Example
Ms C requested an independent review of the council's decision on her crisis grant application. She applied for a crisis grant as she had lost the remainder of her benefit payment following a seizure. She asked for living expenses as she had no money for food and fuel.
The council declined Ms C's application on the basis that she had received awards for lost money twice two years previously, and once 18 months ago. They noted that she had applied as the result of lost money six months previously but this was not awarded. As a result, the council assessed that her circumstances were ongoing and refused her application.
We received the council's file and agreed that she had made several applications for lost money in the past, however the application six months previously had not been awarded, and the most recent applicant for lost money was 18 months ago. We also noted that Ms C had not received any awards in the rolling 12 month period, and the two applications in 2016 that were awarded for lost money were not related to her having seizures. We assessed that there was enough of a gap between instances of lost money that it could not be considered to be ongoing, additionally, we assessed that lost money cannot be deemed a 'feature of expenditure' and s15 of Annex A excludes assistance for ongoing features of expenditure, therefore lost money could not fall under this exclusion. As a result, we assessed that the council’s decision was not supported by the guidance and upheld her request for review, instructing the council to award £43.86.