The Social Security Minister has told a scrutiny panel she is “keen” to ensure single-parent households are acknowledged within ongoing work to establish minimum income standards and identify potential gaps in Jersey’s benefits system.
Deputy Lyndsay Feltham made the comments during a hearing of the Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel this week.
Panel member Deputy Philip Bailhache cited a statistic from the Jersey Opinions and Lifestyle Survey report published last year, which stated that 82% of single-parent households found it difficult to cope financially in 2024.
Deputy Feltham, who is working with other Ministers to develop a set of minimum income standards for Jersey households, responded: “That is why I’m quite keen that a single-parent household is one of the households that we can look at from a minimum income standards perspective.”
She continued: “I’m always keen to look again at specific examples, so that we can identify what any of quicker changes that we might be able to make or process changes are.”
Deputy Feltham added that case studies from relevant organisations “are always very helpful”, adding that she was due to meet with childcare provider Centrepoint this week.
“Real situations are where we can see where there actually might be some gaps, where we can look to where there’s [potential for] shorter-term changes, or even people who may not realise that they are eligible for the benefits that they are eligible for.”