A SHOCKING draft report has revealed huge flaws in the new States-run £64 million Income Support benefit package.
The catalogue of alleged errors includes money being wasted on overpayments and a lack of support for the vulnerable, sick and elderly, leading to one claimant lying dead in his flat for weeks who might be alive today had parish community visits been kept up. The report, produced by former welfare staff from the Parish of St Helier, says that staff running Income Support are ‘very reluctant’ to visit vulnerable people in their homes and that the weekly visits to vulnerable claimants under the old welfare system have stopped.
It says that one claimant – identified only as ‘Mr M’ – was found badly decomposed in his flat weeks after he had died. The report says that had the weekly visits been kept up, he might still be alive today. The report on the impact of the first six months of the new Income Support package has been leaked to the JEP in its draft form after being sent to the new Social Security Minister and the ten St Helier Deputies.
Income Support, a £64 million package of benefits, began at the start of 2008 and replaced several old benefits, including the old parish welfare.
Pictured: The report says that scenes of neglect like this could have been avoided under the old system
