Transfer of funds for additional benefit/staffing for income support

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A decision made 11 December 2009 regarding: Transfer of funds for additional benefit/staffing for income support.

Decision Reference: MD-TR-2009-0206
Decision Summary Title	Transfer of Approved Income Support Funds to the Social Security Department		Date of Decision Summary:	04 December 2009
Decision Summary Author:	Head of Financial Reporting		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Transfer of Income Support Funds to the Social Security Department in accordance with P83/2009		Date of Written Report:	04 December 2009
Written- Report Author:	Head of Financial Reporting		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Transfer from the Treasury and Resources Department to the Social Security Department
Decision(s): The Minister approved the transfer of funds to the Social Security Department of £2,300,000 for income support benefit and £111,000 for additional staffing.
Reason(s) for Decision: To transfer funds in accordance with the approval of P.83/2009 (approved by the States in July 2009) which requested an additional £2.411 million for Income Support and additional staffing under Article 11(8) of the Public Finance (Jersey) Law 2005. These funds are held centrally by the Treasury and only transferred on provision of evidence of actual expenditure. This decision reallocates those funds already approved by the States to the Social Security Department.
Resource Implications: As above
Action required: Head of Financial Planning to be requested to effect the transfer as soon as possible.
Signature:		Position: Senator P F C Ozouf, Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Transfer of funds for additional benefit/staffing for income support

Treasury & Resources Department Report for Minister
Subject:	Transfer of Income Support Funds to the Social Security Department in accordance with P83/2009
Exempt Clause:	n/a	Date:	4 December 2009
Author:	Head of Financial Reporting

Introduction

The purpose of this report is to ask the Minister to agree to the transfer of funds of £2.411 million from the Treasury and Resources Department to the Social Security Department in accordance with the approval by the States of P83/2009.

Background

In July 2009 States Assembly approved P83/2009 which allocated additional funding, up to £2.411 million, for the Social Security Department to meet expected overspends on Income Support funding and staff costs as a result of the economic downturn. A further £700,000 was also approved for Supplementation, but the department does not need to draw this down.

The Social Security Department has submitted a report, signed by the Social Security Minister, which lays out the costs of Income Support this year and provides evidence of the projected overspend. This is in accordance with the requirement in P83/2009 that the Social Security Minister provide “documented evidence of the actual costs incurred as a result of the economic downturn”.

The report submitted by the Social Security Minister demonstrates that overall the department has incurred £3 million additional costs for income support, but has seen some underspends (especially for transition payments) which brings this down to a net overspend of £2.5 million. This is in excess of the £2.3 million maximum approved in P83/2009 and therefore the full amount approved has been requested.

The report also demonstrates that the Department has incurred £111,000 of additional staff costs for additional staff to support the increase in work in the Workzone section of the department. This is in line with the amount allocated in P83/2009.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Minister approves the transfer of funds of £2.411 million from the Treasury and Resources Department to the Social Security Department.