ABSTRACT
This chapter explores trends in the payment and recovery of SF loans between 1988/89 and 2008/09. It is divided into three sections. The first section examines the structure of the SF. While the focus is upon loans, this section also includes some consideration of the grants that were carried over into the SF, maternity and funeral expenses and cold weather payments that, initially at least, made up the regulated part of the SF, and CCGs that do not, as their name suggests, have to be repaid. The second section focuses upon BLs. It examines the main changes that have occurred in the legislation and regulation governing the payment of BLs between 1988/89 and 2008/09, and the trends in the payment, refusal and recovery of BLs. The third section focuses upon CLs, examining the trends in the number, costs and size of CL payments, and the reasons applicants are denied such payments.
