Example
Mr C, a welfare rights officer applied on behalf a Mr A, a European Economic Area national whose benefits claim had been stopped due to a missed meeting. Mr A had no alternative income, and additionally had been evicted from his tenancy and was living in temporary accommodation.
The council refused the application on the basis that Mr A had received an award for the same circumstances six weeks previously and the situation was considered to be ongoing and therefore excluded. The council’s first tier review upheld the original decision and rationale.
Mr C applied to SPSO for an independent review. We disagreed with the council’s decision. We noted that on-going features of expenditure are excluded, but assessed that the benefits issue was a feature of income and not expenditure, and the applicant was therefore eligible for a crisis grant award (covered in Annex A, point 15 of guidance). Additionally we noted that the applicant had received only one previous award rather than having made multiple applications. Furthermore, there had been a change to the situation, as he had now appealed the Department of Work and Pensions' decision, and added Mr A’s partner to the benefits claim. We considered that the application met necessary eligibility, qualifying and priority conditions and instructed the council to make an award of £137.82. This amount followed the guidance in situations of a benefits issue of unknown duration. We recorded a finding of “guidance not followed correctly”, as well as feedback relating to the council’s written communication.