SPM60210 - Disputes, Decisions, Reviews and Appeals - The Dispute

Initial contact point by employee

The first contact from an employee whose employer fails to pay them a statutory payment will probably be either:

• through their local DWP/SSA office - to claim a state benefit, in which case a benefit involved case will be raised and sent to the Statutory Payments Disputes Team (SPDT), see SPM60110, or
• to an HMRC Helpline or Contact Centre. Straightforward queries on statutory payments should be dealt with at the initial point of contact. If possible the query should be cleared by explaining the conditions for the statutory payment.

If there is a dispute between the employer and employee which cannot be cleared by a simple explanation of the qualifying conditions, the case, together with all available details, must be referred immediately to the SP Disputes Team.

Error found during a review

If an error is found during a review, the ECO or Inspector should try to resolve it by reference to ECH7000 or, if necessary, by referring it to their ECTM. They should deal with any general Statutory Payment Scheme queries using the relevant paragraphs in the SPM. If it is not possible to resolve any queries and the employer still disputes their liability, the case should then be referred to the SPDT, see SPM60110.