In brief: Social Security Minister Senator Elaine Millar has defended proposals to raise long-term care contributions by 1% by 2030, arguing the fund is a benefit Islanders should be proud of. The increase, to be phased in from 2028, would generate around £35 million in additional annual income. An independent actuarial review of the fund is currently under way.
The Plan to Shore Up Long-Term Care
Jersey’s long-term care fund is facing rising costs, and the Government’s answer is a gradual increase in contributions. The proposed Budget, due for debate later this year, contains plans to raise the maximum contribution rate from its current 1.5% to 2.5%, the Jersey Evening Post reports. That is a 1% increase in total, but islanders will not feel it all at once: the rise would be phased in as 0.3% in 2028, 0.4% in 2029, and a final 0.3% in 2030. The Government says the total uplift would boost the income generated by the fund by around £35 million.
The fund provides both universal and means-tested support for adults with long-term care needs, maintained through a combination of taxpayer contributions, a States grant and investment income. Senator Millar pointed to a greater proportion of islanders presenting with “higher care needs” and people living longer “with multiple conditions” as the drivers behind the sharp increase in costs seen in recent years.
It is worth noting this is not the first time such a proposal has appeared. A previous iteration of plans to raise long-term care contributions was included in the 2026 Budget under the previous government. The new proposals acknowledge “the cost-of-living pressures being felt by many families at present” as part of the rationale for deferring the increase until 2028 and then spreading it across three years.
A Benefit Worth Preserving
Senator Millar was in no mood to apologise for the scheme or the increase. “It is a really good benefit we could be proud of,” she said, adding that people in the UK “would look to that and think ‘oh, I wish we had something like that’.” It is a fair point: the UK’s approach to funding social care has been a political football for decades, and Jersey’s structured fund, for all its pressures, is considerably more coherent than anything Westminster has managed to deliver.
The minister also acknowledged that increasing contributions alone is not sufficient. She said the Government would continue examining how care is provided, including the role of technology in helping people remain independently at home, though she was candid that this “is not something that can be done overnight.” She also pointed to the care industry itself, asking how it could become more efficient and work more effectively. An independent actuarial review of the fund is currently under way, with results due to be published in spring next year.
The Seasonal Worker Question
One point of contention is whether seasonal workers should be required to pay long-term care contributions at all, given that they are likely to leave the island long before they could ever benefit from the scheme. Senator Millar was firm on this. “The principle of our tax system is that if you have a taxable income, you should pay tax regardless of who you are,” she said.
She acknowledged that various groups have lobbied for exemptions, including seasonal workers, those in the third sector and those in agriculture, but argued that “if you start carving people out” the system becomes “administratively very complex” and places “more burden going on everybody else.” It is a pragmatic position, and not an unreasonable one, even if it will do little to endear the proposal to employers in the hospitality and agricultural sectors who already struggle with the cost of seasonal labour.
Source: Jersey Evening Post
