Draft Income Support (Parents, Children and Housing) (Jersey) Amendment Regulations 202-. (P.59/2025): Addendum

STATES OF JERSEY

DRAFT INCOME SUPPORT (PARENTS, CHILDREN AND HOUSING) (JERSEY) AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 202- (P.59/2025): ADDENDUM

Presented to the States on 1st August 2025 by the Minister for Social Security

STATES GREFFE

2025  P.59 Add.(2) (re-issue)

COMMENTS

This document is published as a companion to P.59/2025 (Draft Income Support (Parents, Children and Housing) (Jersey) Amendment Regulations 202- ) with the intention of providing some additional background information.

Background

1. The Minister for Social Security is proposing draft Regulations to update the Income Support legislation to:
   1. ensure it is fully aligned with the current and future administration of income support claims,
   2. enable more efficient benefit administration, and
   3. enable improved data collection to inform future policy development.
2. The proposed amendments are designed to fully protect existing claimants and maintain claim rates at their current level. There will be no negative impact on the amount of Income Support payable to Income Support households.
3. These changes act in support of the Transform Programme ("Transform"), which is an Employment, Social Security and Housing ("ESSH") initiative to transform services and systems to make it easier for customers.
4. This document provides working examples of the proposed changes. Family units
5. The proposed regulations make the definition of family unit clearer. In general terms, a young person who lives with their parents will be included as part of the income support household of the parents until they are 25 years old.
6. In some cases, younger people will have their own household (claim) or not be included on the parents' claim:
   1. a young adult with personal care needs assessed at level 2 or above is given their own IS claim on reaching school leaving age. This helps to support the young person independently of their parent's situation.
   2. a young adult in work may be removed from the parent's household depending on the income of the young person – see below.
7. The proposed amendment more clearly defines the term family unit and will enable ESSH to collect data about young people and use it to update the parent's claim, as needed.
8. It will also allow for improved data collection to inform future policy changes.

Example 1 - Award of the single parent component where the young person is on a separate Income Support claim

9. Sam (age 17) lives with his mother  Julie. Julie is a single parent and  claims Income Support.  
10. Sam has cystic fibrosis and has been  assessed as having personal care  level 2 needs.  
11. Because Sam has personal care level  2 needs and is over school leaving  age, he is given his own Income  Support claim. This ringfences any  entitlement Sam has from ever being  reduced by Julie's income. Sam will  continue to receive his own Income  Support award even if Julie no longer qualifies for Income Support.
12. While Sam was part of Julie's household, Julie received a single parent supplement to her income support claim.
13. The proposed amendment recognises that Sam and Julie are in a family unit and ensures that Julie continues to receive the single parent supplement. This is available until the youngest child in the family reaches the age of 19.

Accommodation components

14. NOTE - The Regulations set out the rates for all housing components available to Income Support households as part of the revised Schedule 1. These rates were set in January 2025 and there are no changes to the values in these Regulations. The rates will be reviewed again as at 1 January 2026 as usual.
15. In each of the examples below, the proposed change to the Regulations will bring the legislation in line with current and future operational practice. There will be no change in benefit levels to any current IS claim.

Example 2 - Eligible family members not named on lease or licence

16. Paul (27) lives with his mother Pat  in a 2-bed social housing flat. Pat is  named on the lease, Paul is not. The  rent charged for the dwelling is  £400.  
17. Pat and Paul both have their own  Income Support claims. Because  Paul is over 25, he is not part of  Pat's household or family unit.  
18. Because there is a parental  relationship between Pat and Paul,  the proposed amendment links the  households together so a bedroom can be recognised for Paul on Pat's claim (because she is the leaseholder). Pat's claim will include the full rent for their social housing unit.

Examples 3 and 4 - Award of housing component when more than one household shares a dwelling

Social Housing

19. James (age 30) lives with his father John in a  2-bed social housing flat. The property is  fully occupied. They each have an Income  Support claim.  
20. The social housing cap used when a 2-bed  flat is shared is £343.56 per week. Where a  social housing dwelling is fully occupied by  a single household, the law allows the actual  rent payable to be recognised. The rent  charged for the dwelling is £350.  
21. The amended calculation H (bedroom need)  / B (total bedrooms in dwelling) x T (total  weekly rent payable) means that £175 (1 / 2 x £350) is recognised on both claims, so the full rent is covered.

Private Dwelling  

22. Sarah lives with her sister Nicola in a 2-bed  private flat. They each have an Income Support  claim.  
23. The private rental cap for a 2-bed flat is £362.74  per week, which is more than the rent charged for  the dwelling of £350.  
24. The amended calculation H (bedroom need) / B  (total bedrooms in dwelling) x T (total weekly  rent payable) means that £175 (1 / 2 x £350) is  recognised on each claim (totalling the actual rent  payable).  

Earnings for young people

25. These changes bring legislation in line with existing operational practices Example 5 - Young people in full time education and working
26. Jane (aged 19) is in full time education. She attends university in the UK. During the holidays she returns to Jersey to stay with her parents Dave and Sally. She works full time in Jersey over the summer vacation.
27. Dave and Sally claim Income Support. Because Jane is under 25, she is part of Dave and Sally's family unit, and she is included on their Income Support claim. Their assessment includes a bedroom for Jane.
28. During term time they do not qualify for any other components in respect of Jane while she is receiving a maintenance grant from Student Finance.
29. During vacation periods, if Jane is not earning a wage, Dave and Sally are entitled to the basic components in respect of Jane. However, to encourage Jane to work in the summer vacation, extra rules are applied in respect of Jane's earnings, as shown in the table below.

30. The student earnings threshold is the point at which the young person is better off by having their full income disregarded as opposed to recognising components. The formula in the new paragraph (1A) of Schedule 1 automatically sets the student earnings threshold at the correct level taking account of the value of the adult component, the earnings disregard and the rate of Class1 contributions.

Example 6 - Other young people working

31. Typically, young people (under 25) are included as part of their parent's Income Support household. The proposed amendment means that young people (under 25) will only be part of their parent's claim if it maintains the highest overall income to the family.

32. An officer will assess the impact of the young person:
    1. remaining on the claim (earnings will be included in family income support claim and benefit income will reduce), or
    2. being removed from the claim (components will be reduced in respect of young person)
33. George (aged 19) lives with his parents Phil and Dianne in a 2-bed flat. He works full time. Phil and Dianne claim Income Support.
34. George starts to earn £600 per week;

1. Option 1 - Keep George on claim. The claim would reduce by £408 as earnings added to claim (£600 – (26% earnings disregard + 6% soc sec contributions)
2. Option 2 - Take George off claim. The claim would reduce by £205.24 as George's components removed from claim (£125.79 (adult component lost) + £79.45 (value of housing component lost: Capping from 2 to 1 bed flat reduces allowable rent from £362.74 per week to £283.29 per week))
3. Decision: Although George is under 25, he is removed from Phil and Dianne's claim as it results in higher total household income.

Re-issue Note

This addendum has been re-issued to add the words: Jane is not working. Her parents receive £125.79 + bedroom as part of their total claim.' to row 1 in the table on page 6.