Logging A Returned Award Notice (Info)
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Once a claim has been awarded, an award notice is issued to the claimant or their appointee stating the details of the award.
Where the claim form was not signed (for example, from an internet claim or a paper claim with no signatures) the claimant will be asked to
- Check the award details
- Sign the notice as an acceptance that the details are correct
And
- Return the notice to the Tax Credit Office (TCO)
If you have access to Function LOG RETURNED AWARD NOTICE, you must check the notice when it is first returned to see if the award notice has insufficient details to enable you to log receipt of the notice. You must then check to see if the notice falls into one of the following categories
- Award notices where the payments have been suspended because the 2005 / 2006 award notice has not been signed and returned by the claimant
In order to determine whether the payments have been suspended because the 2005 / 2006 award notice has not been signed, you must use Function MAINTAIN HOUSEHOLD NOTES to see if the following message displays ‘TCMZ Unsigned 05/ 06 award – Payment Suspended’
- Award notices where the claim has been terminated because the award notice has not been signed and returned by the claimant
In order to determine if the claim has been terminated you must use Function VIEW APPLICATION to check the status of the latest claim version
Suspended claims
If the message 'TCMZ Unsigned 05 /06 award - Payment Suspended' displays and the award notice has been signed, you must
- Log the return of the award notice
And then
- Manually remove the suspension with the reason ‘Manual Payments’
Note: You must not remove the suspension unless you have logged a returned award notice as signed and checked that there is no ongoing compliance activity.
Terminated claims
If the claim has been terminated, you must check to see if the signed award notice is being dealt with within 30 days of the claim being terminated. To do this you must use Function VIEW AWARD and check the initial version of the claim for the reply by date that will be displayed. The reply by date is the date we treat the claim as being terminated. If the signed award
- Has been returned within 30 days of the claim being terminated, log the return of the award notice
- Has not been received within 30 days and does not show any good cause reason, invite a fresh claim
Note: If the claim has been terminated due to compliance activity you cannot reinstate the claim
If the returned award notice does not fall into the above category, you should check it and sort into one of the following categories
- Award notices which are signed and undisputed
- Award notices which are signed and the claimant disputes the details / decision
- Award notices which are unsigned and the claimant disputes the details / decision
- Award notices which are unsigned and undisputed
And
- Award notices that are signed or unsigned, but the claimant has provided a good cause reason
If, after sorting, you have sufficient information to record the return of the award notice and the notice has been signed you should use Function LOG RETURNED AWARD NOTICE and log the receipt of it on to the computer.
Note: If at any point the claimant states they have already signed or provided a signature declaration for the award notice, follow the guidance in Good Cause
Where the computer can not match the award notice you are logging to a current claim follow the guidance in Checking Unmatched Returned Award Notice.
If you receive an unsigned award notice and there is nothing written on the award notice, or there is no attachment that indicates the claimant disputes the details / decision. You must return it to the claimant asking them to sign the notice and return it to the TCO within a given period
Where there is only one signature on a joint claim and there is no explanation as to why the other claimant has not signed, treat this as an unsigned award notice and return it for signature.
In exceptional circumstances, when a notice is returned unsigned by one or more of the claimants and the claimant has given a good cause reason as to why it has not been signed, you can accept the unsigned notice. You must
- Log the notice as if had been signed
- Check to see if the payments have been suspended
And then
- Follow the guidance in Signature Strategy
You should use whatever information is available to you on the returned notice in order to trace, match and log its return. When you have tried all methods available to you but your attempts have failed and there are no contact details to return the notice, no further action can be carried out. You must discard the notice in confidential waste.
Notes:
- If the notice does not have a signature box, you must not log the barcode reference of that notice. You must establish the barcode reference of he initial notice that was sent to the claimant
- If you receive an unsigned notice where the claimant has indicated on it that they dispute the details, you must consider the reasons for the dispute. If the reason for the dispute is because of a change of circumstances or because the decision is incorrect, you must return the notice for the claimant to sign and follow the guidance in Changes. If the reason for dispute is because the claimant is appealing against the decision, you must not return the notice to the claimant. Instead you must log the notice as if it has been signed and follow the guidance in Applicant Notice Query
