Claim by Freephone 0800 587 6716
Seven parts to this below:
1) Community Care Grant = free money, not a loan, is not repaid.
Budget Limited – so claims can succeed some times, fail at others, just due to budget constraints.
Qualifying Conditions
Must be on
Income Support
Income-based JSA Job Seekers Allowance
Pension Credits (either type)
Income-based ESA Employment Support Allowance (the new IB)
Incapacity Benefit does not qualify – but see below.
Reasons for grant
Family under pressure
Prevent entry into institutional/residential care – including hospital.
Leaving institutional/residential care
Planned resettlement by council or charity
Prisoner/young offender
Travelling expenses for visiting separated children pending court decision, visting sick relatives, funerals, etc.
Family under pressure
relationship breakdown / risk of relationship breakdown
sudden domestic upheaval
bereavement
onset or deterioration of disabled family member
domestic violence
Prevent entry into institutional/residential care
Claimant needs these items to remain a member of community.
Without them is at high risk of relapse / being hospitalised / being placed in care.
Examples of what you can apply for – and possible amounts for each
Cooker (including fitting) £210
Bed £140
Bedding – duvet, sheets, covers £20
Mattress £120
Duvet £20
Kitchen utensils, crockery, cutlery £not much
Electric Heaters £not much
Fridge £170 (hard to get)
Washing Machine (including fitting) £210 (hard to get)
Small dining table and 2 chairs £100 (hard to get)
Bedroom Carpet £120 (nearly impossible to get)
The Argos catalogue (in hardcopy or online) tends to be used as the baseline for prices. Choose middle price range from that.
You must itemise everything individually, or the form may be returned to you insisting that you do so before they process the claim.
Carpets or floor coverings generally not awarded now, unless you can argue a health risk of not having them, which is difficult to win. Families with babies of crawling age can be an exception – you can argue floor is covered in loose concrete and floorboard skelfs which are risking injury to the baby.
CCGs and Incapacity Benefit
CCGs cannot be applied for if you are on IB. Same for budgeting loans. But very many people who are on IS on grounds of ill health wrongly believe they are on IB – that is because they are sent the same IB forms, attend the same IB medical, and so on, just as if they were on IB. They get slightly less money than on full blown IB, but aren’t always aware of that. On the streets, IB is used as the name for both full blown IB and IS through being unfit to work. It is only pedants and official language within the DWP that name them differently. So often best to phone DWP and check that claimant is really getting full blown IB and so is ineligible for CCG before giving up on a CCG application.
The Review (=appeal) Process
Normally always ask for a review – even if you get a partial award, you can get the additional items added in on review. Having an award downgraded is in practice unknown, especially as the money has already been given to the claimant.
And after review stage, go to the IRS – Independent Review Service – for them to do a further review. They are independent of the DWP and so often make more favourable decisions. But you have to have gone through the DWPs internal review process first.
Community Care Grant Review
Conducted by telephone between you (the adviser) and a DWP decision maker. They are normally very friendly but can try to talk you down into agreeing things that are not actually helpful to you case. So have to stick to the line as was written in the application form, say you do believe claimant meets criteria for CCG.
Possible things that you might argue/emphasise for a Community Care Grant Review for a single person could be:
At risk of being hospitalised.
Because of drink/dugs and mental health conditions.
Condition spiralling out of control.
Likelihood of requiring hospital or detox/rehabilitation treatment.
If we get support for these items claimant will be able to...
This is the basis on which we have made the claim.
We feel claimant meets criteria.
Claimant is at risk.
Serious health problems.
We want to help claimant to maintain their place in the community and in order to do that need help with their housing.
Several occurrences in the past where claimant required treatment and care.
Claimant is ready to be tipped over the edge.
You may be offered a budget loan instead of a CCG at some stage by the DWP – best to refuse this until the review process is exhausted, because a loan is no patch on real money.
Not a good alternative to CCGs – because you have to pay the money back. But they are far easier to get, often are given by default. A form is submitted similar to the CCG form, again itemised list of items is required.
You can have at most £1500 of budgeting loans at any one time, although could apply for crisis loans additional to that.
Repayment
They are interest free (at present). Repayment is deducted from benefit at an agreed rate – best to negotiate that with the DWP to be at a low rate, there initial offer will be at a higher rate, and people often don't challenge that. You can request repayment terms changed later, but you have to argue financial hardship at that point.
Similar to budgeting loans except are available for everyone, regardless of what benefits (if any) you are receiving. You can apply for this if you have run up your repayment limit on budget loans. They are processed faster than budgeting loans.
They are for expenses from an emergency, unforeseen crisis, or disaster.
To prevent serious damage or risk to claimant or families health and safety
Is the only way of preventing the serious damage or risk
E.g. - loss of money or giro, and need money for food/fuel
E.g. - awaiting benefit claim outcome / benefit payment, and need money for food/fuel
E.g. - rent in advance (if landlord is not local authority)
E.g. - essential household items and furniture if on IB or otherwise unable to apply for CCGs and BLs.
Crisis loans for household items (furniture, cookers, etc.) are made by filling out a form. Crisis loans for essential living expenses are held to be more urgent and are done by telephone. You should get a decision back within four working hours. The person who takes your call has no decision making powers, is just there to write down what you say.
If the crisis loan is refused, ask for a review. If that also fails, get an independent review from the IRS – same as for CCGs.
4) Sure Start Maternity Grants
£500 for each child
Free money – is not a loan, is not repaid
A lot of people qualify for this but fail to claim it. You only have 3 months to submit a claim after the birth.
No capital limits
Qualifying benefits – Claimant must be receiving one of:
income support
pension credits
income based job seekers allowance
severe hardship payments
working tax credit (= so low waged claimants)
child tax credit (= so low waged claimants)
Or must expect to receive them after the baby is born (e.g. an initially childless couple who will qualify for child tax credit when their baby is born).
Funeral costs will be paid for by the DWP if you are on benefits or low waged. They don't pay much though (around £600) so some funeral directors won't deal with these cases.
Again is time barred – you only have three months to claim. And again, claimants are missing out even though entitled to this.
But if any other close relatives have an income, the DWP will hold that they should pay for the funeral instead. Unless the other relative was estranged, or can convincingly pretend to be estranged.
Qualifying benefits – Claimant must be receiving one of:
income support
pension credits
income based job seekers allowance
working tax credit with any disability element
child tax credit (= so low waged claimants)
housing benefit (= so low waged claimants)
council tax benefit (= so low waged claimants)
Another option would be to refuse to pay the undertakers after the funeral is over – but some now insist on cash payments before the funeral because of that risk.
Paid automatically.
If there is seven consecutive days of zero degrees Celsius – rare now with global warming.
£8.50 per week flat rate payment
Qualifying rules – basically: pensioner, or disabled, or baby
Either:
receive income
support, or IBJSA, or Pension Credits
and
are a pensioner, or get a disability premium as part of benefits; or have a child under five years old.
Or:
receive child tax credits with disability element for a child
7 Winter Fuel Payments – 08459 151 515
Paid automatically (*but see below)
For everyone over 60
No benefit requirement – everyone gets it.
£200 per year if aged 60-79
£300 per year if aged 80
Couples just get one single payment, not a double payment.
Two single pensioners – get £200 each, so £400 is paid out in total.
A couple of pensioners – get £200 in total, effectively £100 each.
(*) except if you are still working, and are not with the DWP for receiving any benefits or state pension or pension credit – you may need to explicitly claim in that case.