Departments Directions Social Fund GuidePart 4 - Budgeting Loans
Direction 53 - What to award
The Department directs that
53(1)Having identified the applicant’s personal circumstances in accordance with direction 50, and the weighting values which apply to those personal circumstances as specified in direction 52, the decision maker shall determine the maximum amount available by way of a budgeting loan to the applicant by applying the appropriate weighting value to the baseline figure issued by the Department.
(2)Subject to directions 9, and 11, the highest award which may be made on any application shall be the lesser of:
(a)the amount paid for; and
(b)the maximum amount, less any budgeting loan debt owed by the applicant and his partner.
(3)No award may be made which causes the sum repayable to the social fund by the applicant and his partner (by way of crisis loan and budgeting loan) to exceed £1500.
(4)The minimum amount that may be awarded as a budgeting loan is £100.
6450The effect of the weightings accorded to applicants’ circumstances is to establish, in conjunction with Area Decision Maker (ADM) guidance under Direction 40, limits on the maximum amount of Budgeting Loan (BL) debt individual applicants may have. The extent of access applicants will have to their own limit will depend on whether or not they already have BL debt.
6451ADMs will notify Decision Maker(DMs) of the Budgeting Loan baseline figure on which the three maxima of loans available for determining the size of the BL award are based. Social Fund Computer System (SFCS) will hold and apply the maximum awards at the appropriate stage in the decision making process.
Treatment of existing Budgeting Loan debt6452The extent of access applicants will have to their own limit will depend on whether or not they already have BL debt. To arrive at the maximum amount available to an applicant for a budgeting loan, the baseline figure is multiplied by the appropriate weighting value (this is the "maximum amount"). Subject to Directions 9,11 and 53(3) the award which may be made is the lower of:
- the amount applied for
- the maximum amount less any outstanding budgeting loan debt owed by the applicant or partner.
6453 - 6479
Applicant with no existing debt 6480If an applicant has no existing BL debt and she/he has applied for an amount that is either less than or equal to, the limit on the amount of BL loan available to the applicant, then a full award may be made (subject to Directions 9, 11 and 53(3)).
6481If the amount requested is above the maximum of the amount of BL loan available to the applicant, then the most that may be awarded is the limit of the amount of BL loan available to the applicant (subject to Directions 9, 11 and 53(3)).
6482 - 6499
Maximum debt limits - Direction 53(3) 6500No award may be made which causes the total sum of Budgeting and Crisis loans repayable to the Social Fund by the applicant and partner to exceed £1,500. Therefore any award calculated as per the paragraphs above may be subject to further reduction to an amount that is the difference between the current total SF debt of the applicant and partner, and the debt limit of £1,500.
6501A Budgeting Loan of less than £100 may not be awarded.
6502 - 6599
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