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WQ.487/2023
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY BY DEPUTY L.V. FELTHAM OF ST. HELIER CENTRAL
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 4th DECEMBER 2023 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 11th DECEMBER 2023
Question
“Will the Minister provide the following annual information regarding applications for the Child Personal Care Benefit for the last 5 years –
- the number of applications received;
- the number of successful and unsuccessful applications;
- the reasons given to applicants for unsuccessful applications;
- the number of unsuccessful applicants who appealed the decision, and of those, the number of applicants who subsequently received the benefit oran alternative special payment; and
- the number of unsuccessful applicants who appealed to the Minister, and of those, the number who went on to receive the benefit or an alternative special payment?”
Answer
The following information is taken from departmental computer records but it should be noted that the recording of claim information does not match exactly with the questions being posed. Claims would need to be reviewed on a manual basis to address all the details set out in the question.
(a) and (b)
|
Year |
Number of CPC claims starting in this year |
Estimate of number of CPC applications disallowed in this year |
Estimate of total number of applications in year |
|
2019 |
43 |
5 |
48 |
|
2020 |
39 |
3 |
42 |
|
2021 |
53 |
5 |
58 |
|
2022 |
85 |
5 |
90 |
|
2023 |
81 |
8 |
89 |
This table shows the number of claims that started in each year shown. These are successful applications. It also shows an estimate of the number of applications that were unsuccessful. This is likely to be an under estimate. If an application was made and was not successful but a subsequent application led to a successful claim (i.e. the care needs of the child increased over that time) the unsuccessful initial claim may not be included in the table above. If an application is made in respect of a family already receiving Income Support and the application is unsuccessful, this information is only available by manually examining each claim history to provide fully accurate information.
- Applications are normally only refused if the assessment of the child’s care needs does not meet the level associated with level 2 or level 3 of the personal care impairment assessment as set out in Income Support legislation. This information is provided to the parents at the time of the unsuccessful application.
- If an applicant challenges a decision, the first step isto request a redetermination. In 2023 three applicants have requested a redetermination. One caseis still outstanding and the other two cases resulted inan award being made after extra information was provided bythe applicant. In 2022 two applicants requested a redetermination. Both cases resulted in an award being made after extra information was provided by the applicant. This information cannot be extracted from departmental systems for previous years other than by a manual search of individual records. This process cannot be completed in the time available to provide the response.
- Between2019 and 2023, there have been 5 Ministerial Decisions to support cases of this type. Support provided under a Ministerial Decision typically applies when there is a strong case for support, but the circumstances of the case are not covered by legislation.