Guernsey child healthcare costs to halve in 2021

Households earning more than £120,000 will no longer be eligible for the family allowance tax benefit, which will help fund the subsidy

Child healthcare costs in Guernsey will more than halve from September 2021 after reforms worth nearly £2m a year were approved.

GP appointments and emergency department visits will cost £25, while a visit to a nurse will cost £15.

All children will also be eligible for a free annual dental check.

The subsidies will cost the States of Guernsey about £1.5m a year, funded by £1.9m savings from the family allowance tax benefit, the proposal said.

There will also be about £260,000 spent on education and "cultural enrichment" programmes for young children.

Current GP charges for children's appointments range between £53 and £58 and a visit to a hospital emergency department can cost up to £505.

To pay for the changes, households earning £120,000 a year would no longer receive the family allowance tax benefit and it would also stop being paid on a child's 18th birthday, the proposal said.

Currently the allowance is given to families with a 19-year-old dependant in full-time education.

The estimated yearly costs of the £1.7m programme:

• Reduced GP and nurse appointment costs - £820,000

• Reduced emergency department charges - £320,000

• Free yearly dental check up - £270,000

• Supervised tooth brushing programme for pre-school children - £110,00

• Funding to implement "cultural enrichment activities" - £150,000

The Building a Better Future: Children's Health and Education programme was submitted jointly by three States committees - Employment and Social Security (ESS), Health and Social Care (HSC), and Education, Sport and Culture (ESC).

ESS member Deputy Emilie McSwiggan argued the reforms would help "counter the effects and break the generational cycle of the deprivation" some Guernsey children face.

President of HSC Heidi Soulsby said they would help create a culture with a "universal expectation" of children being able to "access health and dental care without financial barriers".

ESC president Matt Fallaize added the changes to the family tax system were about "prioritisation" of States revenue from wealthier families to "substantially" reducing healthcare costs.