Signature Strategy (Info)

Every Working Tax Credit ( WTC) and Child Tax Credit ( CTC) award must be signed by the claimant.

The signature(s) can be obtained

• At the time of the claim

Or

• When an award has been made

In the case of a joint claim, both claimants must sign.

Signature(s) are not required when reporting a change of circumstances or when responding to an enquiry issued using Letters and Forms on Computer (LFCs).

If a person is illiterate you should accept an ‘X’ as a signature, providing a witness can be called upon to verify.

If you obtain further information to complete the claim either by telephone or in writing you need not change the signature field on the Summary Information screen in Function CAPTURE APPLICATION.

Claimants who do not sign the claim must sign the award. When the claimant is notified of the award, the award notice invites the claimant(s) who are required to sign it to do so. If the signed award notice is not returned 30 days after the award was processed, the award is terminated. A notification will be issued to the claimant when this happens.

After termination, the claimant has a further 30 days to sign and return the award notice. Where this is received within the time limit the award will be reinstated.

However, in some cases, claimants may have legitimate reasons for not signing their notice. For example, where some exceptional event – beyond their control has prevented them from signing.

If you consider that the claimant has good reason not to sign, you can accept this.

Examples of legitimate reasons for not signing are

• Claimants that are unable to sign their award notice because they are on active service abroad in the armed forces. For example, the Iraq War

• (This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)

Note: If a claimant is seriously ill, consider informing them to obtain an appointee in order to act on their behalf in the future with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Joint Claims

In a joint claim, one of the claimants must sign and state why the other claimant cannot sign the notice.

Single Claimant Claims

Select Function CAPTURE APPLICATION and on the Summary Information screen, check ‘Yes’ in the ‘All Signatures Present’ field to indicate that no signature is required and note your action in Application Notes.

Notes:

You must follow the guidance in How To Correctly Complete Application And Household Notes when you record the note

And also

Follow the guidance in Application Notes