I have a client who wishes to make a claim for incapacity benefit but she has been advised that the claim will only be accepted if she provides photographic ID. She currently receives income support and she does not have a driving licence or passport.

I think at one point she was claiming as her sister, it may have been a possible fraud case. She has no family support in the area and she does have a learning disability of some sort.

I feel she would be entitled to incapacity due to her health problems but I just don't know what to do if she has no photographic ID.

Can anyone help please?

how about some other form of id? in my area we have a 'passport to leisure' scheme, reduced costs for leisure facilities. does she have a similar scheme in her area?

there's also the id that young adults use to prove theyre 18 or over for going in pubs. both of these have photos on the card, in my area anyway

get her GP to sign a passport photo as proof of her likeness?

Wed 09-Jul-08 10:38 PM by shawn

(Edited to shorten link)

There is no requirement that she provides photographic ID, she only needs to provide proof of her identity.

There is guidance about the forms of ID normally accepted on the DWP website at:

jobcentreplus.gov.uk/jcp ... Proofofidentity/index.html and dwp.gov.uk/lifeevent/benefits/ni_number.asp

What constitutes evidence can vary depending upon the circumstances of particular cases. If her claim history means that a decision maker could reasonably have some doubt about whether she is her sister or vice-versa then evidence from yourself (especially if your Council are her landlords) or other third parties, like her GP, might help resolve the problem.

However it seems to me that past errors could well be leading somone to put unreasonable barriers in the way of her making a claim.

Going off at a tangent a bit, on what basis is she recieving IS now? If its on sickness grounds (due to her learning difficulty) there'd be no point in claiming IB anyway. On the original subject, if she's on IS already on other grounds it's hard to see why they're insisting on ID in order for her to make a sickness-based claim (which presumably will be for credits and eventual DP only). Plus, her GP will need to issue med certs which seems pretty convincing evidence that she's who she says she is and not her sister.