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224 Guernsey families, including 721 children, have been confirmed as living below the poverty line, after the island's Social Security team announced plans to increase the island's benefit cap.
The current benefit limitation means that 224 families live on an income which represents "intolerable levels of poverty." But increasing that cap to £750 should help more than half of them, reducing that number to 109 families.
The increase would be from the current cap of £670, and would be a rise higher than inflation.
The benefit limitation is theoretically the maximum amount of income support a household can receive, but people’s earnings, other income and other benefits are also taken into account in the calculation. So the vast majority of those impacted by the benefit limitation will be receiving income support that is much less than £670 per week.
Pictured: Deputy Michelle Le Clerc
Deputy Michelle Le Clerc, President of Employment & Social Security, said: "The impact of the benefit limitation is a serious concern and the closure of the rent rebate scheme means that it can no longer be ignored. 224 families, including 721 children are currently affected.
"The benefit limitation must be increased or these children will continue to live in poverty, this year’s increase will mitigate the effect but not remove it. That is why the Committee is proposing a real terms increase this year and will bring the matter to the States again early next year to seek a long term solution.”
Earlier this year, ESS introduced a new benefit scheme for the island, which required people to re-register to more accurately give people access to the money.
Just ahead of the launch, the committee said there were 300 people entitled to claim who had not and since that point, it has been contacting these people to be sure they have actively decided not to claim, and are not unaware.
Social Security confirmed as of this week the number of claims unmade was still just under 300, "though it does move from week to week, and we are still only in the first few months".
"The number of families affected by the benefit limitation, which I think is the main point made about households in poverty, would not reflect the 300 non-claimers, the 212 families are just active claims," it clarified.
"The impact of the benefit limitation means that these families are living on an income below their identified requirement.
"As for the launch of Income Support, the Committee are extremely happy with the launch. Notably that transition was seamless for many and those affected were kept well informed throughout."
The spokesperson said the following extract from ESS' policy letter explained the situation further:
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