Eligibility
To claim an ELF grant the applicant must be aged 16 or over and a 'resident' in the Thurrock Council area and on a low income or with little or no resources. Where 'resident' means someone who lives in a property in the Thurrock Council area or are accessing services such as the Job Centre as if a resident of the area.
When assessing an applicant's entitlement to an ELF grant the amount of resources the applicant has available to them should be taken into account.
Resources include:
- capital assets,
- earnings,
- any other income,
- cash in hand,
- funds in banks, building societies, post office or credit union accounts
- any sources of credit such as cash cards, store cards, credit cards, overdraft facilities or loan schemes (unless they are receiving Income Based Jobseekers Allowance, Income related Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support or Pension Credit)
- 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 such as charities and benevolent funds, friends and family
The decision maker can disregard certain resources where it would be reasonable to do, for example, Housing Benefit and Localised Council Tax Support could be disregarded as they are intended for use in covering rent and council tax charges.
The following people are ineligible from claiming for an ELF grant:
- people in care homes or hospital - unless they are due to be released within the next 6 weeks and are applying for an ELF grant to help them set up in the Community. .
- people who are members of and fully maintained by a religious order
- prisoners - unless they are due to be released within the next 6 weeks and are applying for an ELF grant to help them set up in the Community.
- people in education - except those that receive Income Support, Income Based Jobseekers Allowance or Income Related Employment and Support Allowance or Pension Credit or Universal Credit OR those who do not have access to the Student Loans and Grants intentioned to help with living costs whilst a student.
- people who fail the Habitual Residency Test / Subject to Immigration Control ie those that have no recourse to public funds
Help people establish in the community following a stay in an institution, care home, hostel or similar, in which they received care
Examples of accommodation this refers to are:
- hospitals
- care homes
- hostels for homeless people, alcohol misusers or drug misusers
- prisons and youth offender institutions
- foster care
- staffed group homes
- supported lodgings
- staff intensive sheltered housing providing a substantial level of personal care
This list is not exhaustive.
There must have been a substantial element of care or supervision involved with their stay. Each case must be looked at as an individual case as even residents within the same hostel may receive a different level of care.
In considering the level of care, the decision maker will take into account the length of time, frequency and type of care provided. The length of time the applicant had received care for should normally be a period of 3 months or more OR a pattern of frequent or regular admission clearly linked to the nature of the applicant's disability or circumstances.
For this rule to apply the living arrangement of the applicant must be a permanent one. For example if staying in a 'halfway house' or some form of board and lodging establishment prior to eventual permanent resettlement it will not normally be appropriate to award an ELF grant for furniture, furnishing, other household equipment or fuel connection charges.
An ELF grant may also be awarded if an applicant moves to a larger or more suitable accommodation so that they, or a member of their family, can take care of a person discharged from institutional or residential care who will be living in the same household and is unable to live freely in the community without some provision of care under this rule.
Help people discharged from prison and youth offender institutions
They could be being resettled in the community after being discharged from:
- prison
- youth custody or detention centre
- youth treatment centres
- other centres where a custodial sentence may be served
- hostels for ex-offenders run by probation services
This list is not exhaustive.
There must have been a substantial element of care or supervision involved in their stay and the length of time the applicant had received care or supervision for should also be substantial (normally defined as a period of 3 months or more)
Help young people leaving LA care establish In the community
This could be where the applicant is:
- returning to their families and are eligible in their own right,
- establishing in the household of someone who may be eligible for an ELFG to provide for their needs or
- setting up their own home
There must have been a substantial element of care or supervision involved in their stay and the length of time the applicant had received care or supervision for should also be substantial (normally defined as a period of 3 months or more)
Help people remain in the community rather than enter an institution or care home in which they will receive care
There does not need to be an immediate threat of being taken into care for a payment to be made. The award should however be ensuring the applicants independent life in the community will improve and the risk of admission will lessen.
The ELF grant may help to improve an applicant's existing living conditions with the provision of certain goods or enable them to move to accommodation which is more suitable, for example by providing them with furniture if moving from a furnished to an unfurnished property.
An ELF grant could also be claimed under this rule for applicants who are moving nearer to relatives/close friends who will provide support OR applicants moving nearer or into the house of a vulnerable person to provide support. The decision maker should try and check that the new care arrangement is meant to be permanent by talking informally the person who will be providing the care. If that is not possible they could seek advice from other interested parties such as the Social Services Department. The decision maker should have particular regard to the nature, extent and urgency of the need.
Ease exceptional pressures on people and their families
All families, especially those on low incomes, face pressures at various times so that in itself is not a reason to award an ELF grant. However, they may be awarded to ease exceptional pressures on a family, ie circumstances which put a family under greater pressure than might normally be associated with low income.
Examples of exceptional pressure could be:
- the breakdown of a relationship (especially where domestic violence is involved) - this is for when a relationship has recently ended, however, the decision maker should give consideration to what happened since the relationship broke down for example if the applicant had spent time in a refuge or other temporary accommodation until permanent accommodation could be found it could still be considered despite the fact the relationship had not recently ended. It will not normally be appropriate to make an ELF grant more than once for the breakdown of the same relationship
- the onset of, or deterioration in, a disability of a member of the family - this could include repair or replacement of items damaged by the behavioural problems within the family or where new or better items are needed since the deterioration occurred
- sudden domestic upheaval imposed by an unforeseen calamity such as a house fire, natural disaster such as flooding
Help people set up home in the community, as part of a planned resettlement programme, following an unsettled way of life
People who have been without a settled way of life may have been:
- using a night shelter
- staying in a hostel
- sleeping on the streets
- using an emergency winter shelter
- staying in temporary accommodation provided by the Home Office pending a decision on their application for asylum in this country
- using a combination of these
This list is not exhaustive.
Planned programmes of resettlement may be run by Local Authorities, voluntary organisations, housing associations and registered charities. Examples include:
- DETR, which uses powers under Section 180 of the Housing Act 1996 to pay grants to voluntary organisations and housing associations for the prevention and relief of homelessness
- The Housing Corporation which funds a Special Needs Management Allowance for special needs groups
- Department of Health (DH), which funds some hostels under the 'Homeless Mentally Ill Initiative'
- The Housing Corporation under Section 30 of the Jobseekers Act 1995, which authorises the awarding of grants to non-profit making registered charities or Local Authority's operating schemes that are similar to those of the former resettlement units
- The Home Office, which has the powers to fund voluntary bodies to provide temporary accommodation for asylum seekers, refugees or evacuees from countries outside the UK
- charitable and private sources
The decision maker should check that a programme of resettlement exists at the accommodation that the person is moving from and the person is on such a programme.
Help people with certain travel costs
This is specifically defined as:
- help with the cost of a Thurrock Council resident visiting a partner, parent or child that is staying in a hospital or a rehabilitation centre outside the Thurrock Council area on a long term basis. Long term is defined as 4 weeks or more. The partner, parent or child being visited must be a resident of the Thurrock Council area.
The amount awarded can account for the cost of both the applicant, their partner and any dependant children visiting the hospital or rehabilitation centre if the Decision Maker would deem it appropriate to do so. It will be for 2 return visits.
Help people who are unable to meet their immediate short term needs either in an emergency in relation to some expenses or as a consequence of a disaster
This is referred to as help with 'general living expenses'. Any need that would be expected to last more than 14 days is not 'short term'.
Examples of when this would apply include:
- an unexpected disaster. A disaster is an event of great or sudden misfortune or sudden calamitous event. Examples being flooding, gas explosion, chemical leak or fire.
- had an emergency which is defined as a situation which caused them to have a pressing need or unforeseen circumstance either of which requires immediate remedy or action, and the expense of that has left them with no funds to live on.
There is no provision within the scheme to assist people:
- in the situation where their money has been lost or stolen. The applicant must accept some personal responsibility for taking care with their monies
- affected by the Governments Welfare Reform Programme, unless the Decision Maker feels they meet an exception and fit the other eligibility criteria
- affected by delays with the Department for Work and Pensions processing benefit applications, unless a short term benefit advance has been applied for and refused and they meet the other eligibility criteria
The Decision Maker must give consideration to the resources the applicant still has available to them.