Later determination supersedes earlier
47.Section 27 states that the assistance an individual is to receive in respect of any period, or as a result of any event, is established by the latest determination of entitlement. Therefore if a determination is made under section 37 by the Scottish Ministers, and the person exercises the right under section 41 to request a re-determination, the re-determination will supersede the original one.
48.A further example of where a later determination may supersede an earlier one is where a determination has been made that an individual is entitled to a particular type of assistance on an ongoing basis for, say, the next 6 months (see discussion of ongoing entitlement above). Three months after that determination is made, the individual’s circumstances change prompting a new determination of the individual’s entitlement to be made. That new determination will replace the original one, with the result that the original determination will not entitle the individual to any assistance for the 3 months it would otherwise have had left to run. The individual may, however, be entitled to assistance for those 3 months under the new determination depending on how the change in circumstances has affected the individual’s eligibility for the type of assistance in question.
49.Section 27 only causes a later determination to supersede an earlier one to the extent that they overlap. A later determination of entitlement to funeral expense assistance will therefore not affect an earlier determination of entitlement to funeral expense assistance in relation to a different funeral. The two determinations concern different events. Similarly, a later determination of entitlement to disability assistance for September to December will not affect entitlement to disability assistance under an earlier determination for June to August of the same year. The two determinations relate to different periods.