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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY BY DEPUTY S.Y. MÉZEC OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 12th APRIL 2016
Question
Could the Minister provide a breakdown for every year since its introduction of the total amount spent on –
- Income Support payments;
- Short Term Incapacity Allowance; and
- Long Term Incapacity Allowance;
including an explanation as to how much of the rising cost of each of those payments is attributable to a higher number of claimants, rather than the component amounts being raised?
Answer
This information is published each year in the departmental annual report[1]. Values for the 5 year period from 2010 to 2014 inclusive are provided below.
Each table shows the total spend and the number of claims. Short Term Incapacity Allowance and Long Term Incapacity Allowance are contributory benefits and benefit rates are increased each year on 1 October in line with the annual rise in average earnings. Income Support payments are based on an assessment of the household income and assets and the range of components available to the individual household. All current Income Support component rates are published on www.gov.je [2]. All historical rates are available at www.jerseylaw.je[3].
- These values refer to Income Support weekly payments and exclude transitional payments, residential care payments and special payments.
Income Support weekly benefit | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
Total Spend (£'000) | 61,670 | 66,940 | 71,349 | 72,953 | 73,866 |
Total Number of Claims as at 31/12 | 6,299 | 6,387 | 6,636 | 6,552 | 6,486 |
Total Number of Participants as at 31/12 | 10,917 | 11,355 | 11,908 | 11,761 | 11,665 |
Approximate average weekly claim value per household | £188.28 | £201.55 | £206.77 | £214.12 | £219.01 |
Approximate average weekly claim value per participant | £108.63 | £113.37 | £115.22 | £119.29 | £121.77 |
- Short Term Incapacity Allowance (STIA)
Short Term Incapacity Allowance | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
Cost of STIA claims £'000 | 12,736 | 12,692 | 13,650 | 12,938 | 12,413 |
Number of STIA claims paid | 29,269 | 28,652 | 27,260 | 25,703 | 24,743 |
Number of days paid | 527,563 | 520,157 | 543,149 | 509,714 | 476,243 |
Approximate average weekly claim value | £168.99 | £170.80 | £175.92 | £177.68 | £182.45 |
Standard rate of benefit (£ per week) as at 31/12 | £179.97 | £184.45 | £187.25 | £191.38 | £196.42 |
- Long Term Incapacity Allowance (LTIA); This table includes Invalidity Benefit as well as LTIA which replaced Invalidity Benefit in October 2004. Claimants with ongoing claims from before this date are able to continue to claim the previous benefit.
LTIA and Invalidity | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
Total Spend Invalidity benefit (£'000) | 12,457 | 11,239 | 10,043 | 9,016 | 8,087 |
Total Spend LTIA (£'000) | 11,901 | 12,635 | 13,416 | 14,567 | 14,858 |
Total Spend across long term incapacity (£'000) | 24,358 | 23,874 | 23,459 | 23,583 | 22,945 |
Number of Invalidity claims in payment as at 31/12 | 1,086 | 967 | 859 | 759 | 667 |
Number of LTIA claims in payment as at 31/12 | 3,422 | 3,533 | 3,670 | 3,815 | 3,958 |
Total number of Long Term Incapacity claims | 4,508 | 4,500 | 4,529 | 4,574 | 4,625 |
Approximate average Invalidity weekly claim value | £220.59 | £223.51 | £224.84 | £228.44 | £233.16 |
Approximate average LTIA weekly claim value | £66.88 | £68.77 | £70.30 | £73.43 | £72.19 |
Standard rate of benefit (£ per week) as at 31/12 | £ 179.97 | £ 184.45 | £ 187.25 | £ 191.38 | £ 196.42 |