Social Fund Guide This guide contains the Secretary of State's directions and guidance. It is intended for use mainly by Decision Makers and independent Social Fund Inspectors. Amendment 1 of 2012 - April 2012 Amendment 2 of 2012 – May 2012 Amendment 3 of 2012 – October 2012 Contents Part 1 – Introduction Part 2 – Community Care Grants Part 3 – Crisis Loans Part 3A – Crisis Loans pre-April 2011 Part 4 – Budgeting Loans Part 5 – The Budget Part 6 – Reviews Part 7 – Reviews by the Social Fund Inspector Part 8 – The Directions Part 8A – Transitional and revoked Directions Part 9 – Table of current year’s amendments Amendment 3 of 2012 2 Part 1 - Introduction Description of the Social Fund 1. The Social Fund (SF) is a scheme to help people with needs which are difficult to meet from regular income. It is made up of two distinct parts: • a regulated scheme which provides entitlement to maternity, funeral, cold weather and winter fuel payments for people who satisfy certain qualifying conditions • a discretionary scheme under which people may be eligible in certain circumstances for a: o Community Care Grant (CCG) - to meet, or help to meet, a need for community care o Budgeting Loan (BL) - to meet, or help to meet, an intermittent expense o Crisis Loan (CL) - to meet, or help to meet, an immediate short term need 2. This guide deals with discretionary payments only. Discretionary Scheme – appropriate officers 3. SF decisions on CCGs, BLs and CLs are discretionary. Decisions on such payments are made by officials who, acting under the authority of the Secretary of State, exercise functions of the Secretary of State in relation to discretionary social fund payments. These officials are referred to in this guidance as Decision Makers (DMs). SF DMs are referred to in the Social Security Acts as “appropriate officers” and in this capacity they do not make decisions on the setting of repayment terms. 4. However, decisions on repayment terms are made by officers on behalf of the Secretary of State, and the same officer may be authorised to act in both of those capacities. 5. Dissatisfied applicants may ask for a review of a determination by a Decision Maker in relation to an application for a discretionary social fund payment. This does not extend to decisions on the setting of repayment terms. 6. The Social Security Act 1998 also allows the Secretary of State to nominate an appropriate officer to issue guidance to other appropriate officers in the area. 7. The nominated appropriate officer is the SF BDC Manager who issues guidance which specifies the level of priority that can be met from the community care grant budget. 8. Section 38 of that Act provides for reviews of social fund decisions to be conducted by an "appropriate officer". 9. The terminology for staff making discretionary social fund decisions, to be found throughout this Guide, is as follows: • "decision maker" (DM) means an appropriate officer acting under the Secretary of State's authority (as described in section 139(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 and section 36(1) of the Social Security Act 1998) who is making Amendment 3 of 2012 3 determinations under sections 139 and 140 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 ; • "area decision maker" (ADM) means a decision maker who has been nominated to issue guidance in respect of an area in accordance with section 36(2) of the Social Security Act 1998; and • "reviewing officer" (RO) means a decision maker who is authorised to review social fund determinations under section 38 of the Social Security Act 1998. 10. Only DMs are authorised to make decisions about discretionary payments from the social fund on behalf of the Secretary of State. Social Fund Inspectors (SFIs) are appointed by the Social Fund Commissioner to review decisions made by a RO if an application is made to them in the time and manner set out in the Social Fund (Application for Review) Regulations 1998. They are independent of DMs and ROs. 11. DMs must act in accordance with the law including the Secretary of State's directions. 12. DMs are required to determine any question in accordance with the directions and guidance issued under sections 138(1)(b) and (5) and 140(1A), (2), (3) and (4) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, as amended by the Social Security Act 1998; sections 36(2) and 38 of the Social Security Act 1998; and section 168(5) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 as amended by paragraph 103(2) of Schedule 7 to the Social Security Act 1998. The Welfare Reform Act 2007 made changes to section 140 of the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, section 168 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 and section 38(7) of the Social Security Act 1998. 13. DMs must also take account of local guidance issued by the ADM (section 140(5) of the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 and section 36(2) and 38(11) of the Social Security Act 1998; and Direction 40). 14. DMs must take particular care to ensure that their decisions are not in any way affected by bias or prejudice on such grounds as colour, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, sex, religion, or disability. 15. The DM and RO should ensure that they have all the relevant information to determine the application/review. Where a relevant issue is raised in connection with an application, the DM or RO should seek more information where this is necessary to ensure the relevant issue is fully taken into account in determining the application or review. Deciding on discretionary payments Secretary of State's directions and guidance 16. The directions issued by the Secretary of State are shown in full in part 8 of this guide. Directions specific to each type of Social Fund (SF) award appear in the relevant Parts. DMs must follow directions. 17. The guidance cannot be expected to cover every contingency that will arise and the absence of guidance on a particular situation does not mean that help must be refused. DMs do not have to follow guidance but they must have regard to it in making their decision and must provide good documented reasons if minded to depart from it. Amendment 3 of 2012 4 Applications to the discretionary fund 18. Applicants are normally expected to apply for the specific discretionary payment which they consider best relates to their circumstances (but see paragraph 22 below). BL applications 19. BL applications must be made in writing and sent or delivered to an office of DWP. A budgeting loan application can only lead to a BL decision. It will not be possible to consider an application for a BL but award another type of payment. Applications must generally be made on a form approved by the Secretary of State (SF500) or, exceptionally, by other acceptable means in writing. CCG applications 20. Community care grant applications must be made in writing and sent or delivered to an office of DWP. Applications must generally be made on a form approved by the Secretary of State (SF300) or, exceptionally, by other acceptable means in writing. CL applications 21. Crisis Loan applications may, like CCGs and BLs, be made in writing and sent or delivered to an office of DWP. Applications in writing will be • on form SF401R for rent in advance, board and lodging accommodation and residential charges for hostels • on form SF300 for applications made as a consequence of a disaster only (this will generally only apply to items and services) 22. Crisis loan applications for immediate needs such as daily living expenses do not have to be made in writing. In general they are to be made by telephone. In exceptional circumstances an application for rent in advance may be taken over the telephone. CCG application treated as CL and vice versa 23. Although CCGs and CLs may be applied for in their own right, because applications for both are determined on similar discretionary bases, directions provide that an application for a CL should in some circumstances be considered first as an application for a CCG. 24. Directions 3 and 49 provide for when Decision Makers should consider a CCG in the case of a CL application or vice versa. Such consideration is appropriate where a payment to meet expenses referred to in Direction 3(2)(b) is applied for; or in other circumstances the information declared by the applicant in support of a CL application alerts the DM to the possibility of a CCG being appropriate, see guidance on Direction 49 in Part 3 of this Social Fund Guide. Disclosure of information 25. Staff are reminded of the Data Protection Act 1998 and that personal information about individuals is held in strict confidence. Staff with access to such information are usually prohibited from disclosing personal information unless: Amendment 3 of 2012 5 • the person concerned has consented • a court order has been obtained, or • legislation allows for the disclosure 26. Guidance about managing and disclosure of personal information is provided by DWP Legal Group and can be found on their intranet site under heading Data Protection. This contains information about the very limited circumstances in which information can be disclosed. Civil Partnership 27. From 05/12/2005 the Civil Partnership Act allows same-sex couples to make a formal, legal commitment to each other by entering into a Civil Partnership (CP) through a statutory civil registration procedure. This means that same-sex couples can notify their intention to form a CP from this date and be treated in the same way as married couples.