Income Support and Long Term Care (FOI)

Request  

Please advise how many people who are 16 years of age and who receive Band 2, 3 and 4 of income support or Long Term Care of their personal component.

Response

Income Support is a means tested benefit based on financial circumstances and cannot be claimed based purely on disability. 

Long Term Care is only provided to individuals aged 18 and above. Entitlement is based on a persons assessed care level requirements and not their medical conditions. 

There is no single channel by which the Government of Jersey comprehensively collects information on individuals receiving income support or Long Term Care and any medical conditions they may have. Therefore, it is not possible to give definitive total numbers of all customers who have a learning disability and are in receipt of income support or Long Term Care.

Further the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 does not require a Scheduled Public Authority to manipulate or create new data sets in order to provide a response. Article 10 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 therefore applies. 

Article applied

Article 10 - Obligation of scheduled public authority to confirm or deny holding Information

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), if –

(a) a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority; and

(b) the authority does not hold the information, it must inform the applicant accordingly.

(2) If a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority and –

(a) the information is absolutely exempt information or qualified exempt information; or

(b) if the authority does not hold the information, the information would be absolutely exempt information or qualified exempt information if it had held it, the authority may refuse to inform the applicant whether or not it holds the information if it is satisfied that, in all the circumstances of the case, it is in the public interest to do so.

(3) If a scheduled public authority so refuses –

(a) it shall be taken for the purpose of this Law to have refused to supply the information requested on the ground that it is absolutely exempt information; and

(b) it need not inform the applicant of the specific ground upon which it is refusing the request or, if the authority does not hold the information, the specific ground upon which it would have refused the request had it held the information.