Departments Directions Social Fund GuidePart 8 - The Directions issued by the Department
The Directions issued by the Department under sections 134(1)(b) and (5), 136(1A), (2), (3) and (4) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992, Article 38(7) - (10) of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1998, and section 147(5) of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992
For the purposes of these directions;
(1) a person is in receipt of a benefit if:
(a) it has been paid in respect of that person; and
(b) it is paid -
(i) to him; or
(ii) a person appointed to act on his behalf.
(2) a partner means, where the applicant is a member of a couple:
(a) who are married;
(b) in a civil partnership; or
(c) living together as if they are married or in a civil partnership, the other member of that couple.
Direction 1 - Needs which may be met by Social Fund payments1. The needs which may be met by social fund payments awarded under section 134(1)(b) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 are those set out in directions 2, 3, and 4 below.
Direction 2 - Budgeting Loan qualifying conditions2. Subject to direction 8, a budgeting loan may be awarded to assist an applicant meet any of the following intermittent expenses the need for which occurs in the United Kingdom:
(a) Furniture and household equipment;
(b) Clothing and footwear;
(c) Rent in advance and/or removal expenses to secure fresh accommodation;
(d) Improvement, maintenance and security of the home;
(e) Travelling expenses;
(f) Expenses associated with seeking or re-entering work
(g) HP and other debts (for expenses associated with paragraphs (a) to (f) above).
Direction 3 - Crisis Loan qualifying conditions3.(1) Subject to directions 14, 16 and 17, a social fund payment may be awarded to assist an applicant to meet expenses (except those excluded by these directions) -
(a) in an emergency, or as a consequence of a disaster, provided that the provision of such assistance is the only means by which serious damage or serious risk to the health or safety of that person, or to a member of his family, may be prevented, or
(b) where the expenses are rent in advance payable to a landlord who is not the NIHE and a social fund payment is being awarded under direction 4(a)(i).
(2) This paragraph is revoked on 8th July 2011
Direction 4 - Community Care Grant qualifying conditions4. Subject to directions 25 and 26, a social fund payment may be awarded to promote community care -
(a) by assisting an applicant with expenses, including expenses of travel within the United Kingdom, (except those excluded by these directions) where such assistance will -
(i) help the applicant, a member of his family or other person for whom the applicant (or a member of his family) will be providing care, to establish himself in the community following a stay in institutional or residential accommodation in which he received care, or
(ii) help the applicant, a member of his family or other person for whom the applicant (or a member of his family) is currently or will be providing care, to remain in the community rather than enter institutional or residential accommodation in which he will receive care, or
(iii) ease exceptional pressures on the applicant and his family, or
(iv) allow the applicant or his partner to care for a prisoner or young offender on temporary release under rule 27 of the Prisons and Young Offenders Centres Rules (Northern Ireland) 1995, or
(v) help the applicant to set up home in the community as a part of a planned resettlement programme following a period during which he has been without a settled way of life, or
(b) by assisting an applicant and one or more members of his family, or any of those persons, with expenses of travel including any reasonable charges for overnight accommodation within the United Kingdom in order to -
(i) visit someone who is ill, or
(ii) attend a relative's funeral, or
(iii) ease a domestic crisis, or
(iv) visit a child who is with the other parent pending a court decision, or
(v) move to suitable accommodation.
Direction 5 - Repayability5. Any award within direction 2 or 3 shall include a determination that it is repayable; an award within direction 2 is referred to in these directions as a budgeting loan and an award within direction 3 is referred to as a crisis loan.Back to top
Direction 6 - Community Care Grants not repayable6. Any award within direction 4 shall not include a determination that it is repayable; an award within direction 4 is referred to in these directions as a community care grant.
Direction 7 - Repeat applications 7. (1) A decision maker shall not determine an application in the circumstances set out in this Direction.
(2) Where the application is for a crisis loan for living expenses in respect of a period for which such a payment has already been awarded to the applicant or his partner, the decision maker shall not determine the application unless satisfied that it is for assistance to meet living expenses:
(a) as a consequence of a disaster which has occurred since the previous award; or
(b) in an emergency which –
(i) has arisen since the previous award,
(ii) is not a consequence of an act or omission for which the applicant or partner is responsible, and
(iii) the applicant or partner could not have taken reasonable steps to avoid.
(3) A decision maker shall not determine any other crisis loan application, or a grant application, made within 28 days of a previous application by the same person for the same expenses for which a payment has already been awarded or refused unless there has been a relevant change of circumstances.
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