A government policy on means testing will be brought to Tynwald later this year.

That’s the pledge from Policy and Reform Minister Chris Thomas.

He told the House of Keys he planned to bring forward the policy in October.

’Means testing is a complex undertaking that requires a high degree of preparation and care,’ he said.

’To be truly effective, for instance, to avoid creating cliff edges within the structure of social security benefits, any means testing policy would rely upon the necessary information technology in order to lower the administrative burden, while also protecting the privacy of personal data.’

The Council of Ministers’ social policy and children’s committee would consider a paper on technological capabilities before the issue went to the full cabinet, he said.

What is expected to be an over-arching policy would cover a range of areas, such as health and housing.

Lawrie Hooper (LibVannin, Ramsey) sought an assurance that any policy would be appropriate to the different circumstances for which it was being used.

Mr Thomas said specific policies for services including student grants, prescriptions and housing, had evolved ’alongside high-level principles’.

’It is up to individual applications to assess the applicability of those principals and the particular situations,’ he said.