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II
arid for relati ~el~short periods may he justified on the cm iteria used Ems aim
Juthorir), as iii uch as payisieuits that are lam gL and likely to comiti mime fon a
long tonic Most ext eptional hardship payments, howe’~er,ippeir to be
at the loss er cud of the spectrummmi ump to £20 per sseek
The analysis of estiismated anioumumts of uiinriey mc n tmmuig to iuidis idumal
~lanniamits over ti-ic dumr itmoim of aim exception al hardship payniiemst shoss ed
that iii sonic authorities clam misinits were recems~mng 1 serage ammmotmimts that
were suhstanmtmal, iii excess ofL~flVin 1 L}u inter of atmthoritn~s amid uiiore
than ,/~I ~ )t) in over 2~ anithormtmes
\Xlhat are local authoritie? views about their allocations for
exceptional hardship payments from central government~
CImipter 2 sho\s ed that while sonic of th loss en spending amjtlmoi itues
comnsrdered their budgets too high, the nsajormty thought ihiemim ahoumi right
Tins could he initerpreted as a somimewhat mmicoimsnsteiit set of responses
considering the evndersce that immost authorities cpemid only m summall fractiomi
of them budgets The umsost common e’splaimatuoli for tht. dommmmriant mess’
ss as that ams mnmcreast in applucatmoins \s as expected Thic vmew ns riot
ummremlrstmc smmmce expeumence tells most l—lousmmig Benefit nmiammagers that
demand for additioum ml pa~usients, from-i-i whatever source nnie’sorahly
iimcre mes as awareness oftheir availability spr emd~ The evidenmce of th
mmmcm eased spend in-i the ccc mmd year of the scheme flu—them suppom ts their
view
Apart from mncrcased demimamid there is another reasomi why expenditure us
likely to mmicreace each year This ~sas suggested by the fnumdmrmg fu omim
Chapter 5 that excepriommal liii dshmp paymmicrits temid to he awarded either
as teitiporarv nicasures or a~ongommmg pivimmeists to clamniants ss’hoce
c-xceptiouial han dship is expected to comtmniimr uimdefiiuitely It is poccihic
to foresee, therefore, a seen srio for fuittire trends mum exceptional hurdship
paynnc mit c xpeuiditure that rest. nmbles the p mttcrim of growth for ftme old
lnms’ahrdnrv B& netir (i t helen c. its repi icenmeist by I micapac ut’~ Bc. miefut a
policy chiisge umitemided to seimi the rise ins the niuimimbem of awards) For
Invalidity Bc. nefit, the steeply risinig cost ot assau ds s\a’, explained primicupally
by time growing umuuimber of /onn~,’ trnm recipienils ratliem thaim by aim mmmcremse
num the caseloid Smnumlan lv, one cain forest. e a Ilos’~oui aimcl ofT ex eptionial
hardship pa~imiemmts of clanmmiamits ssliose cArt umliistamiLc. 5 gis mug n use to
exceptiomimI hardship am c temniporarv but mt the saint tmrime aim umiexorible
rise mn-i die uiumuLiets of ‘peilimaumeilt’ ret ipmemnls 55 iiOsC cmrcuiiflstinces ire
umnlmkehv to chauige
The long termum picture in \iich a scemmjrio us a gu owmumg deil1armd fon
exceptional hardship pas mmmc mits mum cit. h a utlmorrtv ear ons year until a
pommit whcum expenditure approaches amid reaches time permimitted tot-il