Guernsey Community Foundation Voluntary Sector and Social Policy Newsletter October 2016 Welcome to the latest edition of the Guernsey Community Foundation’s Voluntary Sector and Social Policy newsletter. My name is Niki Cleal and I have taken over from Emilie Yerby as the Guernsey Community Foundation’s Policy Director and I lead the Foundation’s work on social policy and research. I also support an umbrella organisation of charities and organisations working for, or with, older people, called Ageing Well in the Bailiwick. As many of you will know Emilie was elected as a People’s Deputy in this year’s General Election. You can read more about Emilie’s current work as a Deputy in the States of Deliberation in her blog http://emilieyerby.com/blog/ About Niki Cleal Immediately before joining the Foundation I was commissioned by the States of Guernsey to assist in the development of the Social Security Department’s proposals for a Secondary Pensions System which were agreed by the States Assembly and will lead to the introduction of automatic enrolment in private pension saving. This project gave me a really helpful insight into the States’ policy making process. From 2006-2013, I was the Director of the Pensions Policy Institute, an educational research charity based in London, with overall responsibility for leading and managing the charity where I oversaw a large number of research projects on pension reforms in the UK and was involved in a number of UK Government reviews. Prior to this I spent ten years working as a Civil Servant in the UK Government, at HM Treasury and at the NHS Executive in Leeds, including three years working on health policy. I was born and educated in Guernsey and have a BA (Hons) Economics from Cambridge University and an MBA from INSEAD. I now lead the Foundation’s work in the broad area of Social Policy and lead on the Foundation’s projects and research. If you read anything of interest or concern in this newsletter and you would like more information, or if you or your colleagues would like to sign up for regular updates, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. This newsletter is produced with the aim of supporting effective working between the voluntary and community sectors and the States, and we welcome feedback or suggestions for improvement at any time. Niki Cleal, Policy Director, Guernsey Community Foundation E-mail: [email protected] Tel: (01481) 748056 1 of 8 States Re-organisation As part of the re-organisation of the States from 1 May 2016 there is now a Policy and Resources Committee headed up by the Committee’s President, Deputy Gavin St Pier, and six Principal Committees replace the ten previous Departments of the States of Guernsey. There are also a number of Authorities, Boards and Commissions. From the 1st May 2016 the States of Guernsey meets approximately every three weeks, except in school holidays, to discuss and debate reports, draft legislation and other matters. Who’s Who in the new look States? Policy and Resources Committee – President, Policy and Resources, Deputy Gavin St Pier. Policy and Resources Committee Members: Deputy Al Brouard, Deputy Jonathan Le Tocq, Deputy Jane Stephens, and Deputy Lyndon Trott. The Six Principal Committees and their Presidents are: Committee for Home Affairs – President, Deputy Mary Lowe Committee for Health & Social Care – President, Deputy Heidi Soulsby Committee for the Environment & Infrastructure – President, Deputy Barry Brehaut Committee for Employment & Social Security – President, Deputy Michelle Le Clerc Committee for Education, Sport & Culture – President, Deputy Paul Le Pelley Committee for Economic Development – President, Deputy Peter Ferbrache For the full remits and membership of States Committees and the Authorities, Boards and Commissions of the States see the following link: https://www.gov.gg/constitution. Other States appointments of note of relevance to the voluntary sector include: Deputy Jane Stephens is the social policy lead on the Policy and Resources Committee Deputy Sarah Hansmann- Rouxel – the new Disability Champion for the States Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez – political representative for Ageing Well in the Bailiwick – an umbrella organisation of 30 charities and organisations working with, and for, older people in the Bailiwick of Guernsey 2 of 8 What’s coming up in the new States - Overview There are a number of States meetings coming up in November and December 2016. Some of these are Special Meetings to consider particular items of States business. 1st November 2016 – Special meeting for the States to debate the 2017 Budget proposals 2nd November – continuation of the debate on Island Development Plan and other States business including the Committee for Employment and Social Security’s uprating report to increase benefit and contribution rates and proposals to increase the minimum wage 15th November 2016 – Special meeting to consider Phase 1 of the Policy and Resources Plan 30th November 2016 – regular States meeting 14th December 2016 – regular States meeting What’s in the States this month (November)? This briefing covers items that will be debated by the States in their November States Meetings on 1st, 2nd and 15th November 2016. Items that may be of interest from a voluntary sector or social policy perspective include: Budget 2017 The States’ review of charity financial support The Island Development Plan Proposals to increase the minimum wage and benefit and contribution rates Phase 1 of the Policy and Resources Plan Budget 2017 On 3rd October 2016 the Policy and Resources (P&R) Committee published a draft Budget for 2017 which aims to achieve a balanced budget in 2017. In order to achieve a balanced budget in 2017, the burden has been shared between a reduction in public expenditure and revenue raising measures at a ratio of 2:1. The budget for public expenditure has been reduced by some £10 million, by comparison, tax and duty increases are around half this level at £5.4 million. Some of the key Budget 2017 measures announced include: Personal income tax allowances increased to £10,000 The gradual withdrawal of personal income tax allowances for high earners, at a rate of £1 for every £3 that a person's income exceeds £138,684 a year reform of the document duty regime, which will reduce the tax paid when buying a property for less than £800,000 Removal of the age-related additional personal allowances for anyone turning 65 from 2019 and removal of the dependent relative allowance for new claims from 2018 3 of 8 In addition, P&R are proposing a number of tax and duty increases for 2017 including: Domestic Tax on Real Property and land rates to increase by 10.5% Commercial Tax on Real Property to increase by 5% A 5.6% increase in the duty on cigarettes A 2% real-terms' increase in the duty on alcohol A 5p increase in the duty on a litre of fuel Public expenditure is planned to be reduced in real-terms by 3% in 2017, 5% in 2018 and 5% in 2019. It is not entirely clear where those public expenditure cuts will fall, the relevant Committees will need to identify potential public expenditure savings, but one specific area which has been identified is that the Committee for Employment and Social Security’s Social Welfare Investigation Benefits Review reforms to supplementary benefit and rent rebate are likely to be delayed. P&R have produced a one page summary of the Budget 2017 measures: https://www.gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=104352&p=0 Further details of the Budget 2017 including the full budget report can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.gg/article/156293/2017-Budget-report-released The Budget report will be debated by the States on 1 November 2016. See the link to the Billet d’Etat and any amendments which are to be debated here:- https://www.gov.gg/article/156292/States-Meeting-on-1st-November-XXVI GCF Comment: While we support the increases to the personal tax allowances and the reform to document duty which are likely to benefit low income households and purchasers of lower value properties, we are concerned about the potential combined impact of public expenditure cuts and increases in taxes on households on low incomes. In particular, the Foundation is concerned about the delay to the introduction and the lack of consultation on the Social Welfare Benefit Investigation Committee’s (SWIBC) reforms to supplementary benefit and rent rebate, which will mean that the 1,200 households and families who stood to gain from the SWIBC reforms will not do so. GCF will be meeting with the Policy and Resources Committee and the Committee for Employment and Social Security to discuss our concerns. States’ Charity Financial Support Review The Association of Guernsey Charities has lobbied the States for the introduction of tax relief on charitable giving. In its Budget report Policy and Resources Committee has effectively ruled out applying tax relief to charitable giving for 2017. The Policy & Resources Committee met in September 2016 and unanimously agreed that while there were strong arguments in favour of some form of tax relief on charitable donations in the future, the financial constraints and reduction in tax revenue in the overall budget meant that it would not be possible to introduce tax relief on charitable donations in 2017. However, Policy and Resources Committee has said that it will conduct a more wide-ranging and detailed review of potential measures to support the voluntary and charitable sector – including different levels of 4 of 8 tax relief on charitable donations and payroll giving – in partnership with the Association of Guernsey charities in time for it to be considered for 2018.