A group of politicians in Jersey is urging the government to reinstate benefits for single parents.
The Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel is bringing a proposition to the States Assembly seeking to reinstate the single parent component of Income Support. The Panel’s proposition asks the Social Security and Treasury ministers to find funding to reinstate the component until a sustainable funding stream can be identified.
The Panel is asking Deputy Susie Pinel and Senator Alan Maclean to consider using what they call the “significant underspends” in the Social Security Department’s annual budgets.
Scrutiny panel chairman, Deputy Richard Renouf, said: “Since we presented our report on low income, which showed that single parents are one of the most vulnerable groups in our community, we are concerned that the financial assistance historically provided to single parents has now been taken away. Our enquiries have shown that the annual cost of reinstating the single parent component is approximately £2.3 million. Although we acknowledge this is a large amount to find, we also note the Social Security Department achieved savings of over £10 million in its budget last year, mostly as a result of a decrease in the number of benefit claimants.”
