Example
C applied for a Crisis Grant to help with living costs as they had stopped receiving Statutory Sick Pay. They had an injury which left them unable to work and had submitted a claim for Universal Credit but had not received their first payment yet.
The council declined the application on the grounds that C had not provided a bank statement to demonstrate they were in crisis at the time of the application, nor a P45 to confirm that they had stopped working.
We reviewed the council’s file and spoke directly with C. We noted that C was still employed but was not receiving an income as they were unable to work. We also reviewed C’s bank statement, which showed a balance of £69 at the time of application. While this was a limited amount, it was broadly comparable to the level of support that would typically be awarded for the period of crisis.
On this basis, we did not change the council’s decision, as we assessed that C was not in crisis at the time of application.
Feedback for the council
- The original decision maker did not consider the low income thresholds from the guidance under section 7.14 when considering whether or not C was on a low income.