Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) scheme, my department may make an Additional Needs Payment (ANP) to help meet expenses that an eligible person cannot pay from their weekly income, personal and/or household resources.
ANPs are administered by Community Welfare Officers (CWOs) in the Community Welfare Service (CWS), considering the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case. All applications are considered on a case-by-case basis based on the need presenting. This entails an assessment, as opposed to a specific means test, of an applicant’s weekly household income, their savings and investments, their outgoings and the type of assistance needed. The assessment will also include any income that their spouse, civil partner, or cohabitant has.
The CWS is committed to providing a quality service, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.
Pre-Pay energy users have the facility to track power usage and to keep a close eye on day to day spending, which assists with early engagement with support services including the Community Welfare Service. Energy providers ensure that running out of credit doesn’t automatically mean running out of power and customers do not lose supply over weekends, or bank holidays.
There are currently no delays in the processing of ANP claims and all claims received are made ready for decision as quickly as possible and returned to the local based CWO within a short time for decision. Completed ANP applications are usually finalised within 10 days and there is less than 10 days’ work on hand currently.
Where the required claim application forms and documentation are supplied, claims are sent to local CWOs on the same day. Any claims outside the normal administration time are generally due to additional information or documentation being requested from the person to support their claim.
Where a person has an urgent or immediate need, they can present to their local office in-person to discuss their claim directly with a CWO. Where a person has applied through alternative methods, every effort is made to identify urgent claims during administrative processing and regardless of whether they have provided all the required documentation, these claims are referred immediately to a CWO, and every effort is made to ensure that the claim is processed on the same day.
I trust this clarifies the matter.
