Correcting Child Signals History Start And End Dates (Info)

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This guidance tells you how to make a correction to child signals. For guidance on correcting other signal's history, follow the guidance in Correcting Signals History Start And End Dates

You will need to make a correction to a child signal history when

• A claimant tells you that they have provided us with incorrect start or end dates

• A claimant tells you that we have made a mistake when recording the start or end dates

Or

• You realise, whilst looking at a claim, that there is a mistake on the computer concerning the start or end dates held in history

The signals covered by this guidance are

• Responsibility

• In Childcare

• Connexions

• Disabled

• DLA (HCC)

• Full Time Education (FTE)

Note: A 3-month backdating restriction must not be applied as a result of correcting signal start or end dates. However, where backdating restrictions have previously been applied following a change of circumstances, any existing restriction must continue to be applied. A 3-month restriction will usually be denoted by the fact that the date in the Include From field is later than the date in the Start Date field of the signal

For more information on a 3-month restriction applied to a change of circumstances, follow the guidance in Effective Date Of A Change of Circumstances

Note: If you have established that the date in the Include From field is incorrect, follow the guidance in Correcting Change Of Circumstances Effective Date In Child Signals History. If you need to correct a Start or End Date that relates to a child signal you must follow this guidance first.

For example

This is an example of a correction to a date in the Start Date field and that also keeps a previous 3-month restriction to the effective date of the change of circumstances

A claim for tax credits is made from 06-04-03 and includes 1 child. The claim is subsequently awarded

On 01-12-03 you are informed that a further child (born 01-04-99) has joined the family from 01- 07-03. The start date of responsibility would therefore be 01-07-03, but the date in the Include From field would be restricted to 01-09-03 (3 months prior to 01-12-03)

If you are then informed on 06-01-04 that the child actually joined the family on 02-07-03, you must amend the date in the Responsibility Start Date field to 02-07-03, but the date in the Include From field would still be restricted to 01-09-03 in line with the original change.

Error message

If you get the following error message ‘End Date entered is earlier than the Include From Date. Please Check', you will need to establish if the date you have entered in the End Date field is correct.

If the date you have entered in the End Date field is correct, you will need to delete the period of history. Follow the guidance in Deleting Details That Should Not Be On The Computer

For example

Because the child responsibility end date of 01/01/05 is entered, this means that entitlement ended before the effective date. Therefore this period of history can be deleted

A message in Household notes must be entered to explain action taken and why

For example, child responsibility end date for xxxxxxxx notified as 01/01/05. This is before the 01/02/05 date in the Include From field, therefore, period of history deleted due to restrictions applied to the date in the Include From field