Example
Mr C applied for a crisis grant as he was having deductions from his Universal Credit (UC) and also incurred a bank charge. This left him with no money for food or living expenses.
The council declined Mr C's application on the basis that they did not consider his circumstances to be an emergency, and they considered that he had a prior notice of his deductions/bank charge. They upheld this decision following Mr C’s first tier review request.
Mr C requested an independent review of the council's decision on his crisis grant application. We requested the council's file and spoke with Mr C. We found that at the time of his application, he had no money to buy food or top up his utility meters. We considered this to be an emergency in line with s7.26 of the guidance. We also assessed that the reason for the crisis was not relevant, as per the guidance. We upheld the review request on the basis that the council had misinterpreted the available information. We instructed them to award Mr C £56.34 and also provided feedback that the decision letters were not personalised to the applicant and did not provide sufficient information for him to understand the decision.