Employment & Social Security president Tina Bury gave the guarantee when she was questioned about the security of the Your Island Pension scheme in the States Assembly yesterday following a half-yearly update about her committee’s work.
Deputy Rhona Humphreys wanted to know whether ESS remained satisfied with the Sovereign Group’s management of the scheme following a court case earlier in the year in which one of the group’s arms was found guilty of gross negligence and wilful misconduct over its handling of a fund set up to protect the income of a group of pilots.
‘We can absolutely assure members that we have interrogated this situation, both with Sovereign and our procurement teams, and we are fairly satisfied about the processes, some of which were outside of our control,’ said Deputy Bury.
‘We continue to keep an eye on the unfolding situation, but we are reassured that the actual funds of the Your Island Pension scheme are safe.’
Deputy Bury said her committee was awaiting with interest the final judgment in the court case, in which Sovereign was sued for more than $25m. in its role as trustee of the Aircrew Protection International Trust, and was also accused of failing to act as ‘en bon pere de famille’ – a fiduciary standard under Guernsey trust law which requires trustees to manage assets with prudence and care.
‘Any further action which may need to be taken will be considered after the final judgment,’ said Deputy Bury.
The States introduced secondary pensions legislation to boost retirement savings after it was found that about 60% of the island’s working population was not paying into a pension scheme.
Employees must be enrolled in the Your Island Pension scheme or an equivalent private scheme and pay in 1.5% of their earnings, which will rise to 6.5% by 2032, with employers contributing 1% currently and 3.5% by 2032.
Deputy Bury later undertook to find out whether prisoners in Guernsey could receive Income Support payments and write to Deputy Simon Vermeulen who asked her the question. She also said that ESS would be open to working with other committees after Economic Development president Sasha Kazantseva-Miller raised concerns about barriers to youngsters taking on part-time work.
‘There is talk of the death of the Saturday job as one of the elements contributing to a lack of connection between education and employment,’ said Deputy Kazantseva-Miller.
She proposed a joint project between the two committees and Education which she hoped would ‘raise more awareness about ways to employ young people’ and encourage employers ‘to bring back the Saturday job’.
‘I think it would be useful to understand the problem,’ said Deputy Bury.
‘In my personal experience, my youngster has just recently secured a Saturday job, and it wasn’t hard, but perhaps for younger people it might be.
‘Once employers start employing young people they move into safeguarding and I think support for employers in this area would be really useful.’
A review in the UK led by former government minister Alan Milburn recently found that about 1m. 16 to 24 year olds, approximately one in eight of that age group, were not in education, employment and training. Several members acknowledged during yesterday’s exchanges in the States that the problem was much smaller in Guernsey.
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