I have a client who is 64 years old.She needs to visit her elderly and sick mother in Ghana. Can she apply for travelling costs in this instance? Would they be reasonable?

I think you may find that you could not get a social fund loan/grant for any need(s) that arises outside the UK

I do not see why you could not get a budgetting loan. I thought that all you need do to get one is state wich of the categories you need the money for - in this case it would be travelling expenses. Even if this category did not exist then the applicant could just tick a different box on the form. for ex furniture and household equipment(Iam not sure about the ethics of us advising this though).

I do not think the dwp check or are even bothered what you actually spend the money on. They will give you the loan as long as you satisfy the normal qualifying conditions.

As an adviser I don't think its good practice to assist a claimant to attempt to defraud the DWP

It may not be a bad idea to contact one of several charities who could offer assistance.

Of course we should not help clients defraud the DWP - this goes without saying. But first, in this case I cannot see why a budgetting loan is not a possibilty as travelling costs are covered by the BL scheme. Of course there maybe other considerations the DWP may refuse a loan on.

Second, on the point I brought up about the ethics which was a general point. This is an area where there is no clear fraud as there is no loss to the DWP on a loan and the DWP are not required to enquire into whether the person actually needs the money for what they claim they need it for, and do not check how it has been spent. I know some clients use the BL system to get some extra money at Xmas. The DWP know this and are not concerned about it as they get the money back.

Of course if a client can get money from elsewhere (eg charities) then fine. But are we being unethical and getting into helping a client commit fraud if we suggest a BL rather than credit from the private sector when they may need it for a category not covered by the BL rules? I do not think so. I accept it is a bit of a grey area but fraud is too strong a word here.