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Repayment of social security and income support overpayments

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WQ.536/2019

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY BY DEPUTY R.J. WARD OF ST. HELIER

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 10th DECEMBER 2019

Question

Will the Minister state –

  1. how much money was recovered monthly over the last year from Social Security or Income Support claimants through the repayment of overpayments made by the Minister's department; and
  2. how many individual households  are  currently paying repayments  for overpayment of  such benefits?

Answer

Part (a)

The income support scheme provides payments in advance to low income families. This ensures that vulnerable households are not left without funds to support their basic needs immediately following a drop in income. A system that makes payments in advance will always require adjustments where household income has increased after a payment has been made.

The table indicates the monthly totals for each month of 2019 in respect of adjustments from current Income Support  claims  and  instalment  payments  received,  in  respect  of  the  repayment  of  income  support overpayments.

Some of this data has been extracted manually from operational records and the figures should be treated as estimates. As far as possible non- Income Support payments have been excluded from the analysis.

 

Month 2019

Total amount received

Jan

£190,000

Feb

£178,000

Mar

£240,000

Apr

£202,000

May

£296,000

Jun

£196,000

Jul

£360,000

Aug

£237,000

Sep

£194,000

Oct

£208,000

Nov

£246,000

(b) 1,172 IS household claims are currently being adjusted for overpayments.