CCM4620 - Examinations: Pre-award penalty cases: Opening letter where there may be a penalty
Your first step is to decide whether a penalty might be appropriate, see CCM4310
- if a penalty might be appropriate – you will continue as shown below
- if a penalty is not appropriate – see CCM4315
Your first contact with the claimant(s) to open the examination
must always be in writing. For cases where there may be a penalty
you must use the standard letter template TCC77.
The letter formally opens your examination and tells the
claimant what aspect of their claim you are checking and what
information you need. It then tells them they will not receive any
payments until they provide the information. It also tells them we
will be charging a penalty and asks them to tell us anything they
want us to take into account.
You must enclose a copy of WTC/FS2 which explains the
examination process to the claimant and also enclose a copy of the
WTC7 which tells them more about penalties.
Where there is a joint claim, even if the discrepancy only
relates to one of the claimants, you need to send separate copies
of the letter and WTC/FS2 and WTC7 to both claimants.
You should always state the date by which the claimant
should get back to you and allow at least 30 days. For example, if
you wrote on 06/08/08, you would specify 05/09/08 for a response.
If you are aware that postal delays are likely, for example there
is a strike or it is close to Christmas, allow a few extra days.
Also allow a longer time if you know for example the claimant is
abroad or incapacitated and it means they will not be able to reply
within 30 days.
Your next action will depend on any response to the opening
letter. If the claimant:
If the claimant phones you to discuss your letter make full notes of everything they say and keep a record in your papers. If the claimant has fully answered your queries over the phone they do not need to reply in writing. You can discuss any aspects of the claim that are of concern but if the claimant wants to discuss the penalty you will need to refer the call to a Band O. A Band O, having reminded the claimant of the HRA position, can enquire as to the reason for the error.
