Example
Ms C applied to the council for a community care grant for a living room carpet. She explained that the carpet in her living room was in poor condition and she could not afford to replace it. She had three children, who lived with their father, and said that he had been refusing to allow them to visit due to the carpet.
The council assessed that the applicant was eligible but that she did not met the qualifying criteria and made no award. Ms C submitted a review request providing specific details about the need for the carpet. The council considered this information but did not change their decision and reiterated she did not qualify for a grant.
Ms C asked us for an independent review in regards to the request for a living room carpet. We received the council’s file and spoke with Ms C and her housing officer for further information. The housing officer confirmed that the current carpet was not fit for purpose. They had tried to assist Ms C to have the carpet fitted properly but the carpet fitter who attended verified that the carpet was not fit for purpose and this could not be done. We noted that Ms C had mental health issues and was being supported by a community psychiatric nurse (CPN). We considered that this was impacting on Ms C’s mental health and also causing her anxiety in regards to seeing her children. We therefore awarded a living room carpet. We noted that Ms C had started paying towards a new carpet and recognised this was causing her financial hardship so we instructed the council to pay Ms C £23.33 to cover the costs incurred (section 9.6 of the guidance). We provided feedback to the council that further enquiries could have been made to establish the facts, and that the letters were not in with SWF guidance.