William Beveridge produced a blueprint for the UK’s Welfare State in his 1942 report. He said that “the State, in organising security should not stifle incentive, opportunity, responsibility; in establishing a national minimum, it should leave room and encouragement for voluntary action by each individual to provide more than that minimum for himself and his family.”
The central platform of this government has been jobs – getting people into work, building up the economy after the Great Recession, giving islanders the opportunity to build safe, secure, successful lives for their families.
I know the last few years have not been easy for many in our community. We reprioritised our spending to invest in priority areas like health and education. That has meant reduced budgets in other areas – and we have had to constrain benefits. But now unemployment is down, employment is up and the economy is growing.
And that’s good for jobs – which means it’s good for islanders. Work is good for us – for our lifestyles, for our self-esteem, and for our community. if we are able, we should all be working.
I know that ordinary families can face difficult times, through bereavement, illness, redundancy, poor job opportunities or relationship breakdown. And I don’t want to see people’s potential, skills and talents wasted through lack of opportunity. My aspiration is for every member of our society to be in a position to share in Jersey’s success
Poverty
The United Nations says that while reducing poverty has become an international concern, there is no consensus on measuring poverty. The U.N. is aiming to eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere by 2030 – it measures extreme poverty as living on less than $1.25 a day.
In Jersey we measure relative low income: defined as 60% of median income and currently set at £410 per week before housing costs, and £340 after. Relative Low Income is not a measure of poverty, t’s a measure of a person’s ability to participate in the area where they live. So if you did an income distribution for Surrey stockbrokers, or for Jersey High Net Worth residents, it would identify some as in Relative Low Income compared to their peers.
But we know income inequality – which improved in the 2000s when the economy was doing well – worsened after the Great Recession. Our last Income Distribution Survey told us that while our benefits and tax system improve income inequality, housing costs almost remove this improvement. We are planning to bring forward the next survey so we can follow up on these figures earlier than planned.
Officers are examining this with the Chief Statistician and I hope to announce a new timetable shortly.
Long term planning
I want to raise income for the poorest and constrain price increases - but this is not something that one government can achieve on its own. It needs wider community support so it can remain a viable goal over subsequent governments. This is why our long term vision is so important.
It will set goals that future governments can sign up to, each achieving those goals in a way that suits the prevailing conditions at the time. It will describe the sort of place we want Jersey to become, and it will go beyond the election cycle to twenty years from now.
It will be a clear statement of what we believe it is possible for our Island to achieve: to improve quality of life and wellbeing for all, to keep Jersey a great place to live, to enhance what’s special about our island – our beautiful environment and safe community.
I want to continue welcoming newcomers to the island who bring the skills and experience that we need. Our economy and our people can thrive on globalisation. Our challenge is to ensure that all our people reap its benefits, and to strike the right balance when managing migration.
Next month we will be consulting on the final phase of our long term planning framework. I hope you will tell us what you think – as we are keen to incorporate your views as we develop our vision for Jersey.
Economy
Over the past 30 years, globalisation, competition and innovation have had a dramatic impact on the way we live. The changing nature of the job market means around half of today’s jobs could be computerised over the next 2 decades, but this will also present new opportunities.
Our Digital Policy Framework, released just a few months ago, has “digital skills for all” as one of its six core objectives. Jersey Business has a new website to signpost resources for skills development. There are a range of courses available for students and workers to gain the skills they need for a successful career in the digital sector. We have set up resources for islanders to practice using modern technology.
Digital Jersey, Jersey International Business School and the Channel Islands Information Security Forum are all offering cyber security training, an essential skill for keeping safe online. Education is working on a Skills Strategy for release by the end of the year – which will include a commitment for all students up to the age of 16 to be enrolled in computing lessons.
I want all our young people to have the right skills to fill vacancies in the job market – giving them the best opportunity to create a bright future for themselves and their Island.
Keeping islanders’ skills updated throughout their careers will feature in our long term plan – which looks to the next twenty years of Jersey’s development.
We need a prosperous, productive economy that generates income through personal and corporate tax revenues, as it’s this that provides good jobs and funds services for islanders.
- our finance industry is providing more than 13,000 jobs for islanders – more now than at the peak of the 2007 pre-crisis levels
- Visit Jersey is seeing a growth in visitor numbers – which translates into more jobs in hospitality
- our construction sector has a very strong pipeline of projects – that means more employment for construction workers
- our economy grew in 2015 by 2.2% – more than double the forecast
- first indicators of economic performance in 2017 suggest these positive trends will continue
- average earnings in 2016 increased at a faster rate than inflation for the fourth consecutive year
- the proportion of working age people in work has increased to 88% – more than most other places
- after 5 years of our Back to Work programme, unemployment is at its lowest for 6 years
I want to use this strong position to continue improving people’s life chances.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has proposed a five point plan to solve UK poverty and it makes interesting reading for us here in Jersey. It starts by making it clear that this is an issue for everyone – government, business and employers, service providers, investors, and citizens.
It’s not just up to government and big business. Yes, tackling social issues needs companies to behave responsibly, but we also need to be an active, enabling government that promotes individual capacity and capability.
Social Security
Jersey’s contributory social security system supports individuals in old age, after bereavement, and at other times when they are not working. It represents a contract between state and individual –
we contribute when we can and draw benefits when we need help getting back on track.
Alongside the contributory system, Income Support is designed to support low income households. It is an effective way to supplement the incomes of the many hard-working families on low incomes, to support the more vulnerable in our society, and to ease people back into work. It makes work pay by disregarding a proportion of any income earned by a claimant – that proportion is due to rise to 25% in October.
This means the financial incentive to find and stay in work will be at its strongest since the introduction of Income Support.
Pensions
Jersey's Old Age Pension goes up each year in line with either earnings or prices, to protect pensioners at times of low wage growth. We introduced a long term care scheme in 2014 – providing comprehensive support for people needing long term care and protecting people on lower incomes from selling their homes to pay for care.
The scheme also covers care at home, helping people to remain in their own neighbourhood and to stay in contact with family and friends.
Our new disability strategy tat aims to remove the barriers faced by people with disabilities…
improving access to government services, education, jobs and public transport
We know our income support system does not start providing for members of our community until they have lived in Jersey for 5 years. This was a policy aim of this Assembly and it is now an arrangement that many other jurisdictions are investigating. Social policy decisions are always a balance, and I don’t believe Jersey taxpayers would want the full benefits of income support and social housing to be available to those who have not yet paid into our social security or tax systems.
We must protect our unique environment and prioritise immigration that will bring the greatest value – both economic and social – to our island.
Family support
We said in 2015 that we would support families by reviewing the services provided by different agencies, particularly for children in vulnerable families. We have since agreed to funding of £473,600 for five Family Support Workers to help families before they reach crisis point. We are funding the Jersey Premium to help the most vulnerable school children reach their potential and we have agreed funding of £400,000 to start a project that helps to prepare people for becoming parents. The money will enable States of Jersey and Family Nursing to work with the NSPCC to deliver award-winning Baby Steps programme to all expectant parents in Jersey.
We are funding a social worker post to help provide the NSPCC’s service for young survivors of sexual abuse – ‘Letting the Future in’. £2.3 million has been allocated to support vulnerable children in areas like early intervention for families, children’s change programme, investigators for Police Public Protection Unit, a Sexual Assault Referral Centre, youth workers & counsellor for Youth Enquiry Service.
We are determined to help those who need it – creating a level playing field for all those who grow up in our island.
Housing
We have invested £250 million in improving housing for those who need support, and Andium Homes have so far refurbished more than 150 homes and built 227 new affordable homes. It aims to get all existing homes up to the Decent Homes Standard by 2020.
There are plans to build 850 more new homes on sites such as Ann Court, Le Squez and Summerland and our smaller housing trusts are also doing valuable work to meet the island’s housing needs – ensuring some of the most vulnerable people in our community have access to affordable homes.
We are confident that our investment in housing will ensure that all islanders have access to affordable, secure homes of a decent standard.
Employers
As we develop our population policy for publication later this year we are considering how to acknowledge employers who play their full part in developing opportunities for everyone in society - through initatives like engaging with Back to Work, Trackers and the Jersey Employment Trust, providing relevant training for their staff, using zero hours contracts appropriately and making a commitment to work towards paying the Caritas living wage.
A new scheme might also look at how employers support schools or community groups, building relationships with their customers and the workers of tomorrow.
It can only be right that the States of Jersey should lead the way as a good employer. The lowest salary scale for civil servants is £9.45, and we currently have just two interns on that rate. I recognise this falls below the Caritas living wage and I have asked officers to increase this to the Caritas rate.
The lowest scale for manual workers is £10.88. Zero hour contracts do have a place for bank staff in health and supply teachers, but we are reducing our numbers such contracts overall. Indeed, I think we should allow staff on zero hour contracts to move to fixed hours, if they wish.
We will also need to consider the priorities of our procurement policy. This is work in progress that I hope we can announce later this year.
Quality of life
This government has been working to invest in priority areas like health and education, to raise skills, strengthen families and promote long-term economic growth. This is how we can raise living standards and improve the quality of life for everyone in this island.
I welcome the work of Caritas’ inclusivity project to make sure that all in our community benefit from these government programmes. With vision, commitment and collaboration, we can all play a part in creating a society in which everyone has the opportunity to share in our prosperity.
When we agreed our Strategic Plan for Jersey in 2015 we said we couldn’t serve islanders alone. That is still very much the case. If we are to help all our community to make the most of the opportunities available on this small but successful island, we need the public sector, the voluntary and community sector, the private sector, and our community as a whole, to work together to secure Jersey’s future as a successful and respected small Island state.
So: is the eradication of poverty in Jersey aspiration or delusion?
For my part, it is an aspiration and should be an aspiration, but it is not my sole responsibility as head of government. Each of us has an important part to play, and as I started – I quote Beveridge
"The State, in organising security should not stifle incentive, opportunity, responsibility; in establishing a national minimum, it should leave room and encouragement for voluntary action by each individual to provide more than that minimum for himself and his family.”
gov.je