As Corporate Appointee we completed an Income Support review claim form in August 06 as the person had moved to a different care home and came under a new Jobcentreplus (JCP) office.

Today, we received another Income Support review claim form from the same JCP seeking yet another IS review claim form. Given the man has learning difficulties and there is no other change in circumstances this seems unnecessarily bureaucratic.

Having received advice previously below about IS review forms I intend to write stating that review form completed in August 06, and he still has learning difficulties. But is there any way that IS can refuse to pay benefit if this second review form is not completed?

PREVIOUS REPLY ABOUT REVIEW FORMS

Where there is a relevant change of circumstances the only info’ that the Department needs is that which it does not have. Therefore a claimant is not obliged to supply the same info’ again unless the Department has ‘mislaid’ it.

It is the responsibility of the Department to pass relevant info’ from office to office dealing with the same claim/award for the same benefit. It is not for the claimant to continue to supply info’ already held just to ease the administrative burden on the Department.

Once the Department have the extra info’ then it is a straightforward matter for a decision maker to sit down and supersede the existing award and re-adjust it accordingly. Only where an award has come to an end would a fresh claim for benefit be necessary.

Have a look at regs 17 and 18 of the Decision making and Appeals Regs which appear to give the SoS the right to request information to people who, inter alia, are getting IS on the basis of incapacity for work, in order to decide whether to revise or supersede the decision awarding benefit, and to cease payemnt if the info is not forthcoming. It appears to be sufficient to say that the info requested does not exist, but in the case of an A2 how do you do that? And I have no idea how you tell them not to be so silly. I once met a blind man who gets lower rate mobility DLA, and has no optic nerves so nothing can ever make him see short of futuristic hi-tech stuff, and the DCS still sends him periodic review forms. You wonder if they do it to people with no legs on HRM.

Brigid