Example
Ms C applied for a crisis grant for living expenses. She had spent £730.00 of her most recent benefit payment on gambling and had no money until her next income.
The council refused the application as they assessed that the fund could only provide one off occasional assistance and the current circumstances did not qualify. They upheld their original decision following the applicant’s first tier review request.
Ms C asked SPSO for an independent review of the council’s decision. We considered the facts and circumstances of the case and spoke with Ms C for further information. We noted that Ms C had been awarded the previous month for issues related to gambling her income. We took into account that she felt she was living with an addiction and that she noted her situation was an on-going one. However, we assessed that her spending on gambling was now part of her on-going expenditure and would likely be for some time, therefore the application was excluded under Annex A point 15 (expenses that are or are likely to become a feature of expenditure). We did not change the council's decision but provided some feedback about the appropriate section of the guidance to use to refuse applications under these circumstances.