The flexibility of the Community Care Grant is one of its advantages for those in need, but by its very nature is difficult for Jobcentre Plus employees to keep track of.
The National Audit Office, in its report, recognises it has an important role in helping vulnerable people to establish themselves in the community and in easing exceptional pressure on families.
"The scheme is deliberately designed to be flexible so that it can provide help in good time to those who need it but the scheme as currently designed does not deliver value for money, says the NAO report."
Under the £141 million scheme, vulnerable people can claim for money to pay for essential household items, such as a cooker or bed, but it means Jobcentre Plus employees have to prioritise each request received, and the agency cannot be sure that those who apply were in most need.
Inequities in the budgets set for district offices mean that some high priority claims have been refused because of the limited funds available locally.
In addition, the large volume of claims that are never likely to receive funding have to be assessed under the same process, thereby adding considerably to the administrative burden, the report finds.
Jobcentre Plus employees handle cases with sensitivity, despite having to process a large volume of applications, and, rightly, exclude non-essential items.
Another problem is fraud. The NAO discovered that Jobcentre Plus does not know the extent of fraud as there are no checks on how the money is spent.
The NAO recommends "introducing a centralised contract to supply items directly could improve the control over the scheme and achieve economies of scale of at least £14 million a year."
In its defence, Jobcentre Plus says it is in the nature of a discretionary scheme that there will be variations in the way in which judgments will be exercised and to operate the scheme in a more rigid, uniform way would fail to meet the needs of the vulnerable people it is designed to assist.
