Departments Directions Social Fund Guide

Part 3 - Crisis Loans

Direction 23 - Exclusions

The Department directs that

(1)A crisis loan may not be awarded in respect of -

(a)any of the following -

(i)any need which occurs outside the United Kingdom;

(ii)an educational or training need including clothing and tools;

(iii)distinctive school uniform or sports clothes of any description for use at school or equipment of any description to be used at school;

(iv)travelling expenses to or from school;

(v)school meals taken during school holidays by children who are entitled to free school meals;

(vi)expenses in connection with court (legal) proceedings (including a community service order) such as legal fees, court fees, fines, costs, damages, subsistence or travelling expenses (other than a crisis loan for emergency travelling expenses where an applicant is stranded away from home);

(vii)removal or storage charges where an applicant is rehoused following the imposition of a compulsory purchase order, or a redevelopment or closing order, or a compulsory exchange of tenancies, or pursuant to the NIHE's statutory duty to the homeless under the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1988;

(viii)domestic assistance and respite care;

(ix)any repair to NIHE or registered Housing Association property;

(x)a medical, surgical, optical, aural or dental item or service;

(xi)work related expenses;

(xii)debts to government departments;

(xiii)investments, or

(b)in respect of any expense which is excluded by direction 17

(2)in addition to the expenses excluded by paragraph (1), a crisis loan may not be awarded for any expenses in respect of any of the following items -

(a)costs of purchasing, renting or installing a telephone and of any call charges;

(b)mobility needs;

(c)holidays;

(d)a television or radio, or licence, aerial or rental charges for a television or radio;

(e)garaging, parking, purchase, and running costs of any motor vehicle except where payment is being considered for emergency travelling expenses;

(f)housing costs, including repairs and improvements to the dwelling occupied as the home including any garage, garden and outbuildings, and including deposits to secure accommodation, mortgage payments, rates, water rates, sewerage rates, service charges, rent and analogous charges for accommodation, other than-

(i)payments for intermittent housing costs not met by housing benefit, income support, income-based jobseeker's allowance, state pension credit or income-related employment and support allowance for which direct payments cannot be implemented such as the cost of emptying cess pits or septic tanks, or

(ii)rent in advance which is payable to secure fresh accommodation where the landlord is not the NIHE, or

(iii)charges for board and lodging accommodation and residential charges for hostels, but not deposits, whether included in the total charge or not, or

(iv)minor repairs and improvements;

(g)council tax, council water charges, or community water charges;

(h)costs associated with home or personal security measures other than locks, bolts, door chains and door viewers for outside doors and windows.

Exclusions

4550Consider if the item or service requested is among the exclusions.

Removal or storage charges where the NIHE has a duty to rehouse a person

4551Where the NIHE accommodates a person under its homelessness duties (the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1988) it has a duty to protect their property against loss or damage. The NIHE usually discharges this duty by arranging for the removal or storage of the applicant's property, for which they may make a reasonable charge.

4552The NIHE also has a duty to protect a person's property where an applicant is rehoused following the imposition of a compulsory purchase order, or a redevelopment or closing order, or a compulsory exchange of tenancies.

4553The NIHE has a duty under homelessness legislation to secure accommodation for eligible homeless applicants in priority need, where there is no suitable alternative accommodation available for unintentionally homeless applicants.

4554While an applicant is accommodated by the NIHE under homlessness legislation they can also apply through the housing register for a longer term NIHE housing association tenancy. The authority's homelessness duty ceases with the allocation of such a tenancy under its housing allocation scheme. At that point, it has no further duty to protect that person's property, e.g. by arranging for its removal to the applicant's new address.

4555You should exclude removal or storage charges where the nihe is discharging a duty to accommodate a person under the homelessness legislation or following the imposition of a compulsory purchase order, or a redevelopment or closing order, or a compulsory exchange of tenancies.

4556ou should consider an award, subject to the priority of the application, for removal or storage charges, where the NIHE is rehousing a person under its housing allocation powers.

4557If the NIHE is not under a duty to protect a person's property but there is a possibility that it may use discretionary powers to arrange or meet the cost of removing or storing that property, you should have regard to this in dealing with the application, i.e. the possibility that some other person or body may wholly or partly meet the applicant's need (section 136(1)(c) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992).

4558If necessary, contact the NIHE, observing rules of confidentiality, to check:

what help is being given or would be given on application and
whether that help is under mandatory or discretionary powers

Respite care

4559This term covers a range of situations allowing a respite, or break, for either:

someone looking after a person in need of care
a disabled or elderly person who lives alone and needs a rest from their tasks for a week or two

4560Respite care includes the following situations:

arrangements made for someone else to come into the home and provide care, either for a set period or on a regular basis for, say, a few hours each week. HSST's may provide such services but the provision may vary from one HSST to another. Voluntary organisations can also help
a person normally cared for in their own home who is being taken into short term residential care
a person living independently who is being given a short term break in residential care

Repair to property of public sector housing bodies

4561The term `public sector housing bodies' covers NIHE or analogous property, i.e. a property provided by:

most housing associations; and
the NIHE

Housing costs, repairs and improvements

4562The Department has directed that grants or loans cannot be made to meet, or help to meet, the cost of repairs and improvements to the dwelling occupied as the home, including any garage, garden and outbuildings, other than minor repairs and improvements.

4563The use of the term "repairs and improvements " includes the cost of both materials and labour. A repair will generally put right something that is defective. An improvement will generally upgrade something, or add something to the property that was not there before.

4564It is difficult to precisely define the term "minor". The following considerations, however, will be relevant when deciding whether a repair or improvement is "minor" or not:

the nature and extent of the work
the time needed to complete the work
the cost of the work

4565Assistance from the social fund is not appropriate to meet, or help to meet, the cost of repairs or improvements which are not minor. These are more appropriately financed through:

house insurance
government grants, see para 2627 - 2634
a commercial loan

4566The Income Support (IS), State Pension Credit (SPC), income - related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA(IR) or income- based Job Seekers Allowance (JSA(IB) assessment may include an amount in respect of interest on a loan taken out for some repairs and improvements. The IS (General) Regulations 1987 Schedule 3 paragraph 16(2) and Jobseeker's Allowance Regulations 1996 Schedule 2 para 15(2) specify the repairs and improvements for which interests may be included in IS and JSA (IB)respectively.

4567For people under 60, IS, JSA (IB) or ESA (IR) help for interest on loans taken out for these costs will not generally be payable until they have received IS, JSA (IB) or ESA (IB)for 39 weeks.

Medical, surgical, optical, aural or dental item or service

4568Such items or services should normally be provided through the health service but those items or services for which a charge is made are:

free for people on IS, income-related ESA or income-based JSA
free or at reduced cost for certain other groups

4569There is no specific definition of medical items in Social Security or NHS legislation. You should use a common sense approach and take account of the circumstances of the individual application.

4570Refer people asking for help from the social fund for any such item or service to their GP, dentist, optician or HSST, as appropriate.

4571Applicants may ask for items in everyday use, although the need may have arisen from a medical or other condition, e.g. someone with an allergy may need cotton sheets. Payments for such items from the Social Fund are not specifically excluded.

4572If such help is requested, first find out whether aid is available from other relevant agencies, e.g. GPs and hospital doctors can prescribe `borderline substances' in specific circumstances, e.g. sunscreen for people with particular skin ailments.

4573If help cannot be provided from other agencies, consider the application:

on its merits
assessing its priority in relation to
- the other applications
- the budget

Work related expenses

4574This term covers expenses related to seeking and obtaining employment, e.g. fares when seeking work, new clothes on starting work. Some employers will consider an advance of earnings to help a new employee with such expenses. Help may also be available in the form of a Budgeting Loan.

Debts to government departments

4575These include:

National Insurance arrears
income tax liabilities
customs charges
rent arrears
rates arrears
council tax arrears

Accommodation charges including meals and services

4576If a Crisis Loan application is received for a payment in advance to secure accommodation in a hotel, lodging house or similar establishment, any award should meet the accommodation charge only.

4577If the charge includes meals and/or services and the accommodation charge is not known, you may deduct a reasonable amount for meals and/or services that are known to be provided, before making a loan offer.

Application for excluded item

4578If another body might be able to meet the need, refer the applicant to them. If in doubt that the agency can help, seek the agency's advice before referring the applicant to them. Record all action clerically and on the decision form.

Maternity and funeral expenses

4579There are two distinct parts to the Social Fund:

a regulated scheme, providing some maternity and funeral expenses under regulations made in accordance with section 134(1)(a) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (`the Act') and for cold weather and winter fuel payments under section 134(2)
a discretionary scheme to meet payments of community care grants, crisis loans or budgeting loans in accordance with directions and guidance issued under section 134(1)(b) of the Act. Such payments are defined in section 134(5) of the Act.

4580It therefore follows that you cannot make payments for Community Care Grants, Crisis Loans or Budgeting Loans from the discretionary fund under section 134(1)(b) for any form of maternity or funeral expense, whether referred to in regulations or not.

4581The regulations do not define the terms `maternity expenses' and `funeral expenses'. You should interpret these terms in relation to their ordinary common sense meaning, but have some regard to their use in Social Security legislation.

4582You must therefore decide if you should regard a particular item as a maternity or funeral expense according to the individual circumstances of each application.

4583If you receive an application for maternity or funeral expenses, check to see if the applicant or their partner has made a claim for a Sure Start Maternity Maternity Grant or Funeral Payment under the regulated scheme. If the applicant or partner has not made a claim invite them to do so if appropriate, as well as dealing with the application to the discretionary fund.

Maternity expenses

4584While the term `maternity expenses' has its ordinary meaning there is no one accepted meaning of the term. You must use your judgement in deciding whether to consider an item to be a maternity expense.

4585The effect of the legislation referred to in para 4578 is to exclude awards from the discretionary fund for items such as the initial clothing needs of a newborn baby. You may consider items which a child needs later in its development, such as larger size clothing, as the needs of a growing child rather than maternity expenses.

4586You may consider clothing for a pregnant woman, often referred to as `maternity clothing' as a personal need of the expectant mother rather than an immediate need of a newborn baby.

4587Consider whether the help requested is for:

maternity needs before the birth or
new items for a growing child which you may not consider to be maternity expenses

4588A person can make a claim for a Sure Start Maternity Grant from the regulated fund 11 weeks before the expected date of confinement and up to 3 months after the birth. Baby items requested within this period may often fall within the category of maternity expenses.

4589In making your decision you should take into account:

the items applied for and the circumstances surrounding the need
the timing of the application, i.e. before, around the time of or after the birth
whether it is reasonable to class the need as a maternity expense

Funeral expenses

4590Normally, interpret `funeral expenses' to be the expenses of burial or cremation.

All items referred to in the specification in the Funeral Payment Regulations are funeral expenses, even though there may be a limit on the amounts payable for some items.

4591If an applicant requests other items, consider if these are actual expenses of burial or cremation. Some items may be connected with a death but may not be expenses of burial or cremation. For example, you may consider: