Dormant
Bank Accounts (Distribution of Fund Money) (Jersey) Order 2020
1 Interpretation
In this Order –
“Charity Commissioner
costs” means the costs mentioned in Article 20(2)(a) of the Law;
“independent organization”
means the organization appointed under Article 5 for the purposes of
Article 20(3) of the Law;
“Law” means the Dormant Bank Accounts
(Jersey) Law 2017;
“reclaim” means a claim
for repayment out of the Fund under Part 2 of the Law.
2 Policy in respect of whether
to make a distribution from the Fund
(1) The
Minister must decide each year whether a distribution should be made from the
Fund, under Article 20 of the Law, for that year, and in doing so must consider,
on advice from the Minister for Treasury and Resources –
(a) the number of reclaims received and paid to date and the likely
level of reclaims in the future;
(b) the need to maintain a reasonable reserve in the Fund of such
monies as are appropriate to meet likely future reclaims and to enable
distribution to be made from the Fund in future years;
(c) the composition of the Fund in terms of the value of each
individual amount paid into the Fund; and
(d) the current value of the Fund and the amount of return expected to
be earned from investing the money in that year.
(1A) Provided
that the decision as to whether to make a distribution is still made annually,
the Minister may indicate an intention to repeat a distribution over more than
1 year.[1]
(2) In
making a decision under paragraph (1), but without limiting consideration
of any other matters that the Minister considers relevant, the Minister may
also consider –
(a) any information obtained
by the Minister from banks or other sources as to the frequency and number of
claims made before the commencement of Part 2 of the Law;
(b) any information obtained
by the Minister from banks as to the likely contributions that may be expected
to the Fund from the banks in the year in question and in future years;
(c) any data obtained by the
Minister as to the frequency and number of claims in other jurisdictions with such
dormant bank account schemes as the Minister considers comparable to that in
Jersey; and
(d) any information obtained
by the Minister as to projected economic forecasts or other factors that might
affect either return on investments or demand for assistance in the charitable
sector.
3 Policy in respect of
amount of distribution
(1) In
determining the amount to be distributed from the Fund for the purposes of
Article 20 of the Law in any year, the Minister must, in addition to the
matters considered under Article 2, act in accordance with the following
provisions of this Article.
(2) Despite
anything in this Article, an amount equating to approximately half of the amount
that could be reclaimed from the Fund must be preserved.
(3) For
each of the years 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027, the Minister must meet
the anticipated Charity Commissioner costs out of the remaining portion of the
Fund.[2]
(4) Once
the costs mentioned in paragraph (3) have been met the Minister may make a
sum available for distribution for charitable purposes in accordance with
Article 20(4) of the Law that will leave such monies in the Fund as the
Minister considers appropriate.
(5) However,
the minimum sum that the Minister must make available for distribution for
charitable purposes under paragraph (4) is £250,000 or, if it is less than
£250,000, the balance of the remaining portion of the Fund.
(5A) The
Minister may determine to make an additional distribution of an amount that
matches, wholly or up to an agreed limit, funding given or pledged by any
person for a charitable purpose.[3]
(6) Nothing
in paragraphs (3) to (5A) limits the Minister in determining the amount to be
distributed from the Fund, nor the number of times an amount is determined, if
the Minister considers that an emergency has arisen in Jersey that justifies any
additional distribution being made for charitable purposes to assist with that
emergency and its aftermath.[4]
(7) Any
amount determined for additional distribution, as described in paragraph (6),
is to be taken into account towards the amount of £250,000 for the purpose of
paragraph (5).
4 Notification and
transfer from the Fund
(1) The
Minister must notify the independent organization in each year, within one
month of the publication of the accounts of the States, of the sum, if any, to
be transferred from the Fund for distribution by that organization in
accordance with Article 3.
(2) Paragraph (1)
does not limit any sums being determined for distribution in any year under
Article 3(6), provided that a notification is given for each distribution.
(3) The
Minister must arrange for the transfer of all sums notified under paragraphs (1)
and (2) from the Fund to the independent organization within such time period
and by such instalments as the Minister considers expedient.
(4) [5]
5 Appointment of
independent organization
The Jersey Community
Foundation Limited, a Jersey company limited by guarantee, is appointed to
determine the persons or bodies for whose charitable purposes the money to be
transferred under Article 4 must be distributed, and to distribute that
money to those persons or bodies.
6 Citation and
commencement
This Order may be cited
as the Dormant Bank Accounts (Distribution of Fund Money) (Jersey) Order 2020
and comes into force on the day after it is made.