From Francis Le Gresley, manager, Citizens Advice Bureau.
THE Parish of St Helier has a new website so I expected to see the Community Visit Service they currently provide, as described in the leaked Income Support report, listed as a service provided by the parish. However, there is no mention of the service on the website.

Having recently read the leaked report I was surprised to learn that the authors of the report were recommending to the Constable that: ‘Ideally, assistance that the parish could provide would be in the form of directing and helping people find the assistance available [ie from Income Support]. Also, monitoring vulnerable people within the parish and providing a caring service for the vulnerable and elderly.’

Surely this is the role all the parishes were expected to fulfil once the actual assessment and payment of benefit was transferred to the Social Security Department?

Perhaps the Constable of St Helier needs to address this apparent gap in the services his parish provides before denigrating the staff in the Social Security Department and admonishing the ‘failings’ of the income support system, as perceived by three of his employees.

Having worked at the Citizens Advice Bureau for the last 16 years I believe that I can offer a balanced view on whether the new income support system is an improvement on the old, non-contributory, benefit system.
I would say that much of the criticism in the leaked report is unjustified and some of the case studies have nothing to do with the benefit system.

What some of the case studies do reflect, however, are potential inadequacies of Care in the Community, being the prime responsibility of the Minister for Health and Social Services, and the lack of proper protocols and policies to ensure that the vulnerable and elderly are supported, not just financially, to live independently.

This was very much a draft report, with obvious errors and omissions, and including some highly emotive case studies. The personal views of the authors should not have been given such credence by the media and the Constable of St Helier should not have been so quick to give the report his endorsement.
St Paul’s Centre,
New Street,
St Helier.