Community care grant

johnwmv

I recently put in a community care grant form to help with costs of re-decorating and furnishing a new home that both me and my partner have recently moved into, my partner is 6 and a half months pregnant.

Our initial decision was refused, the reason given was "applied for wrong loan". After getting told this we phoned the jobcentre who clarified to us both that the loan application we applied for was indeed correct and do not understand why this decision was made. Following this we where asked to put in a "review" which we have done so. Today we recieved a letter from the person who is reviewing our decision, the letter said that they are going to phone us on Tuesday for a telephone interview. I do not know if this means that they are going to make a decision based on the information we give them on the phone or.....if a decision has already been made and they are going to discuss that.

I was just wondering if anyone has any experience of this so i know what to expect to get said on Tuesday.

Thanks in advance

John

stef240377

As far as i have ever been told a community care grant is to allow for items to keep you in the community. From experience the majority of these are given out to people who have just left care and are starting up on their own or ex offenders re-entering the community.

When i had my first place the forms were more stringent than they are now. We could apply for things like a kettle, crockery, bedding, beds and anything that is considered a necessity rather than a luxury - back in them days(dont know if it has changed) a fridge was a luxury unless you were on prescribed medication that required keeping in fridge. Even got told a cooker is a luxury as you can do pot noodles with a kettle or a cuppa soup!

Are you in a local authority property because they have a budget set a side to allow you to apply for a decorating grant, with mine they allow £30 per room based on the fact you paint anything and everything magnolia, if you want to paper then you have to pay for it.

jonuk7

I applied for one when i moved and was awarded the amount i asked for and i had gone into alot of detail as far as knives and forks to bed linen etc.. then my partner applied for one as she was moving from a "Temp Flat" provided by the council to a permanent home and they suggested applying for one, she has concrete floors through out the bottom floor of the house and chipboard upstairs, as she already had most itmes anyway she only applied for the carpet due to her 2 year old and concrete floors not been a good match lol. she explained in the application how it was a massive saftey hazard etc and if she was to fall over it would do her some serious damage, they then wrote back to her a month later and said that there was not Sufficient reason for the request and would not be awarding anything. Tried the "appeal" route and was told that it was not a valid enough request. However had she applied for a couch or tumble dryer or even a TV or ALL of these she would of been awarded it, but they did also say you cant apply again for 12 months so until then basically live with it.

johnwmv

Well recieved the phone call from them on Tuesday and that person we spoke to was shocked that the original application had been refused, he said that the other person would have refused it due to there bein no funds left in the budget for the year! well to be honest i find that hard to believe, and if it is true then its way wrong as they are not even yet half way through the financial year. Anyways got it all sorted recieved a letter today and was offered £820 for the basic items. So happy days i suppose.

Thanks for the replies.

John

Boppy_2

Why couldn't you have applied for a budgeting loan and actually paid back what you borrowed for the items you need? Community Care Grants are there to help vulnerable people not those who don't think they should have to buy furniture for their homes. Even when I was 17 and moved 70 miles away from my family and I was entitled to a community care grant to furnish my flat I chose not to because there are people far needier out there.