TCM0066080 - Claims - capture (L-P): Lone Parent Obligation - new claims
Checklist
Before you follow this guidance make sure
- you have the correct user roles to follow this guidance.
Background
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Lone Parent Obligation (LPO) project means that lone parents will move from Income Support (IS) to income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA(IB)) or income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA(IR)). Responsibility for the financial support for their children will be transferred to Child Tax Credit (CTC) by the end of 2011.
New functionality was introduced on 06/04/2010 to allow a customer’s CTC claim to be set up in advance of their IS ceasing.
DWP will invite customers to an interview to change their benefit and complete a tax credits claim form. If they
- sign the claim form, the claim will be treated as voluntary
- don’t attend the interview or don’t wish to claim tax credits, the claim form will be completed by DWP and treated as deemed.
Guidance
Note: When sending customer, staff or process data to another individual or team, make sure you follow the latest data security guidelines or contact the Data Guardian or Data Security Team for advice.
Note: From 6 April 2017, customers will only get the Family Element of Child Tax Credit where they are responsible for a child or children born before that date.
Note: The individual child element of Child Tax Credit will no longer be awarded for third and subsequent children or qualifying young persons in a household, born on or after 6 April 2017, unless it meets the exception criteria.
Note: If you are dealing with a claim where the customer states they are claiming for a child/young person who is an exception contact the Exception Team(This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000) . (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)
Step 1
If you are dealing with a new LPO claim, go to Step 2.
If you are dealing with a returned written enquiry to the customer on an LPO claim, go to Step 6.
If Compliance have emailed you to state they have dealt with your referral, go to Step 6.
If you have received a reply to a ‘Blocking check stencil’, go to Step 6.
If you wrote to the customer for information about the LPO claim and the BF date has expired, go to Step 9.
If you are checking if the claim is processed and a decision made on the LPO case, go to Step 7.
If the 48-hour BF period to check if a payment schedule has been set up has expired, go to Step 10.
Step 2
Check if the LPO referral is complete and the minimum data set is on the claim form
- make a note of the information you have checked. For hoe to do this, TCM1000277
Note: The minimum data needed to register a claim form is surname and NINO or surname and date of birth.
If the LPO referral is complete and the minimum data set is on the claim form, go to Step 4.
If the LPO referral isn’t complete or the minimum data set isn’t on the claim form, go to Step 3.
Step 3
Contact the DWP office who issued the LPO referral to obtain the missing information.
If you obtain the missing information, go to Step 4.
If you can’t obtain the missing information, go to Step 11.
Step 4
Check the LPO referral to establish the received and effective dates of the claim
Note: If the claim is deemed, the received date will be today’s date and the effective date will be the date IS ends plus one day.
Note: If the claim is voluntary, the received date is the date of the DWP interview and the effective date will be the date IS ends plus one day.
- make a note of the received and effective dates
- go to Step 5.
Step 5
Determine if the effective date is more than 12 weeks from the received date
If the effective date is more than 12 weeks from the received date, go to Step 11.
If the received date is in the current year (CY) and the effective date is in CY+1, go to Step 11.
If the effective date is less than 12 weeks from the received date, go to Step 6.
Step 6
Capture the claim and / or new details on the tax credits computer. Follow the guidance in Manual capture help card
Note: You have already determined the received and effective dates of the claim.
Note: If you subsequently discover on a post award claim that you have entered an incorrect effective date, this can only be corrected if the correct date is an earlier date.
Note: Always select ‘Process’ on the ‘Summary Information’ screen after capturing the available details.
Note: Only send casepapers to storage when the claim is in payment.
- update Application Notes with the message QL01 from TCM0170020. For how to do this, use TCM1000028
- wait 3 to 24 hours to ensure the claim is processed
- take no further action until the claim is processed.
Step 7
Check the tax credits computer to
- confirm the status of the claim and therefore whether or not a decision has been made
and, if necessary - check what is preventing a decision being made on the newly-captured LPO claim. For how to do this, use TCM1000278
If the claims status is ‘Award issued’, go to Step 10.
If the claims status is anything else, go to Step 8.
Step 8
If the claims status is ‘Awaiting Award’ or ‘Partially Captured’ because there is missing information or the claim is subject to a verification failure, go to Step 9.
If the claims status is ‘Awaiting Award’ because there is a Compliance check
- complete the claim details on the Compliance spreadsheet
- BF the case for 14 days
- take no further action.
If the claims status is ‘Awaiting Award’ because there is a ‘Blocking Message’ in the ‘Application Notes’ field
- complete the electronic ‘Blocking check stencil’ held by your manager
- (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)
- BF the case for 14 days
- take no further action.
Step 9
Note: You will need to obtain any missing information and deal with any verification failures that have been created.
Obtain the missing information and/or process the verification failure. To do this
- follow the guidance in TCM0094080 to contact the customer by phone and obtain the missing information
and/or - follow the relevant guidance in TCM0078000 to process the verification failure.
If you are able to process the verification failure, go to Step 10.
If there is no verification failure and you have been able to obtain all of the missing information over the telephone, go back to Step 6.
If there is no verification failure and you have been unable to obtain any of the missing information over the telephone
- write to the customer for the missing information
- BF the case for 14 days
- take no further action.
If there is no verification failure and you have been able to obtain some but not all of the missing information over the telephone
- write to the customer for the missing information
- BF the case for 14 days
- take no further action.
Step 10
Check the tax credits computer to check if a payment schedule has been set up so that the award can be paid. For how to do this, use TCM1000074.
If a payment schedule has been set up
- return any of the customers personal documents to them
- update Household Notes with the message QL01 from TCM0170020. For how to do this, use TCM1000001
- put any correspondence to be retained inside the folded claim form
- put the folded claim form in a clear wallet
- send the wallet to storage. Follow the guidance in TCM0074140
- take no further action.
If a payment schedule hasn’t been set up and the case hasn’t already been put in BF for 48 hours
- update Household Notes with the message QL01 from TCM0170020. For how to do this, use TCM1000001
- BF the case for 48 hours
- save the case papers in the BF run
- take no further action.
If a payment schedule hasn’t been set up and the case has already been put in BF for 48 hours
- refer the case to your Technical Advice Line Liaison Officer (TALLO) for them to contact the Technical Advice Line (TAL)
- return any of the customers personal documents to them
- put any correspondence to be retained inside the folded claim form
- put the folded claim form in a clear wallet
- send the wallet to storage. Follow the guidance in TCM0074140
- take no further action.
Step 11
Return the LPO referral to DWP.