General Update

Committee for Employment & Social Security

Thursday 14 December 2023

General Update

Sir,

I'm going to start with two flagship projects, and pieces of legislation - one of which has come into force recently, with the other due to do so in the middle of next year.

I'm delighted that not only is the initial phase of the Prevention of Discrimination (Guernsey) Ordinance, 2022 now in force, but the Employment and Equal Opportunities Service is also up and running under the leadership of its first Director, Stephen Glencross.

The Committee has recently made the Social Insurance (Access to Work for Disabled Persons) Regulations, 2023 which establish the Access to Work Scheme. Through this new Scheme, funded from the Guernsey Insurance Fund, disabled people will be able to seek funding for aids and equipment that will help them to overcome barriers at work so they can enter, return to, or retain employment or self-employment.

This new Scheme does not absolve employers of their responsibility under the Discrimination Ordinance to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees, but it provides an alternative funding route where the adjustment would be a disproportionate burden for their employer to make.

Of course, that is not the end of the policy work on the Discrimination Ordinance and my Committee is very much looking forward to moving onto phase two next year.  By way of reminder, that will cover age discrimination and the grounds of protection currently covered by the Sex Discrimination Ordinance.

Moving on to the second of those flagship projects, I'm pleased to report that the Committee recently made the Secondary Pensions (Guernsey and Alderney) Regulations, 2023 which set out, amongst other things, the operative date on which an employer must enrol their designated employees (who are not active members of an approbated pension scheme provided by that employer) into an approbated pension scheme.

Guidance about the new obligations on employers under the Secondary Pensions Law is available on the States of Guernsey website and information about the States facilitated Your Island Pension Scheme, or YIP, is available at yip.gg.

Stakeholder engagement is well underway, including some successful 'lunch and learn' events, kindly facilitated by the Guernsey Chamber of Commerce. An employers' event was also held in Alderney last week, with the support of the Alderney Chamber of Commerce.

Employers will be able to undertake voluntary enrolment of their employees into YIP from 1 January 2024, and compulsory enrolment will begin, in phases, from 1 July 2024.

I'm pleased to confirm that self-employed and non-employed persons will also be able to enrol in YIP, on a voluntary basis, from 1 January 2024, although applications from employers will be prioritised. Self-employed and non-employed persons will be subject to a modest one-off joining fee if they are not already a member of YIP, and minimum contribution requirements will be applied for these accounts valued at less than £30,000. 

Now turning to one of the biggest - and maybe most controversial - pieces of work that ESS is currently involved in, albeit in partnership with P&R and HSC. Work on the Supported Living and Ageing Well Strategy (SLAWs) is progressing rapidly with a particular focus on the provision of Long-term Care.

The reason that this is a joint piece of work, despite the Long-Term Care Scheme being within the remit of ESS, is that the delivery or commissioning of care is within the remit of HSC, and P&R act as the employer on behalf of the States as well as co-ordinating cross-Committee policy work.

States Member briefing sessions took place in July and late October and engagement is planned with the general public over the next few months. Four focus groups were conducted in late November and early December exploring the key principles of the new model. Two of the focus groups mirrored the population demographics as a whole, and two involved people with 'lived experience' of receiving or seeking care themselves or for a loved one, or being a carer. In the New Year, we will hold open public meetings to give islanders more opportunities to share their views.

While no final policy decisions have yet been taken, I can confirm that we are progressing with research into a number of options for the future model of community long-term care including meeting outstanding States Resolutions. These include the extension of the Long-term Care Insurance Scheme to cover homecare and the introduction of a new complex care rate of benefit.

What care should be provided is a key part of this, and so is how it would be funded.  That's going to mean a discussion with our community on a sensitive subject with complex financial implications, and we all know those are not easy.  But I would ask members to respect the fact we have not made any final decision on recommendations so it does not help to alarm the community before any recommendations have been finalised.

When we do make those recommendations, members here and members of our community should voice their views, and use their votes as they feel is right, but they must also recognise that providing more care to more people in the way they would want it, comes at a cost.  We cannot, once again, say "yes, we want the services" but "no, we won't pay for them".

I am expecting that the outcome of that work, and firm proposals for the future provision of long-term care, will be presented to the Assembly in the first half of next year.

I'm delighted to report that there have been a number of very positive developments in relation to the Affordable Housing Development Programme.

Grant funding has been secured for the development of La Vieille Plage, which will provide 14 apartments for adults with learning disabilities. All being well, the facility is expected to be completed by mid-2025. It's been a long time getting to this point, but we're really pleased to see work starting on this site as it will make a real difference to the lives of those who will live there in the future.

Great strides have been taken in recent months in securing sites for the development of urgently needed accommodation for health key workers near to the hospital.

Members may have seen in the media that conditions of sale have been signed by the Guernsey Housing Association to purchase the Braye Lodge Hotel site from the Medical Specialist Group, once planning permission has been granted.

In the meantime, the GHA is working with architects on the design of the site with a view to maximising capacity, while being sensitive to the local area.

My Committee and the Policy & Resources Committee have also supported the GHA in securing an agreement with Infinity Construction Limited for the development of 21 units of accommodation on a site on Oberlands Road, subject to revised planning permission being granted.

The agreement would see the GHA purchase 15 completed one-bedroom apartments from Infinity, that it would rent for key worker housing, while Infinity would also build six properties for the private housing market on the site.

This joint venture is an exciting opportunity for the GHA to work in a new way.

Members may also have seen that the GHA has recently submitted a planning application for 57 one-bedroom units at the former CI Tyres site - now known as 'Domaine de Moulins' - which will be aimed at providing more accommodation for key workers within walking distance of the hospital. Through working with the architects, the Committee and the GHA think the site lends itself to a higher density development than was originally planned and, as such, the application seeks to increase the unit numbers on the site from the current planning permission of 25 units, to 57 units.

It is anticipated that, if all goes to plan, with planning permission being granted and the cliff stabilisation works being undertaken, development work will start next year, with completion expected in 2026. Although this is a delay compared with progressing the scheme based on the existing planning permission that is in place, we believe that it's important to maximise the development potential of sites, taking into account the characteristics of the local area and liveability.

I'm acutely aware that I've mentioned developments aimed at key workers and specialised housing and have spoken far less about the development of general needs affordable housing schemes. I make no apology for this because the site specifics of the aforementioned development sites, in particular those in close proximity to the PEH, make them well suited to delivering key worker housing and specialised housing.  The Affordable Housing Development Programme is seeking to play its part in resolving the pressures in all tenures of the 'Affordable Housing' category.

However, I want to stress that it's very important to me, and to the rest of the Committee, that there is sufficient land and capital grant funding available to meet the needs of the other crucial tenures of Affordable Housing.

Back in March, the States approved the figures set out by the States Strategic Housing Indicator, which determined that over the 2023-2027 period, the Island needed an additional 721 units of Affordable Housing in just the social rental and partial ownership tenures. Work continues to explore development options and to bring forward development sites across the Island that can deliver against meeting this wider Affordable Housing need, and an equal focus is given to progressing some larger, more challenging sites. 

This leads me to Fontaine Vinery and Parc Le Lacheur, which was formerly known as Kenilworth Vinery. There are significant infrastructure challenges to resolve on both sites. In addition to general development infrastructure requirements, the sites also have issues such as coastal flooding risks, the supporting transport network and sewage emptying points to contend with. The GHA has been working with relevant stakeholders, both within the States and externally, to resolve these matters as quickly as possible but the solutions are not always straightforward, low cost or without other consequences.

The GHA is in the process of commissioning a master planning expert to consider the collective development and infrastructure options for these large sites. This will help to ensure that the sites are well thought through from the start and lead to improvements for the community as a whole, not just those who will live there.

Following the debate of the Funding & Investment Plan, the Committee will be working with the GHA to undertake a refresh of the prioritised sites to ensure their deliverability and timescales. We've also contributed to the 'call for sites' process as part of the review of the Island Development Plan, to help ensure there is sufficient land supply in the pipeline to meet Affordable Housing needs in future.

The development programme will only be successful if sufficient land is acquired, with sufficient funding to develop it out. The Committee and the GHA are focused on delivering on this and doing all they can to overcome the hurdles in place.

Turning to other matters. Work is continuing on phase three of the Supporting Occupational Health and Wellbeing Programme. This Programme of work is a very important element in delivering the States' priority of maximising workforce participation.

Progress has been made with an Occupational Health Review, internal training and awareness raising programmes have taken place, and existing ESS staff resources have been reconfigured so that there is an even stronger focus on early intervention.

A dedicated SOHWELL webpage has been launched, in addition to promising initial contact with representative employers' groups and professional bodies about the next stage of the Occupational Health Review.

Initial results are looking positive. Overall spend on sickness and incapacity benefit is down. But perhaps more importantly, the volume of new incapacity benefit claims - that is the number of claims reaching a duration of six months - has reduced to its lowest level in five years.

While the total number of people in receipt of incapacity benefits has remained static, in the absence of the intervention from the SOHWELL team this would have undoubtedly increased substantially.

An external review into the Legal Aid Scheme is ongoing. Consultation has been undertaken and the Committee hopes to receive a final report from the independent reviewer in early 2024.

Also high on the Committee's agenda for 2024 will be the development of policy proposals for a progressive restructuring of the social security contributions system, development of a future plan for the minimum wage and consideration of measures to maximise workforce participation.