Government of Jersey

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A decision made to approve the request to the Minister for Treasury and Resources to employ up to five temporary contract staff from March to December 2007 for the development of the income support scheme.

Ministerial Decision

Subject:	Income Support-request for additional contract staff
Decision Reference:	MD-S-2006-0016		Exempt clause(s):	Public
Type of Report: (oral or written)	Written		Person Giving Report (if oral):
Telephone or e-mail Meeting?	Meeting 27/01/06		Report File ref:	L:\General Information\Workgroups\Policy\income support\Income Support Temporary staff.doc
Written report – Title	Income Support –request for temporary contract posts
Written report – Author (name and job title)	T.F.Gales Policy and Strategy Director
Decision(s): Approve the request to the Minister for Treasury and Resources to employ upto 5 temporary contract staff from March 2006 to December 2007 for the development of the income support scheme.
Reason(s) for decision: The Income Support system is a time critical development crucial to the overall fiscal policy and must be in place in 2007. Key members of staff within the Social Security Department will have to be drawn from day to day operations in the development and testing stages of the IT project and the data take on and transition stages prior to implementation will require significant resource to check data and prepare for adjustments to existing beneficiary payments. The 5 posts will backfill positions in the development/testing phases and be used extensively in data take on and transition. Estimated costs are £78,000 in 2006 and £100,000 in 2007 and this request is taken separately from an overall request which includes IT contract costs as these are unknown at present and temporary staff need to be recruited.
Action required: Request to be sent to Treasury and Resources Department for decision.
Signature: (Minister/ Assistant Minister)		Date of Decision: 3rd February 2006

Income Support - request for additional contract staff

Income Support Development –Request for temporary contract posts

Summary

The development of the income support system is now in a critical phase as both the Law Drafting and IT workstreams have begun in earnest. The project plan still shows an implementation date of May 2007 and this tight timescale can only be met by using the expertise and knowledge of certain key staff. This means that staff must be released for this project leaving gaps in existing services that will have to be filled in order not to diminish service or cover to our customers.

Background

Experience with the implementation of the NESSIE system and the legislative changes emanating from “Continuity and Change” showed the value of using key staff at critical times within these projects. The staff in question varied as the projects moved on and it is likely that the Income Support development will follow a similar course. Process Managers and Policy experts may be required at the early stages to map out key processes whilst front facing staff will need to be used as the project moves into data requirement capture and user testing.

The IT project plan has four phases, inception, data requirement capture, construction and testing with testing starting in November 2006. At this stage a great deal of activity will be turned on data capture or conversion which will involve checking amending and potential direct customer contact to potential future recipients of income support. Initial inception workshops have already started and it is clear that from March, to keep the project on track, staff will need to be released and gaps left behind need to be filled. At the time of data take on the Department might need 5 temporary contract posts. However this number may not be needed at once and would increase over the period of the project. Initially in March the project would need 2 temporary contract posts.

The intention is to have upto 5 temporary contract posts available from March 2006 until the end of December 2007 to cover the development, transition and implementation of the income support system. The specific purpose of these posts is

 to cover or ”backfill” the areas which will suffer from the release of key staff but strictly on the basis that these posts will not be absorbed into the general fabric of the Department , and

 to assist with testing, data take on and conversion prior to implementation.

The cost for this is estimated to be £78,000 in 2006 and £100,000 in 2007. It had been hoped to incorporate this cost into an overall start up budget which would include IT development. The initial estimate of these costs was £2 million but with the delay in finalising the IT contract with Cap Gemini, this request is put forward separately so that recruitment can begin.

Recommendation

The Minister is ask to request the Minister for Treasury and Resources to approve the recruitment of upto 5 temporary contract posts to undertake two necessary functions

 to cover existing members of staff used during the development and,

 to assist in the data take on and conversion.