Example
C requested an independent review of the council's decision on their crisis grant application. C applied for money for food after their income was taken up by a direct debit for car insurance.
The council declined the application on the basis that C had already received four awards in the last 12-month period which is one more than the usual maximum allowed. They said that they did not identify any exceptional circumstances that would allow for an additional award to be made.
We reviewed the council's file and spoke with C. We noted that C had never applied for this reason before therefore there were no similarities with previous applications. However, we considered that there was some fault on their part for not cancelling the direct debit, which was in relation to a car that they had sold a number of months previously. We did not change the council's decision but we provided them with feedback on their decision letters.