ESS wants 5% emergency rise for income support
AN EMERGENCY increase of 5% in income support rates will be debated in the States next week, after Employment & Social Security put forward a series of proposals to help alleviate the impact of spiralling inflation.
‘Although the cost-of-living crisis is not unique to Guernsey, we need to ensure that we do what we can, as soon as we can, for islanders on the lowest incomes, who are already feeling the impact of the increasing cost of food, fuel and many other essentials,’ said ESS committee president Deputy Peter Roffey.
It is hoped that the increase, if approved, will close some of the gap between the current income support rates and the current cost of food, fuel, rent and other essential goods and services.
ESS is recommending that a 5% increase be applied to the income support requirement rates – the level of income below which people can receive income support – and to the limit of weekly income, also known as the benefit limitation. The same percentage uplift will also be applied to the maximum amount that income support can contribute towards rental payments, if the proposals are agreed. Any approved rise would take effect from 7 October.
ESS president Deputy Peter Roffey urged islanders who were struggling to make ends meet to get in touch with the Income Support team to see what they may be entitled to.
The emergency increases are intended as an interim step towards the rates that will be proposed to take effect from January, through the ordinary uprating of all non-contributory benefits which are due to be debated in November, alongside the budget for 2023.
ESS is also proposing a 23% increase in the rate of the winter fuel allowance, which reflects the annual change in the price of the fuel and light element of the RPIX figure in the year to the end of June 2022. This allowance is paid to householders in receipt of income support between the last week in October and the last week of the following April. In contrast to the other increases proposed in the Policy Letter, the increase in winter fuel allowance is not an interim measure, albeit the rate of increase proposed is higher than normal due to the high cost of fuel at present.
The latest inflation figures for Guernsey showed the highest-ever annual figure for RPIX – which was introduced in 1999 and is the States’ preferred measure of inflation – of 7.0%. The RPI figure was 6.8%, the highest since 1991.
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