“For the following calendar years, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, can you provide the following:-
1. The overall number of cases which you have assessed under the deliberate deprivation of asset rules;
2. How many of those assessments led to a recalculation of means tested benefits;
3. How many of the assessments in 2: above led to an appeal
4. How many of the appeals in 3: above led to an overturn of the original ruling
5. The value of means tested benefits adjusted as a result of deliberate deprivation of asset rules being applied
6. Whether any (and if so, how many) rulings led to removal of or a reduction in local authority funded long-term care / social care.”
We hold this information but do not centrally record the number and details of deprivation of asset cases, as this is not the sort of data required for business purposes.
The requested information would most probably be held within individual clients’ files. The current number of live cases of just residential placements is over 3,500 and we estimate that it would take approximately 15 minutes per case to locate, retrieve and extract the requested information, a total of approximately 875 hours, well in excess of the 18 hours public authorities are required to spend responding to Freedom of information requests under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ‘ ‘Cost of Compliance’.
Under the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 public authorities are not obliged to comply with requests which exceed the cost limit of £450 (equating to 18 hours of time).
A related request with a refined scope, bearing in mind the above, would be welcome.