Example
Mr C applied to the council for a crisis grant. He applied for living expenses, stating that he had spent the last £60.00 of his benefits on taxis going to collect his daughter after she had been in a physical fight with her mother. This left him without money for food and fuel.
The council noted that Mr C had received 4 crisis grants in the previous 12 month period and the maximum that can normally be awarded is three. While the council does have discretion to award further grants in exceptional circumstances, as Mr C had received crisis grants for spending his benefits previously, they did not consider the current circumstances to be exceptional and refused his application. They upheld their original decision following Mr C’s first tier review request.
Mr C applied to SPSO for an independent review of the council's decision.
We took into account all the relevant facts and circumstances and spoke with Mr C for further information. He explained that his daughter phoned in a distressed state and he was concerned for her safety so travelled to the mother’s house by taxi. They also returned home by taxi as his daughter was upset, and he felt he couldn’t take her on the bus. While we noted that Mr C had been awarded for spending his benefit money in his previous applications, we considered that the circumstances of this application were different. The guidance (section 7.23) states that applicants will not normally be at fault to be eligible for further assistance after receiving three awards in 12 months. We considered that his fault was mitigated by concern for his daughter's wellbeing and the urgency of the circumstances. Overall, we assessed that the circumstances were exceptional and that the council misinterpreted the available information. We instructed them to pay an award of £60 and also recorded a finding about the quality of their written communication.