Change of circumstances to Universal Credit Claim
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
I would like information pertaining to claimants submitting a change of circumstances using the 'report a change' option on their online universal credit account.
In particular I am interested to know procedures relating to the following changes.
1. Reporting where you live and what it costs - reporting an increase to housing costs of current claimants address
- Once proof of new costs and proof of address have been provided from the list of evidence accepted. What is the next action? ie. Will the change then be processed?
2. Reporting children and other people who live with you
- What is required after the birth of a new child in order for a claim to be updated? In the event the claimant does not have access to a birth certificate, what other forms of evidence can be used to process the change?
Please can you provide current guidance for decision makers responsible for actioning the above changes reported using this method. (via online universal credit account)
Please supply internal guidelines rather than what is publicly available on the Government’s website.
Yours faithfully,
Kay
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Dear Kay,
I am writing in response to your request for information, received 19th
July.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
I would like information pertaining to claimants submitting a change of circumstances using the 'report a change' option on their online universal credit account.
In particular I am interested to know procedures relating to the following changes.
1. Reporting where you live and what it costs - reporting an increase to housing costs of current claimants address
- Once proof of new costs and proof of address have been provided from the list of evidence accepted. What is the next action? ie. Will the change then be processed?
2. Reporting children and other people who live with you
- What is required after the birth of a new child in order for a claim to be updated? In the event the claimant does not have access to a birth certificate, what other forms of evidence can be used to process the change?
Please can you provide current guidance for decision makers responsible for actioning the above changes reported using this method. (via online universal credit account)
Please supply internal guidelines rather than what is publicly available on the Government’s website.
Yours faithfully,
Kay Turner
Thank you for contacting the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been received by the DWP Freedom of Information mailbox and will be
processed accordingly.
Please note that this mailbox is for Freedom of Information (FOI) or
Internal Review (IR) requests only – If you have submitted a non FOI or IR
related email then we may not be able to action it.
Timescales for responding
Freedom of Information (FOI) Requests
If your email is a valid FOI request, as per Section 8 of the FOI Act
2000, you can normally expect a response within 20 working days.
Internal Review (IR) Requests
You can normally expect a response within 20 working days.
We will respond to all valid FOI and IR requests within our statutory
timescales, if we are unable to do so then we will contact you to explain
why. Please note that we are not able to process your FOI or IR request in
any shorter timescales that you may indicate.
Receiving a response from us
Please note that email FOI and IR responses will be issued from
[email address]
We recommend that you add this address to your email contacts otherwise
the response may be treated as Spam or Junk by your email account
provider.
Further Information
Should you have any further queries in connection with your FOI or IR
request please contact us.
More information on the DWP can be accessed on gov.uk here –
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
References
Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
The response to my request has been delayed. By law, you should normally have responded promptly and by 16 August 2023.
As stated in your automated conformation email, as you have been unable to respond within the required timescale, please can you contact me to explain why.
Please can you also advise when I can expect a reply.
Yours faithfully,
Kay Turner
Thank you for contacting the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been received by the DWP Freedom of Information mailbox and will be
processed accordingly.
Please note that this mailbox is for Freedom of Information (FOI) or
Internal Review (IR) requests only – If you have submitted a non FOI or IR
related email then we may not be able to action it.
Timescales for responding
Freedom of Information (FOI) Requests
If your email is a valid FOI request, as per Section 8 of the FOI Act
2000, you can normally expect a response within 20 working days.
Internal Review (IR) Requests
You can normally expect a response within 20 working days.
We will respond to all valid FOI and IR requests within our statutory
timescales, if we are unable to do so then we will contact you to explain
why. Please note that we are not able to process your FOI or IR request in
any shorter timescales that you may indicate.
Receiving a response from us
Please note that email FOI and IR responses will be issued from
[email address]
We recommend that you add this address to your email contacts otherwise
the response may be treated as Spam or Junk by your email account
provider.
Further Information
Should you have any further queries in connection with your FOI or IR
request please contact us.
More information on the DWP can be accessed on gov.uk here –
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
References
Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
Dear Kay Turner,
I am writing in response to your request for information, received 29th
July.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'Change of circumstances to Universal Credit Claim'.
My claim did not request DWP to supply new information or ask a question. My request asked for information relating to change of circumstances of a claimant. In particular I requested internal guidelines for claimants making a change of circumstance to their claim. I asked when a claimant makes a change of circumstance due to increased housing costs. What is required in order for the change to be processed, please can internal guidelines be provided and not information readily available on the .Gov website. Then when a claimant reports the birth of a new child, what information is required in order to update their claim to reflect the new change of circumstance.
This information should already exist as internal guidelines to agents who deal with such queries on a day to day basis.
In the response I have been able to see this requested information relating to question 2 in the attachments provided 'Annex 1 - Spotlight on child verification.
For question 1 however this information has not been provided as per my initial request.
The explanation 'A claimant must report all changes of circumstances as soon as possible after the change
occurs. Once supporting evidence has been provided of a change to housing costs the agent
would then process the change to recalculate the housing costs.' Does not reference the internal guidelines the agents use to determine whether they process a change or not.
For this reason I would like my request to be reviewed.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...
Yours faithfully,
Kay Turner
Thank you for contacting the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been received by the DWP Freedom of Information mailbox and will be
processed accordingly.
Please note that this mailbox is for Freedom of Information (FOI) or
Internal Review (IR) requests only – If you have submitted a non FOI or IR
related email then we may not be able to action it.
Timescales for responding
Freedom of Information (FOI) Requests
If your email is a valid FOI request, as per Section 8 of the FOI Act
2000, you can normally expect a response within 20 working days.
Internal Review (IR) Requests
You can normally expect a response within 20 working days.
We will respond to all valid FOI and IR requests within our statutory
timescales, if we are unable to do so then we will contact you to explain
why. Please note that we are not able to process your FOI or IR request in
any shorter timescales that you may indicate.
Receiving a response from us
Please note that email FOI and IR responses will be issued from
[email address]
We recommend that you add this address to your email contacts otherwise
the response may be treated as Spam or Junk by your email account
provider.
Further Information
Should you have any further queries in connection with your FOI or IR
request please contact us.
More information on the DWP can be accessed on gov.uk here –
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
References
Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
Dear Kay Turner,
I am writing in response to your request for information, received 26th
September.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
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