CCM12260 - Opening and Working Enquiries: Formal notices - time to comply with the notice

As you will routinely allow claimants at least 40 days to comply with the notice, you should follow up any failures promptly, maintaining a reliable BF system to enable you to do so. You should always check to see whether the information has in fact been received in your office, but has not yet made its way to you. If you are satisfied that the claimant(s) has failed to comply with the notice, you should consider your next action, based on the particular circumstances of the case.

You may already have given the claimant(s) extra time to comply with the notice (see CCM5120 Example 2). If not, and you are aware of special circumstances which may have led to a delay (e.g. a local postal strike; a summer holiday period during which a local factory shuts down), you may want to allow a little more time before taking action. If so, you should make an appropriate entry on TCW to explain the reason for the extension.

If the claimant(s) contacts you to ask for more time to comply, and you consider it is reasonable to allow an extension, you should agree a revised time scale for the provision of the information. The new date should be well beyond the date specified in the original notice. You should write to the claimant(s) saying that you have agreed to allow further time for compliance with the S19(2)(a) notice dated [XX/YY/ZZ] and that you will not take any further action until the date has passed. How long you allow will depend on what information you are seeking and the claimant's reasons for needing more time.

If you do not consider it appropriate to give extra time, you should write to the claimant(s) explaining why you do not believe it is appropriate to allow extra time and that you will now be taking further action.