 for the 12 month period. These calculations are based on the current take-up of support schemes for this age-group. The cost will be met by savings in Income Support expenditure as result of the change to the treatment of jobseekers aged under 19 under the Income Support Law.
Action required: Operations Director to liaise with teams providing support to young jobseekers to provide information on YIP and to implement appropriate payment and audit procedures.
Signature:		Position: Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Youth Incentive Payments: Jobseekers - Training and Voluntary Work Placements

Youth Incentive Payments (YIP)

Aim

To encourage young people to maximise the support available to them to:

Improve their employability; and
Move to paid employment

The scheme will achieve this by ensuring that young people are paid reasonable costs whilst completing both voluntary work placements and intensive training courses.

The scheme will also reward young people for successfully completing a 13 week work placement by providing an additional bonus payment.

Basis of Scheme

This is a non-statutory scheme. As such the scheme can be amended or withdrawn without notice by the Minister for Social Security.

Duration of YIP Scheme

The scheme starts from Monday 5th September 2011 and will finish on Friday 31st August 2012.

YIP Scheme Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for a YIP payment the young person must:

Be available for full time employment (i.e. not in full time education)
Meet Actively Seeking Work (ASW) requirements
Be registered with the Social Security Department as ASW
Have a current Job Seekers Agreement (if appropriate)
Have completed a YIP Registration and Responsibilities form including bank details for payment
Be aged between 16 and 19 (up until the day before 19th birthday)
Have lived in Jersey continuously for at least 5 years immediately prior to starting intensive training or a VWP.

Authorised Employment Support Schemes

The following Employment Support schemes will be included and are able to authorise payments:

Advance to Work

Work Wise

Enhanced Work Zone

Princes Trust

Jersey Employment Trust

YIP Payments - Qualifying Conditions

YIP Training Bonus

The qualifying conditions for YIP Training payments vary depending on each scheme:
ATW: A trainee completing “ATW core training” within 8 consecutive weeks will be eligible for a bonus payment of £75. Core training will include a minimum of 9 identified “ATW core training” sessions plus the individualised training identified by a Mentor. A maximum of one training bonus payment is payable to an ATW trainee.
WorkWise: A young person successfully completing a minimum of 3 days and 12 hours of training or voluntary work placements per week for 8 weeks will receive a bonus payment of £75. A maximum of one training payment is payable to a WorkWise Customer.
Princes Trust: A maximum of 3 x £75 bonus payments may be payable to a young person engaged with Princes Trust. £75 would be paid for each 4 week period with a confirmed 100% attendance.
Enhanced Work Zone: It is not envisaged that any Training payments would be payable for young people only engaged with the EWZ team.

In all cases training activities will be pre-determined as qualifying and cannot be determined retrospectively.
Training must be to enhance employability.
Non-attendance on training without good cause is a breach of Actively Seeking Work regulations. This will trigger the Failed Job Seekers process, if appropriate. Any YIP Training payments for period will also be forfeited.

YIP Voluntary Work Placement

Payment of £35 per week made in arrears for each week a qualifying young person successfully completes a voluntary work placement.
They must work at least 3 days in a week for a minimum of 12 hours.
The VWP will be pre-determined as qualifying and cannot be determined retrospectively.
A maximum of 26 x £35 payments can be made to an individual Young Person. Placements do not necessarily have to run over 26 consecutive weeks or be 2x 13 week placements.
Non-attendance on a VWP without good cause is a breach of Actively Seeking Work regulations. This will trigger the Failed Job Seekers process, if appropriate. The YIP payment for the week and the VWP Bonus would also be forfeited.

YIP Voluntary Work Placement Completion Bonus

Following successful completion of a minimum 13 weeks continuous Voluntary Work Placement a bonus payment of £100 is payable.
A maximum of 2 x £100 payments can be made to an individual Young Person.
Non-attendance on a VWP without good cause is a breach of Actively Seeking Work regulations. This will trigger the Failed Job Seekers process, if appropriate. The YIP payment for the week and the VWP Bonus would also be forfeited.

Costs

Costs for the Scheme have been estimated at £110k for the 12 month period. Of this the majority, £85k, is expected to be paid to young people on ATW. These calculations assume that the same number of young people remain engaged with AT W and other existing schemes.