Jersey mental health patients 'ending up homeless'

Figures from Jersey's adult mental health service show that some mental health patients have no permanent home after being discharged from hospital

A Jersey charity is concerned some mental health patients are becoming homeless because they are losing their housing benefits if they are in hospital for more than 28 days.

A total of 22 out of 357 mental health patients who were admitted to hospital between January 2023 and December 2024 ended up without a permanent home after being discharged.

Patricia Winchester, from the charity My Voice Jersey which supports people with serious mental illness said she wanted the law to change and "a common sense approach to be taken" when it came to benefits.

The social security minister said she was making sure benefits were not put at risk by short hospital stays.

'People feel humiliated'

The figures from Jersey's mental health partnership board showed that in total 34 patients were discharged without permanent accommodation to go to - 12 of the 34 had been in insecure accommodation prior to admission.

In a statement, Jersey's director of mental health, Andy Weir said the reasons for the loss of accommodation included eviction, unpaid rent and loss of benefit.

In October 2013 income support legislation was amended to remove a household's entitlement to the accommodation and housing components of income support if all adults in the household were off island for longer than four weeks, in prison or in other publicly funded accommodation - like a hospital.

However, it was decided in 2014 that payment would be maintained in circumstances where a person was hospitalised for more than 28 days but less than 12 weeks, but this would be done under ministerial discretion rather than a change to the law.

Mrs Winchester, who is on the partnership board, said becoming homeless or ending up in insecure accommodation after being discharged from hospital was harming the recovery of mental health patients.

She said: "People feel humiliated, they're in a position where it becomes very difficult to challenge service providers, it also significantly increases their risk of readmission.

"Twenty eight days is a very short time for a mental health patient with a severe illness, where they may need to be taken off one medication and put on another medication which is done slowly and it just seems ridiculous that they lose the thing they most need which is a home.

"If they are not going to secure housing then the risk to life is much higher."

Patricia Winchester, from My Voice Jersey, said becoming homeless after discharge was effecting the recovery of mental health patients

Deputy Lyndsay Feltham, Social Security Minister, said she had told her officers to automatically continue housing benefit for people who are in hospital for more than 28 days but less than 12 weeks.

She said: "People will not be losing their benefits when they go into hospital.

"Certainly I have been signing off on ministerial decisions to ensure people have been able to retain their accommodation and get their rent needs met.

"So it's not my understanding that people should have been losing their accommodation because of losing income support."

However, the minister ruled out changing the law: "I don't think the legislation needs changing.

"I think at the moment the legislation does provide for those regular review points and it does give ministerial discretion as well."

Social Security Minister Deputy Lyndsay Feltham said she was making sure people's housing benefit was not stopped when they were in hospital for more than 28 days

Responding to the figures from the mental health partnership board, Feltham said: "I don't think people are slipping through the net.

"I think what we need to ensure is that the health team and my team are working together more efficiently and effectively on specific cases."

Mr Weir's statement said: "Mental health services have been working closely together with Employment, Social Security and Housing colleagues to address some of these issues, and this work continues."