Terms & Conditions

[Anonymous]

I have received a Change of Circumstances form where the declaration has been signed by the claimant. Part of the declaration reads “I must tell the Council if any of the details on any letter you send me are incorrect.” However, the claimant has crossed through this statement, commenting that “Am unable to comply with this clause since I have neither the training nor the knowledge to be able to be sure of correctly identifying ‘incorrect details’ AND [the Council] is under a duty of care to write correct letters.” Can anyone advise of the legislative responsibility for a claimant to advise of any errors, and whether the application is currently defective as he has not agreed to this term in the declaration?

[Kevin D]

Interesting situation. I fully understand why the clmt has done what s/he has.

I don’t think there is much you can do – s/he has after all made an “honest” statement. HOWEVER, paradoxically, in the event of any subsequent overpayment, s/he has probably seriously weakened his own position by actually drawing attention to the issue at the outset (won’t matter anyway if there is no official error).

Personally, I’d process the claim, but send a covering letter with the normal notifications drawing attention to the claimant’s duties / responsibilities AND, further, pointing out that the clmt should check the notifs and if s/he doesn’t understand them, s/he should contact the Council. Draw particular attention to items of income and capital.

There are enough Commissioners decisions, where notifications have been at issue, to suggest that clmts will rarely be able to get away with a passive “I didn’t understand it” / “I couldn’t be bothered to read it”.

Regards

[Andy Thurman]

[quote:f057a9e325]Part of the declaration reads “I must tell the Council if any of the details on any letter you send me are incorrect.”
[/quote:f057a9e325]

I hate to say it, but your claimant is (at least partly) right! 😯 Perhaps the claimant would agree to “tell the council if any of the details of their income and household are incorrect” rather than “any” without qualification – clmt can’t be expected to know about rules re premiums/disregards/eligible rent etc. 😕

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