Discretionary Assistance Fund: requesting a review

Requesting a review to your Discretionary Assistance Fund application

You can ask for your application to be reviewed if you feel 1 of the following reasons applies to your case:

• no award given: the application was unsuccessful due to the criteria not being met
• no award given: the application was unsuccessful but further information or change to circumstances means
• you feel the decision could be changed You think that not enough grant has been awarded to meet your needs
• Item awarded was not what you expected: e.g. white goods or a gift card, when cash was expected

You can be assisted when requesting an Internal Review of your decision by:

• a member of the Discretionary Assistance Fund Partner Network
• you may nominate another 3rd party to act on your behalf, e.g. your support worker

Reviewing application decisions is a 2 stage process

1. Internal Review by Northgate Public Services: at this review, a Northgate member of staff will review your case and may contact you for additional information which may support your application.
2. An external review by Family Fund Trust: at this review a Family Fund Trust member of staff will review your case and may contact you for additional information which may support your application. We ask that any additional information requested is returned promptly.

You can request an Internal Review within 20 days of receiving your original decision via: 

• email to daf.review@necsws.com
• in writing to: Discretionary Assistance Fund, PO Box 2377, Wrexham, LL11 OLG
• you can also request a review of an Emergency Assistance Payment decision over the telephone on 0800 859 5924 due to the urgent nature of the application

Emergency Assistance Payments

You will be informed of the review outcome decision within 24 hours (Mon – Fri) by your preferred method of communication, e.g. in writing, by email or postal address, or telephone.

Individual Assistance Payments

You will be informed of the review outcome decision within 15 working days of the review request. This will be in writing, via an email or postal address, dependent on your preferred method of communication.

If after your 1st stage review you are still unhappy with your decision then you can apply for a 2nd Stage Review by Family Fund Team via the methods outlined previously. Your complete case will be reviewed and any additional information gathered to ensure a transparent and open review is followed within the same timescales as a 1st stage review.