Community care grant who is entitled

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Community care grants. What are Community Care Grants? For example, you could use a Community Care Grant to pay for: furniture bedding connection charges for utilities such as gas and electricity removal costs clothing household equipment certain essential travel expenses for example, to go to a funeral or visit someone who is ill.

Who can apply for a Community Care Grant? How to apply for a Community Care Grant You need to apply to your local council. My Community Care Grant application was refused If your application for a Community Care Grants is refused or if you're not happy with the amount awarded, you can ask your local council to review its decision. To do this, you must: apply in writing apply within 20 days of the date the decision was given explain clearly the reasons why you think the decision was unfair.

Email Print this article. If you can apply to your local council by post or online, you'll need to complete your local council's application form.

You might be able to get a copy of the application form by downloading it from your local council's website or by asking for a copy over the phone. It's important to include all relevant information on the application form and explain what could happen if you don't get a grant. A social worker or someone else who works with you might be able to help you complete your application. You can also get help from an experienced adviser, for example at a Citizens Advice Bureau.

Find out where to get advice. Local councils give each community care grant application a priority level: high, medium or low. Then they decide which priority level of application they can afford to pay each month.

For example, a local council might decide that in some months, it can only afford to pay high-priority applications. At other times, it might be able to pay high-, medium- and low-priority applications. You can be given help in kind, rather than cash. For example, you might be awarded travel vouchers, furniture, white goods or retail vouchers. If the grant is for furniture or white goods, it should include delivery and installation or fitting costs.

Your local council should decide on your application within 15 working days of getting all the information they need. You can track your application by getting in touch with the local council you applied to. Find your local council on mygov. If your local council refuses your application or gives you less than you applied for, you can ask the council to look again at the decision.

An applicant's circumstances must be taken into account when deciding whether they are on a low income. If there are other financial issues the local authority thinks should be taken into account, such as experiencing homelessness, being a modern apprentice, having just been released from prison, or the applicant not having have access to their money for some reason for example, relating to domestic abuse , the local authority may make the judgement that an applicant on a seemingly higher income should still be considered for a grant.

Information about a partner and other members of family, however, can be collected and taken into account where relevant, for example, in relation to income or health. Types of income that should be disregarded in identifying available income are at Annex B. Only money in hand at the time of the application should be considered, not any future payments that will be made. Local authorities can use their discretion to make an award for cases that fall a few days short of the minimum period served [54].

However, the limitations on repeat applications as described in paragraph 6. Awards for items should include delivery and installation or fitting fees.

Some examples of items for which an award might be made are:. Feedback from the Social Security Experience Panel cited some cases where contracts for provision of items had placed limitations on awards made. Where an item is not available under the contract, a cash award or an alternative should be considered. The duration of storage costs should be for a reasonable period and not long enough to be considered to have become an on-going expense.

This is to allow applicants and their support workers to plan ahead in securing furniture. Local authorities need not make a decision in principle unless an action, such as release from prison, or the start of a tenancy, is planned within an eight week period. The level of priority that should be applied is the level of priority in place at the time the decision was made, unless a change has been made that would benefit the applicant for example, a lower priority rating is now in place.

If an application is received after 4. Home Publications. Scottish Welfare Fund: statutory guidance — March Community Care Grants[40]. Supporting documents. A Community Care Grant can be given, if you qualify, to help with costs if: you're leaving care or imprisonment and need help to start a settled home you've been homeless, or living an unsettled life, and need help to start a settled home you need support to stay out of care you're caring for someone who's been released from prison or a young offender's institution you're experiencing great pressure and need help to keep a settled home you're escaping domestic abuse a child's health is at risk You must be 16 or over and on a low income to apply for a Community Care Grant.

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