Gap between rich and poor worse in Jersey than UK

Wednesday 07 September 2016

The Island's Income Support system is "failing to reduce poverty in the Island" and the gap between the rich and the poor has got even bigger, according to a new report by the Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel.

It shows that more Islanders are depending on food banks, single parents and pensioners are struggling, and those earning the minimum wage are stuck in the 'benefit trap' that most won't ever escape from. It recommends that Social Security should be exempt from any more cuts in the next States financial plans.

The Panel says it has been "alarmed and saddened, but not altogether surprised", by what it has learnt since the States approved plans last October to cut £10 million from the Social Security budget over the four years, hitting those on Income Support the hardest.

The review was prompted by the findings of last year's Jersey Household Income Distribution Survey. It reported that after housing costs are taken into account, one in four of all households in the Island are living in relative low income, one in three pensioners live in relative low income, double that in the UK and that the poorest section of the community are living on an average household income that has decreased by a sixth over the last five years. It also highlighted that the income gap between the rich and the poor is worse here than it is in the UK.

The panel has recommended that Social Security does a full review of the Income Support system to ensure it's reaching Islanders who are in need and report back to the States next summer and is calling for the Social Security Minister Susie Pinel to suspend the freezing of benefits in 2017 to take the pressure off low income households. It also recommends that Deputy Pinel should look at ways to help people out of the 'benefits trap'.

The Chairman of the Panel, Deputy Richard Renouf, said: “The States Strategic Plan for 2015-2018 acknowledges that nothing undermines social inclusion more than financial hardship and has as a stated goal "to help people in Jersey achieve and maintain financial independence and safeguard the most vulnerable in our community".

“My Panel hopes its report will help to inform and highlight the difficulties faced by the sizeable number of people living on a low income in Jersey so that States Members and the whole Island community can redouble their efforts to achieve the Strategic Plan goal.’’ 

The Panel says it hopes the gap between the Island's rich and poor won't be so wide by the time the next household income survey is carried out in 2020.