§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will introduce discretionary retrospective payments of lump sum supplementary benefit.
§ Mrs ChalkerIn general, supplementary benefit is intended to meet current need, but in some circumstances a single payment can be made after the event, for example, where the bill is received at a later date, or money has been spent on an item for which a single payment might have been claimed and the claimant is therefore short of money for his ordinary living expenses.
In other cases, where a mistake in law has been made by a benefit officer or a decision has been made in ignorance of, or based on a mistake as to some material fact, or a relevant change of circumstances has taken place, a decision on a claim for a single payment may be reviewed by the benefit officer if the claim fell within 52 weeks before the request for review was made. If the hon. Member has any other circumstances in mind, perhaps he would write to me.