Scrapping income support cap ‘may see more seeking benefit’

A motion from the Employment & Social Security Committee to remove the cap, which was increased only last month from £930 to £980 per week, was backed by a majority of deputies.

The limit meant that any household with a weekly income higher than that figure would not be eligible for income support.

Deputy Dyke said having no income cap could lead people to increase the size of their family.

‘We are in challenging times and trying to keep the budget down. We say we are trying to keep costs under control but we never do,’ he said.

‘Once this cap is removed, more families will inevitably start sliding up through what the cap might have been. This will mean more families getting into this difficulty, and more costs going into the budget as the bigger families begin to increase in number.

‘At the moment we have a limited amount of families reaching a generous cap of £980 per week with four, five, six, seven children. Should we really unintentionally increase incentive for some families to have more children with the responsibility for paying for them shifted to other people, who themselves may not be able to afford even one child?’

He referred to reported outcomes children could face if they have grown up in large families.

‘Outcomes tend to be much worse in terms of health, educational outcomes and substance abuse. It is not a good idea to incentivise people into these situations.’

Social Security has factored in real terms increases in the value of the benefit limitation in recent years.

Former deputy Andrew Le Lievre, also a former senior officer at Social Security, wrote to the Guernsey Press last month supporting the proposal to abolish the cap.

‘It might be 50 years late, but it is absolutely the correct course of action,’ he said.

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