Terms & Conditions

[Alistair A]

Scenario – Claimant is in receipt of benefit. Her partner moves in and they complete an application form with him (the new occupant) as the claimant.
Do you: –

1) End the claim in payment and begin another claim with Mr as the claimant – as it is their choice as to who the claimant is, or
2) Treat the new claim as a change in circumstances, or
3) Add Mr to the original claim and write to him refusing his claim.

I think the first isn’t an option, as we have no grounds for ending a claim. I don’t think the second is good enough as we have a new application and have to make a decision. I have a problem with the third option, as I think I may be missing something, yes add Mr as a partner, but what grounds are there for refusing a claim.

Basically I have talked myself into a corner and I appear to have run out of choices so I was wondering what you did.

Thanks.

[emmadring]

I know it’s a silly question but have you tried phoning/writing to the couple to determine whether they actually want the claim to be ended and restarted in the other partner’s name? If they do then you can just advise them to put it in writining and it will be fine. In my experience people often submit a whole new claim when really they just need to notify of a change of circs, and they may have not realised the significance of reversing their positions on the ofrm! It’s definitely worth finding out whether they did it intentionally or not, and if so why.

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