Poor Law Amendment
(Jersey) Law 1953
A LAW to amend the Law with regard to
the provision of assistance to persons in need
Commencement
[see endnotes]
1 Transfer
of duty to provide assistance
Subject to the provisions of this Law, the duty of a parish to
assist persons in need who were born in the parish, and the dependants of such
persons, shall devolve upon the parish in which such persons are ordinarily
resident.
2 Determination
of questions
(1) Any
question arising under this Law as to the ordinary residence of a person shall
be determined by a Board, to be called the “Assistance Board”,
constituted in accordance with Article 3.
(2) In
determining whether a person is ordinarily resident in a parish for the
purposes of this Law, there shall not be taken into account –
(a) any
period during which that person was in receipt of assistance from a parish;
(b) the
12 weeks immediately following the termination of such a period;
(c) any
period during which that person was temporarily absent from Jersey;
(d) any
period during which that person was accommodated, either with or without
charge, in an institution maintained by a public or parochial authority or by
any body the activities of which are carried on otherwise than for profit. [1]
(3) For
the purposes of paragraph (2), a person shall be deemed to have been in
receipt of assistance during any period in which assistance towards the person’s
maintenance was provided to the person responsible therefor.
3 The
Assistance Board
(1) The
Assistance Board (hereinafter referred to as the “Board”) shall be
the Connétables of the 12 parishes.
(2) At
each meeting of the Board, the Connétables shall appoint one from among
their number to preside at the meeting.
(3) No
Connétable shall be entitled to vote on any question involving the issue
whether or not a person is ordinarily resident in the Connétable’s
parish.
(4) The
powers of the Board may be exercised by 5 or more Connétables entitled
to vote on the question to be determined.
(5) The
Board may regulate its proceedings in such manner as it thinks fit, but on any
question on which the votes of the Board are equally divided the
Connétable presiding at the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.
(6) For
the avoidance of doubt, it is declared that a Connétable unable to be
present at a meeting of the Board may be replaced by the
Connétable’s Chef de Police.
4 Citation
This Law may be cited as the Poor Law Amendment (Jersey) Law 1953.