Departments Directions Social Fund Guide

Part 2 - Community Care Grants

Direction 4 (b) - Travelling expenses

Fares to visit patients in hospital or residential care

3150 A CCG may be awarded to help the applicant and/or other members of their family to visit a patient in:

hospital
a nursing home
a residential care home
staff intensive sheltered housing providing a major level of personal care

3151The patient being visited may be:

a close relative, relative or partner of the visitor
a close friend who has no relatives or whose relatives have lost touch

Use your discretion when deciding on the relationship between the person being visited, and the applicant.

Hospital visits and home savings

3152 ‘Home savings’ is the label used to describe the amount of money a family may be saving out of benefit/allowance/tax credit payments because a member of that family is being cared for free of charge in hospital. You should consider whether it is appropriate to offset any home savings against the cost of hospital visits when an applicant seeks a grant to meet, in whole or in part, the costs of visiting a family member in hospital for whom they claim benefit.

3153 Any benefit/allowance/tax credit payments (but not the mobility component of DLA) paid to the family for the patient should be considered. Premiums should be ignored. The principle is that if a benefit/allowance/tax credit is being paid in respect of someone in hospital, a significant proportion of that money is not being spent on normal day to day expenses for that person, subject to paras 3154 and 3155 below.

3154 When determining the award amount, you must decide whether and to what extent home savings are actually available as a resource to be offset against the cost of hospital visiting. In making this decision, you must consider all the facts and assess whether or not the money is available to help partially or fully meet the cost of fares.

3155 In the cases where the existence of home savings may affect the award, you should remember that the applicant may incur additional expenses arising from hospital admission. For example, they may have to purchase food when visiting the hospital.

3156 Attendance Allowance (AA), Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Carer’s Allowance (CA) and Constant Attendance Allowance (CAA) will continue to be suspended after the customer has been in hospital for 4 weeks. Home savings for these benefits cannot be taken into account after they have been suspended. Customers whose AA, DLA, CA or CAA has been suspended will, however, have home savings taken into account against their Income Support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseekers Allowance or State Pension Credit (as applicable) in the normal way.

3157 Community Care Grants for visits to a child in hospital would normally be given a high priority.

3158-3169

Fares to visit ill people

3170 A CCG may be awarded to help the applicant and/or other members of their family to visit someone who is ill but is not in hospital or residential care. The person being visited should normally be either:

a relative or partner of the visitor
someone who has no relatives or whose relatives have lost touch

Use your discretion when deciding on the relationship between the person being visited and the applicant.

3171-3189

Fares to attend funerals

3190 A CCG may be awarded to help towards reasonable travel costs, within the UK, which may be incurred by an applicant and/or other members of their family to attend a relative's funeral which is to take place in the UK or elsewhere within the European Economic Area. If the applicant is responsible for arranging the funeral, advise them to apply for a SF Funeral Payment. The Funeral Payment Regulations provide that a Funeral Payment may be made in respect of the reasonable expenses of one return journey for the responsible person to either arrange or attend the funeral.

3191 If a Funeral Payment includes travel expenses to arrange the funeral, you may award a CCG if the applicant has to make a separate journey to attend the funeral.

3192-3209

Domestic crises

3210 A CCG may be awarded for single or return fares arising from a domestic crisis, e.g. a parent on Income Support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance , income-based Jobseekers Allowance, or State Pension Credit or payments on account of such a benefit is visiting their child who is in the care of a relative or close friend. A CCG should not normally be awarded for a visit to a child who is in the care of a Health and Social Care Trust (HSCT), as HSCTs have the power to help in such cases.

3211 Give priority to those whose needs are most acute, e.g. a lone parent who is going into hospital or who is too ill to look after the child or children.

3212 A holiday or short break would not normally be regarded as a domestic crisis.

3213-3229

Custody Proceedings

3230 A CCG may be awarded if a parent is visiting a child:

who is in the care of the estranged partner; and
where a question regarding a child's upbringing has not yet been determined by the court

This should ensure that neither parent is seen by the court to be in a less advantageous position simply because he or she cannot afford the fares. The term `parent' may include a person who has parental rights.

3231 If the child is in HSCT care and the HSCT has determined that the child is in need, you may wish to liaise with the HSCT who may exceptionally provide payment of travelling expenses.

3232 It would not be appropriate to award a grant once the responsibility has been decided by the court, e.g. to allow a parent to exercise their right of access to the child, or if responsibility proceedings are not being undertaken. You may award a CCG if an appeal against the court's decision is pending or if for any reason a court decision is pending e.g. a parent requests increased access.

3233-3249

Fares when moving to suitable accommodation

3250 A CCG may be awarded to help an applicant move to suitable accommodation. The circumstances of such payments will be those not covered by the provisions of direction 4(a), and might include either a move from one home to another, or where someone receiving Income Support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseekers Allowance or State Pension Credit or payment on account of such benefits and currently without accommodation has been offered suitable accommodation and intends to accept it.

3251-3269

What to award

3270 The £30 minimum amount and disentitlement to awards for expenses of less than £30 does not apply to awards for travelling expenses.

3271 The amount should normally be the cost, single or return as appropriate, of:

`standard' rate public transport, excluding air fares, or
the cost of petrol either:
- up to the cost of public transport, if this is available
- in full, if public transport is unavailable or the applicant/ partner cannot use public transport because of physical disability or because they are frail and elderly, or
taxi fares, only if either:
- the applicant/partner cannot use public transport because of physical disability or because they are frail and elderly and there is no access to private transport
- public transport is unavailable and there is no access to private transport

3272 The cost of an escort's fare may be met where the person concerned is incapable of travelling alone, e.g. because of youth, age, illness or disability.

Charges for overnight accommodation

3273 The cost of reasonable accommodation may be met if:

it is essential for the applicant to stay overnight, e.g. they cannot reasonably make a return journey in one day
there are no other suitable alternatives, e.g. staying with relatives or in hospital accommodation for relatives of a patient

3274-3299