Example
C applied for a crisis grant for food and utilities after their bank withdrew their account leaving insufficient time to redirect their benefit payment.
The council refused the application as they assessed that C had some responsibility for managing their bank account within the terms and conditions. They also noted concerns that the crisis did not occur as described by C. However, they did not contact C to query this.
We reviewed the council's file and spoke with C. C supplied screenshots of their new bank account which showed that they had no funds available to them at the time of the crisis. We noted that the councils file contained a letter from the bank dated one working day prior to the benefit payment, stating the account had been withdrawn and would not receive deposits.
We were satisfied that C had no access to the benefit payment, and could not realistically arrange a redirection of payment with Social Security Scotland in the timescale. We considered the application met all relevant stages of the decision-making process. We changed the council's decision and provided them with feedback.
Recommendation
- Award C £31.04 to cover food and utilities until their next payment date, based on the recommended daily rate in the guidance.
Feedback
- Enquiries should have been made with C regarding the conflict of information around the payments in the week prior to the crisis
- The information provided by the applicant was incorrectly interpreted
- The council should not have requested evidence of the applicant's circumstances, as this would not have made any difference to the C's eligibility.
We have asked the council to provide us with confirmation that the award was made within one working day.