A carer who looks after his two daughters has lodged a formal complaint after being denied his state pension. Mark Jones, 69, said he is being denied access to the pension fund he has paid into all his life because he received carer benefits from the Jersey Government. According to local law, citizens can’t receive both benefits because it would breach the Social Security Overlapping of Benefits order of 1975.

Mr Jones is a carer for his daughter Meg, who has severe autism, and his son Ryan, who has Down syndrome. Neither will ever be able to have full-time employment. The 69-year-old said being able to access money from his pension would make a huge difference to all of them, especially with costs from electricity to food rising across the board.

“For 32 years I worked at the same accountancy practice, so I was paying a significant contribution,” he told ITV.

“My employer was paying six and a half percent of my salary and I was paying in six – so there was what I would say was quite a lot in my pot. When I found out I wasn’t entitled to it, I thought it just can’t be right.”

Mr Jones launched a petition after learning of the situation back in 2021, but despite gathering over 1000 signatures, a change has yet to be made.

He recently raised the issue again with Deputy Lyndsay Feltham, Jersey’s Social Security Minister, however, insisting that the law is archaic and needs to be rethought.

“It’s heartbreaking – you care out of love and you’ll never stop doing it, and you do think you’re put on sometimes,” he said. “But I know 100% that if something happened to me now and I couldn’t care for Ryan and Meg, it would cost the state around £300,000 a year.”

Ben Shenton, chairman of Age Concern Jersey, backed the dad-of-two’s call for change. He said: “Guernsey changed the law seven years ago, so they showed common sense and compassion, where we showed none.

“You work till retirement age, you pay into the system, you need a lot of years of contributions to get a full pension, and then they deny it to you. And yet the cost to the taxpayer, the cost to the state, in this case, if Mark didn’t look after his adult children, would be enormous.”

Jersey’s Department for Employment Social Support and Housing said: “The 1975 order applies a core principle across all contributory benefits: individuals can only receive one contributory benefit at a time, reflecting Jersey’s worker-funded social insurance model. Apart from Home Carer’s Allowance (HCA), all other working-age benefits expire when an individual claims an old age pension or reaches pension age.

“A unique exception exists for HCA recipients at pension age – they may choose to carry on claiming their HCA or move to their pension, whichever they prefer. In cases where a parent cares for an adult child, the adult child can apply for Income Support independently and receive eligible components.

“[We’d like to] reassure islanders that considerable support is available to both family carers and people with disabilities receiving care in their own homes. The Minister values the contribution of islanders who care for loved ones at home and remains committed to improving support for people living with disabilities and their carers.”