WHEN the proponents of GST were making the case for this element of the Island’s fiscal reform, they were adamant that a parallel measure – the Income Support scheme – would protect low earners and other needy people from the effects of additional taxation.

In spite of this assurance, GST was never likely to be a popular innovation, but many States Members and ordinary Islanders were prepared to accept it as a necessary evil – with, no doubt, assurances about Income Support playing a key role in that decision-making process.

Now, as a newly constituted States Assembly and a new Council of Ministers begin to find their feet and prepare to grapple with the burdens of office, shocking truths about Income Support are emerging. A report on the £64 million programme, produced by Town Hall staff with experience of welfare issues, indicates that far from being the carefully orchestrated and streamlined system that it was talked up to be, the scheme is failing.

Some of the report’s revelations – such as the case of a man who was found in his flat weeks after he had died – are truly shocking. However, there is ample cause for concern and alarm at even the most basic levels. The catalogue of alleged deficiencies includes money being wasted on over-payments, excessive bureaucracy, and loopholes which allow the elderly and vulnerable to slip through the welfare safety net.
Such a state of affairs cannot and must not be allowed to persist. The architects of Income Support must, with the full backing of their present political bosses, begin at once to address the problems that have been identified.

There can be no question of the difficulties being brushed aside as the teething troubles of structures that have been in place for only a few months. This is not about abstract policy; the scheme is having an impact on people’s lives which is all too real.

The new Social Security Minister, Deputy Ian Gorst, has, naturally enough, promised to put Income Support at the top of his agenda. He would do well to work closely with Senator Alan Breckon, chairman of the Social Security Scrutiny panel, who is also determined to make this most pressing of matters his priority.