Income Support (General Provisions) (Amendment No. 16) (Jersey) Order 201-

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A decision made 22 September 2014:

Decision Reference: MD-S-2014-0128
Decision Summary Title :	DS - Income Support (General Provisions) (Amendment No. 16) (Jersey) Order 201-		Date of Decision Summary:	19 September 2014
Decision Summary Author:	Policy Principal		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	WR - Income Support (General Provisions) (Amendment No. 16) (Jersey) Order 201-		Date of Written Report:	19 September 2014
Written Report Author:	Policy Principal		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Income Support (General Provisions) (Amendment No. 16) (Jersey) Order 201-
Decision(s): The Minister made the Income Support (General Provisions) (Amendment No. 16) (Jersey) Order 201-
Reason(s) for Decision: The Order supports changes made by the Income Support (Special Payments)(Child Personal Care) (Jersey) Regulations 201-. It allows for households to continue to receive an appropriate capital disregard in respect of a member of the household who is a child qualifying under Regulation 2 or 3 of the Income Support (Special Payments)(Child Personal Care) (Jersey) Regulations 201-. Further changes also increase the disregard in respect of pension income available to claimants who have reached pensionable age, in line with the uprating of the Jersey old-age pension.
Resource Implications: There are no manpower implications for these changes. There are no costs attached to the revised criteria for the capital disregard. The cost of increasing the pension disregard is included in the Income Support cash limit. This represents a cost of approximately £85,000 a year.
Action required: Policy Principal to notify the Greffe and the Law Draftsman that the Order has been made and to forward the signed and sealed Order to the States Greffe, requesting the Greffier of the States to arrange for the Order to be notified to the States.
Signature:		Position:
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Income Support (General Provisions) (Amendment No. 16) (Jersey) Order 201-

Income Support (General Provisions) (Amendment No.16) (Jersey) Order 201-

1. Summary

These amendments to the Income Support (General Provisions) Order 2008 are necessary to facilitate changes made by the Income Support (Special Payments)(Child Personal Care)(Jersey) Regulations 201-, and related amendments to the Income Support (Jersey)(Regulations) 2007.

The proposed Income Support (Special Payments)(Child Personal Care)(Jersey) Regulations 201- create a mechanism whereby the parents of children that meet the requirements for the highest level of the Income Support personal care impairment award can always receive a payment in respect of the care needs of the child, independently of parental income.

This Order supports that change by amending the Income Support (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2008 to reflect the way in which capital is assessed for households containing a child who formerly met the qualification for the Personal Care level 2 or Personal care level 3 elements of the Income Support impairment component. As the effect of the Child Personal Care Regulations is to move the personal care awards associated with those children outside the household for the calculation of income, the Order allows those households to nevertheless continue to qualify for the higher levels of disregard of capital that are available to households containing a child qualifying for these levels of personal care.

The Order also increases the disregard in respect of pension income available to claimants who have reached pensionable age, in line with the uprating of the Jersey old-age pension.

2. Amendments to Order

This Order amends the Income Support (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2008 (the “2008 Order”) to change the way in which capital is assessed for a household containing a child who meets the criteria in Regulation 2 or 3 of the Income Support (Special Payments) (Child Personal Care) (Jersey) Regulations 2014.

Article 1(a) amends paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 2 to the 2008 Order by making provision for a disregard of up to £22,718 of the value of capital in assessing household income in respect of a household containing a child who meets the criteria in Regulation 2 or 3 of the Income Support (Special Payments) (Child Personal Care) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 and 2 or more adults. Article 1(a) also amends paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 2 to the 2008 Order by making provision for a disregard of up to £13,706 of the value of capital in assessing household income in respect of a household containing a child who meets the criteria in Regulation 2 or 3 of the Income Support (Special Payments) (Child Personal Care) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 and only one adult, where that adult is under pensionable age.

Article 1(b) amends paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 2 to the 2008 Order to make provision for any capital that has been accumulated solely to provide for the future care of a member of a household who is a child who meets the criteria in Regulation 3 of the Income Support (Special Payments) (Child Personal Care) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 to be disregarded for as long as the member continues to meet that criteria. A redundant reference to paragraph 6(3)(d) of Schedule 1 to the Income Support Regulations (Jersey) 2007 is deleted.

Article 1(c) amends paragraph 5(f) and (g) of the 2008 Order to increase the percentage of pensions income to be disregarded from 1st October 2014. Article 2 sets out the title of the Order and provides for the commencement of the provisions of the Order.

3. Financial and manpower considerations

There are no manpower implications for these changes. There are no costs attached to the revised criteria for the capital disregard. The cost of increasing the pension disregard is included in the Income Support cash limit. This represents a cost of approximately £85,000 a year.