Example
Mr C had applied for a Community Care Grant to pay for the installation for a level access shower. This was due to the fact that he has epilepsy and was concerned about having seizures in the bath/shower.
The council declined his application as they did not consider a level access shower to be a high priority item. In their original decision, the council focused more on the cost of the item and the limited SWF budget rather than the applicant's individual circumstances. We highlighted this to them.
Mr C asked us for an independent review of the council's decision. We considered the particular facts and circumstances of his application. This included information provided by Mr C, by his representative and details of the decision making process provided by the council. We assessed that Mr C's application for a level access shower was not eligible as we assessed that it was an excluded item. This was due to the fact that, based on the information provided, the sole reason for installing the shower unit was to fulfil a medical function or help a customer with on-going treatment. Therefore, we considered this to be an excluded item under the tenth exclusion listed Annex A of the statutory guidance. Mr C’s representative asked us to reconsider the case. Based on advice received, we changed our decision regarding the item being excluded. We assessed that the purpose of a shower is to enable someone to wash and this is not a medical function. However, as the applicant had been offered aids to assist him to use the bath safely and declined these, we did not consider that the application met the necessary priority level. We took into account that the urgency of the need and the impact on health and wellbeing of no award were lower as a result of alternative options being available.