Example
Ms C applied for a crisis grant for living expenses. She was sofa surfing after being evicted. She was on Universal Credit (UC), but had spent the previous couple of months in part-time work. Ms C had spent her most recent wages on removal and storage costs, on a contribution towards household bills, and the remainder paying back money owed to family members. She was not due to receive any income for over 4 weeks.
The council initially excluded the application on the basis that Ms C had received three crisis grant awards in 12 months. However, at first tier review it was identified that a community care grant had been mistakenly counted as a crisis grant and that she had only had two crisis awards. Nevertheless, her application was refused at the eligibility stage of the process. This was on the basis that the council's benefits system showed the applicant as being registered for UC in a different local authority.
We were able to gather additional information from the applicant, including a P45, payslips, prescriptions, letters and the testimony of her GP's surgery, all of which pointed to her continued residence in the relevant local authority. We therefore assessed that on the balance of probability, in line with s4.20 of the Guidance, she was eligible for an award. We recommended a four week award at the householder rate, totalling £175.44.