Independent Review Service

2.Main Content

Independent Review Service

This page contains information about the Independent Review Service, including:
What it does
What complaints are eligible?
Cost
Timescale
Procedure
Outcomes

What it does
The Independent Review Service (IRS) is part tribunal, part ombudsman. It provides an independent review of discretionary Social Fund decisions, which are usually made in Jobcentre Plus offices. It covers England, Wales and Scotland. The IRS is funded by the Department for Work and Pensions but operates independently.

For information on complaints about benefits, see Benefits.
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What complaints are eligible?
The Social Fund has two parts:

The regulated scheme, which covers funeral, maternity and winter fuel expenses.
The discretionary scheme, which includes community care grants, budgeting loans and crisis loans.

Community care grants are given to help vulnerable people on specified benefits live independently. They are grants, not loans, so they don’t have to be repaid. Budgeting loans are a form of interest-free credit for people on certain benefits to help with buying one-off items of furniture. Crisis loans are available to anyone, but only in emergencies or disaster situations.

Decisions about whether to give you one of these Social Fund grants or loans are made by Jobcentre Plus officers. If you are not happy with their decision, there is an internal review process. If things are not resolved after the internal review, you can complain to the IRS.

You can’t take complaints about the regulated scheme to the IRS.
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Cost
Access to the IRS is free for complainants.
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Timescale
The IRS can work very quickly in an emergency – 90% of complaints about refusal of crisis loans are dealt with in 24 hours; 99.5% of routine complaints are resolved within twelve days.
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Procedure
Since April 2006, you can apply to the IRS direct if you have a complaint, and are not happy with the internal review. You can contact them by freephone, email or letter – the details are on the IRS website. There is a link at the bottom of this page.

Like an ombudsman, the IRS has the power to investigate and to consider how a decision was made. Unlike an ombudsman, the IRS also has the power to consider the merits of the original decision. If the IRS inspector thinks the decision was wrong, he or she can require the Jobcentre Plus office to reconsider its decision, or even substitute its own decision.
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Outcomes
Last year, around half of the decisions that were reviewed were changed by the IRS.

IRS inspectors changed 53.8% of community care grant decisions, and made 7,831 awards with an average payment of £382
IRS inspectors changed 58% of crisis loan decisions and made 2,100 awards, with an average payment of £192
IRS inspectors changed 8.3% of budgeting loan decisions, and made 114 awards, with an average payment of £260

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Updated July 2008