Secondary Hardship TCO Action On Receipt Of DMB Decision (AG)

To deal with a secondary hardship request, which has been referred to and investigated by Debt Management and Banking (DMB), consider steps 1 - 7 below. The guide is presented as follows

Initial action	Step 1
Determine whether remission has been completed	Step 2
Manually / clerically adjust the payments	Steps 3 - 4
Prepare and issue letter	Step 5
Update household notes	Step 6
Send papers to storage	Step 7

Initial action

Link the ‘Hardship Claim – DMB Decision Requested’ referral form received from DMB with the case papers from the BF run

Check the referral form for the recommended course of action from DMB

If, on the referral form hardship has been established

Complete the TCO - Adjust in year payment proforma at part 2, section 9

If DMB advise that the claimant’s overpayment will be remitted, go to step 2

If DMB advise that the claimant’s payments will be manually adjusted, go to step 3

If, on the referral form hardship has not been established

Complete the TCO – Adjust in year proforma at part 2, section 9

Then

Go to step 5

Determine whether remission has been completed

Use Function VIEW HOUSEHOLD NOTES

Enter the claimant’s NINO in the Key Entry Data screen

Select the All checkbox

Click on the [OK] button. You will be taken to the View Household Notes screen

Check for a household note that confirms that DMB has taken action to remit the overpayment

If there is a message from DMB, go to step 7

If there is no message from DMB and the original referral to DMB was from a Contact Centre, Enquiry Centre or TCO, contact DMB (This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000). Find out if DMB have completed their action to remit the overpayment

Note: You can establish who the original referral was from by checking the original paperwork or viewing the notes in Function HOUSEHOLD NOTES

If the action has been completed, go to step 6

If the action has not yet been completed, BF the case papers for five working days, then check again with DMB. When it is confirmed that DMB have completed their action, go to step 6

If there is no message from DMB and the original referral to DMB was from Directors Complaints Team (DCT) or MP Hotline, contact DMB (This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000) by email to establish if DMB have completed their action

Note: When you have sent the e-mail, you must delete the email from all your e-mail folders, including the deleted items folder. This is to ensure that HMRC complies with the Data Protection Act requirements

If the action has been completed, go to step 6

If the action has not yet been completed, BF the case papers for five working days, then check again with DMB. When it is confirmed that DMB have completed their action, go to step 6

Manually / clerically adjust the payments

Check part 1, section 5 of the TCO – Adjust In Year Proforma to establish the type of adjustment If

The case is cross year recovery (CYR) only follow the guidance in Clerical Top Up After Referral Received Back From DMBS

The case is in year adjustment (IYA), go to step 4

Use Function ADJUST IN YEAR PAYMENTS to apply the percentage of adjustment DMB have stated is appropriate on the ‘Hardship Claim – DMB Decision Requested Referral form

Select ‘File’ from the toolbar menu

Select ‘Next’ from the options available

Select ‘Household’ from the toolbar menu

Select ‘Adjust in year payments’ from the options available

Then

Enter the percentage of the adjustment in the % of Remaining Entitlement Authorised for Payment field

For example, if the percentage to be applied is 25%, enter 75 in the % of Remaining Entitlement Authorised for Payment field

If the date of the referral from DMB is

More than 5 working days before today’s date, follow the guidance in Manually Backdating Payment Adjustments - TCO Only

Less than 5 working days before today’s date

Click on the [Display Results] button

Then

Click on the [OK] button. When the following message displays

‘As a result of this processing any overpayment recovery will take longer. Do you wish to proceed?’

Click on the [Yes] button

Complete the TCO - Adjust In Year Payments proforma at part 2, section 16

Then

Go to step 5

Prepare and issue letter

5	If hardship was Not established Complete the proforma at part 2, sections 1 0 and 1 1 Prepare and issue letter TC873 Then Go to step 6 Established and payments were manually adjusted Prepare and issue letter TC872 Then Go to step 6

Update Household Notes

Use Function MAINTAIN HOUSEHOLD NOTES, and select the ‘Payments’ category to record the action you have taken

If hardship was not established enter the following

’TCMZ Secondary Hardship refused by DMB, letter TC873 Issued DD/MM/YYYY’

If hardship was established and remission was made by DMB enter the following

’TCMZ Secondary Hardship established, remission made by DMB’

If hardship was established and payments were manually adjusted enter the following

’TCMZ Secondary Hardship established, adjust in year Payment % set to (%amount) letter TC872 Issued DD/MM/YYYY’

If hardship was established, but the claimant did not want payments adjusting, enter the following

’TCMZ Secondary Hardship established, <insert name of claimant> declines payment adjustment’

Note: If DMB have already entered the above notes, do not duplicate the information

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 Maintain Household Notes

Then

Go to step 7

Send papers to storage

7	Send the papers to storage. Follow the guidance in Preparing And Sending Documents For Storage

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