HC Deb 03 March 1995 vol 255 cc758-9W
Mr. Alex Carlile

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the criteria for receiving assistance from the social fund and the community care grant system.

Mr. Roger Evans

Social fund payments are awarded under sections 138 to 140 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992. Regulated payments are made for maternity expenses, funeral expenses and heating in cold weather. Discretionary payments can be made in other cases, which comprise community care grants, budgeting loans and crisis loans.

The precise criteria for determining regulated payments are contained in the Social Fund Maternity and Funeral Expenses (General) Regulations 1987 and the Social Fund Cold Weather Payments (General) Regulations 1988.

The Secretary of State gives directions to social fund officers listing the criteria for determining discretionary payments, and guidance on how these directions should he applied. The directions and guidance are published in the social fund guide. Copies of this legislation and publications are in the Library.

Mr. Alex Carlile

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if voluntary bodies are included among the potential sources to which people should apply before they become eligible for social fund assistance; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Roger Evans

Under section 140(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, a social fund officer determining a discretionary payment should have regard to: the nature, extent and urgency of the need; the existence of resources from which the need may be met; and the possibility that some other person or body may wholly or partly meet it. It is for a social fund officer to decide how these questions apply in each individual application to the social fund.

In deciding whether a crisis loan should be awarded, social fund officers are advised in the Secretary of State's guidance in the social fund guide to take into account any help which might be available from any other source to meet or partly meet the need, if there is a realistic expectation that help would be available in time. Possible sources of help might be charities and benevolent funds which are known to be likely to provide the required assistance. Copies of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 and the social fund guide are in the Library.