Terms & Conditions

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I have been looking through a new proposal with regards to information requests on New Claims, please read the ‘snipet’ below and summary,

As the first written request we make for evidence and information to support a claim is, in effect, a reminder, assessors should now ensure the first request for information they make gives a time limit for providing the information that is a calendar month from the receipt date of the claim.

In essence when the claimant submits the claim form we are using the claim form rec’d date as the initial request and the clock starts ticking for the 1 calendar month before the claim is determined.

Please can people tell me if this is correct (I do not think we should do this), I always thought we had to communicate to the claimant to advise what we need to make the claim effective. (HB Reg 86 (1), CT 72 (1))

Thanking you in advance as always.

[damo]

Yes I’m sure you are correct. I guess the claim may be defective under reg 83 (7) (b) and you should ask them to supply the further information or evidence. reg 83 (8A) (b) (ii) allows the claimant a month or such longer time as you consider reasonable from the date of the request made under paragraph 7.

[Anonymous]

That’s why your performance looks so good then 😆

[Anonymous]

We used to decide all incomplete claims as defective on the day we received them, then gave the claimant a month to remedy the defect. Thankfully that practise didn’t last long… 😳

[Anonymous]

The procedure is not in place yet, so not affecting the figures at the moment……….

[Anonymous]

Back to the first post:

If the form asks for evidence which is not provided, then you are effectively asking the claimant to remedy a defect in the form. You have to allow at least one month from the date of your request – see reg 83(8) and (8A).

If you are asking for evidence that wasn’t specified on the form, you also have to allow at least one month from the date of your letter, but the option to treat the claim as defective no longer exists – you would have to make an outcome decision drawing inferences where necessary.

[Author]

Posts