Example
Miss C applied for a crisis grant from the council as she had no money for living costs. She had moved from Employment Support Allowance to Universal Credit and experienced a reduction in her income as a result, making it difficult for her to budget.
The council refused the application as she had already received 4 awards within the previous 12 months, and they did not consider the circumstances to be exceptional to allow a fifth award. In response to her first tier review request, the council looked again at her circumstances but did not change their decision.
Miss C asked the SPSO to review the council's decision. We took into account the specific circumstances of the case including that Miss C suffered from a number of health issues including bulimia, IBS, a hernia, anxiety and depression and migraines. We also confirmed that she had received four previous awards from the fund within the last 12 months, and that two of these awards had been for spent money. We referred to the Scottish Welfare Funds guidance (section 7.23) and considered that as there were similarities with two of her previous applications, the circumstances could not be considered to be exceptional. We did not overturn the council's decision but suggested to the applicant that she engage with Social Work as we considered that she had a number of vulnerabilities. We provided feedback to the council that their written communication could be improved, however, noted that their decision making records were clear, robust and well structured.