Back in January 2008 Nevip quoted the DWP Decision Maker's Guide on advance claims, which I printed off as I thought it might come in useful.

Well, I advised a young person I work with to make an advance claim for IS due to pregnancy. She phoned the claim line this afternoon & told them she wanted to make a claim for IS from 23.10.09, 11 weeks before expected date of confinement. She was told she could not do this. I then spoke to them and quoted the Guide but was told it did not apply to IS.

I told them I thought they were wrong and said the only part that referred to IS was the following:

"The advance award provisions do not apply to IS and JSA(IB) claimant from abroad". I thought this means it does not apply to claimant from abroad claiming IS or JSA(IB). They said it means the provisions do not apply to any IS claimant and person from abroad claiming JSA(IB).

Can someone advise me which interpretation is correct. Thanks.

They are talking nonsense. Regulation 13 of the Claims and Payments Regulations, which allows for advance calims for most benefits, says in two separate sub paras that this does not apply to a claim to income support from a person from abroad as defined in Reg 21AA of the IS regs OR to a claim to jobseeker's allwoance made by a person from abroad as defined in reg 85A of the JSA regs.

The real complication is possibly that there are deeming provisions in reg 11 which mean that if a person has claimed maternity allowance and doesn't qualify, the claim can be treated as a claim for incapacity benefit The advance claim rules do not apply to maternity benefit and do not apply to claims covered by regulation 11. I don't know if this is confusing them as your client is not trying to claim maternity benefit or incapacity benefit.

Ariadne,
Thanks for your quick reply. I was pretty sure they were wrong but wanted to get confirmation. I will get the young person to ring them on Monday and I will then quote the regs at them and insist they send out a claim form.

Thanks again for your help.

Hi re:above
Check this out may help:
' If you do not qualify for IS from the date of your claim but will do so within the next 3m , you can be awarded IS from the first date on which you qualify . - Reg13(1) and (9) SS (C&P) Regs. This gives DWPtime to ensure you receive benefitas soon as you are entitled'

It took me some argument with the local JCP in one of my cases but were able to do it.

Hope all of the above to help you.

Good Luck
Antonina