Kevin Keen says Islanders should now be paying a higher rate of Social Security contributions or that States assets such as utilities should be transferred to bolster the States pension fund for future generations.
In an analysis of the recent annual report on the Island’s main provision for its senior citizens Mr Keen notes that despite assurances from Social Security Minister Terry Le Sueur that the fund is in ‘good health’, unlike many jurisdictions the Jersey scheme is run on a ‘pay as you go’ basis and at the current levels only has sufficient reserves for up to four years of benefits.
‘If disclosures under the FRS17 reporting standards were required of governments, as they are for companies, the revealed deficit would be enormous – billions of pounds,’ Mr Keen says in this month’s Chamber newsletter.
According to the annual report, from 2001 to 2005 the number of workers contributing to the fund only went up by 1.
%, from 45,077 to 45,680.
But during the same period the number of pensioners claiming benefit increased by 10.
%, from 21,518 to 23,704.
