Tele-claiming in Jobcentre Plus
The DWP has been changing the way it expects benefit claims in Jobcentre Plus areas to be initiated. But information is hard to come by: there have been no detailed consultations, no detailed announcements, and no rule changes. Simon Osborne describes what we have been able to find out.

The changes in a nutshell
The changes in detail
Tele-claiming and the law
Tele-claiming and the date of claim
Problems with tele-claiming

The changes in a nutshell
The essence of the change is that, in Jobcentre Plus offices, most benefit claims normally need to be started via a telephone call to a 'contact centre'. Depending on the benefit being claimed, this is followed by the issue of a claim form, or a follow-up call from the Department to take further details, resulting in the completion by the Department of an electronic claim. It means that claimants are discouraged from initiating the claim by sending in a claim form. The other feature of the change is that the 'contact centre' arranges for the initial work-focused interview that will usually be a feature of new benefit claims made in Jobcentre Plus areas. No legal changes have been made: although the changes are not in themselves unlawful, equally there is no law which says claims can no longer be initiated by sending in a claim form.

The changes in detail
The process of claiming by telephone ('tele-claiming') is being introduced in Jobcentre Plus districts nationwide. It is not a pilot scheme: it is being introduced into Jobcentre Plus offices everywhere. Tele-claiming is a feature of Jobcentre Plus: where the local office is not yet working as a Jobcentre Plus office (i.e., is a Jobcentre or social security office), or where the benefit is not administered by Jobcentre Plus (e.g., child benefit, disability living allowance), tele-claiming will not apply.

The DWP had been running two versions of the procedures, one called 'Vantive', the other called the 'Customer Management System' (CMS). The main difference between the two is that the Vantive system involves just one initial call, following which claim forms were despatched, whereas CMS involves a follow-up call and the completion of 'written statement' instead of a claim form for certain benefits. CMS is now the favoured version (Vantive offices are being converted to CMS offices), and is what is described in this article.

All this means that exactly how claimants go about initiating their claim depends not only on the benefit that they are claiming, but where they live.

The benefits involved are most – but not all – of the Jobcentre Plus administered benefits – i.e., to:

• income support (IS);
• jobseeker's allowance (JSA);
  
• incapacity benefit (IB);
  
• bereavement benefits;
  
• carer's allowance;
  
• industrial injuries benefits.

Tele-claiming is not being applied to those aged 60 or over: they should be able to contact the local Jobcentre Plus office for a claim form, or where possible download one from the website, as usual. Tele-claiming also does not apply to maternity allowance, because claimants need to send in their MATB1 and proof of earnings, so claim forms still need to be used to start the claim. It seems that the tele-claiming procedures are not applied to social fund claims. (However, separate from the tele-claiming procedures described here, crisis loan claimants are increasingly being told to start their claim by telephoning the local office.)

Where tele-claiming procedures apply, claimants are encouraged to start the claim by telephoning a contact centre. The numbers of the contact centres should be displayed in local Jobcentre Plus offices, and may also be found in local libraries, post offices - and advice centres. If instead a claim form, medical certificate or an 'intent to claim' letter is sent in, a JCP20 form is passed to a contact centre to arrange for a telephone call to take place.

During the initial telephone call, basic information for the claim is taken, potential entitlement to other benefits and possible Child Support Agency involvement is identified, and (where appropriate) the initial work-focused interview is discussed and may be arranged. What happens then depends on the benefit(s) being claimed. For what the Department refer to internally as the 'primary' Jobcentre Plus benefits – IS, JSA and IB – a follow-up telephone call, from the Department to the claimant, is arranged. For the other benefits, a claim form is sent out, to be completed and returned in the usual way.

The follow-up call for IS, JSA and IB claims involves the gathering of more detailed information – potentially, all that would be required to be entered on the standard claim form. This is to allow the completion of an electronic claim form by the Department. Also, an appointment for the initial work-focused interview is booked. Following the call, the claimant is sent a written statement detailing the information they have given, for checking. At the initial work-focused interview, that statement is finalised and signed, in effect becoming the written claim. If no work-focused interview is appropriate, then the claimant is asked to confirm the statement and return it by post.

Tele-claiming and the law
Tele-claiming is procedural, not statutory. In other words, it is a procedure adopted by the Department and is not in itself explicitly provided for in the law. Instead, it takes place under pre-existing law. The key provisions here are at subparagraphs (1) and (1A) to regulation 4 of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulation 1987 (SI 1987 No.1968). Subparagraph (1) provides that,

'Every claim for benefit other than a claim for income support or jobseeker's allowance shall be made on a form approved by the Secretary of State…or in such other manner, being in writing, as the Secretary of State or the Board may accept as sufficient…'.

Regarding IS and JSA, subparagraph (1A) provides that the claim shall, 'be made in writing on a form approved by the Secretary of State…'.

Presumably, the Secretary of State approves the written statement as a form for the purpose of claiming benefit. So tele-claiming still leads to the completion of a claim in writing, and that being the case, tele-claiming is a lawful way of initiating a claim. However, under the same law, tele-claiming is not the only way of initiating a claim. As long as there are claim forms 'approved by the Secretary of State', then they remain a perfectly lawful way of starting a claim, too.

Tele-claiming and the date of claim
There have not been any changes to the rules on the date of claim, either. These remain as stated in regulation 6 of the Claims and Payments regulations, with backdating provisions in regulation 19. So IS and JSA claims can still be backdated under regulation 6 to the date of 'notification of intention' to make a claim (e.g., to the date of the initial telephone call) and other benefits can be backdated using the automatic three-month backdating provisions under regulation 19.

For IB, for example, the actual date of claim is the date the completed and signed 'written statement' is received (regulation 6) but the three month backdating provisions (regulation 19) are considered ample to allow backdating from that date to the date of the initial telephone call, and (presumably) even further, to the date when sickness first arose. Given that the written statement is returned at the initial work-focused interview, there is the possibility that a delayed work-focused interview could lead to restricted backdating. Staff are advised that claimants should be told to return the written statements by post where it looks like the work-focused interview will be delayed.

Problems with tele-claiming
There are several situations in which claimants will find starting a claim via tele-claiming either difficult or impossible. Some of the people who need benefit most are those who are likely to encounter most difficulty with access to or use of a telephone. Obvious examples are cases involving disability, poverty or language difficulties.

Very worryingly, the Department appear to have paid little or no attention to this subject. Paper claim forms are increasingly difficult to come by, and most Departmental effort has been aimed at increasing access to telephones – e.g., by the provision of 'hot-phones' in local Jobcentre Plus offices. There is no clear guidance on what the alternatives to tele-claiming are. We understand that where it is identified and accepted that telephone contact is not appropriate, a 'face-to-face' interview can be arranged - but that this would be used only as a 'last resort'. Presumably, the Department are also aware that there is no provision in the law for obliging claimants to go through the tele-claiming process, rather than sending in a completed claim form. Despite this, CPAG have already received a number of reports of claimants being told that their claim cannot be processed if they do not use the telephone. In one case, for example, a hospital in-patient was told to get to a pay-phone on a hospital ward in order to make an IB claim. Other advisers have reported that, even where a claim form is eventually accepted, the processing of the claim is very slow.

Clearly, advisers acting for claimants who cannot reasonably be expected to use the telephone will have to advocate very hard for tele-claiming procedures not to apply. Intransigence from the Department should be answered with official complaints, possibly involving contacting the local MP. Legal action is likely to be difficult, but might be considered in extreme cases. CPAG would be interested in hearing of other cases in which tele-claiming has been an unreasonable hindrance, rather than a help: contact Simon Osborne at sosborne@cpagscotland.org.uk.

Welfare Rights Bulletin 184 February 2005