Paul Burns Kirklees

21/08/20 to 26/08/20. Had Annual leave on Monday 24/08/20. Updated average wages for a couple of claims this week to try & take a fairer and more representative average in both cases. One was due to a VEP task from HMRC where the new average was higher. The other was as a result of a phone call from a colleague in Housing which resulted in a lower average. I also amended wages for a non-dependant on another claim. We had nil income for the non-dependant going back to 2019. I had written out and been informed that the non-dep was now working. I had to write out twice for proof of earnings. When I updated our records the non-dependant deduction was unchanged as it stayed at £15pw whether there was nil income or low earnings. I finished dealing with another of my Covid-19 Self-employed review cases. I had asked for their accounts for 2018/19 and also 2019/20. I requested 2018/19 because we had received an HBMS data match alerting us to the fact that we hadn't received thi...

14/08/20 to 20/08/20 Dealt with a couple of claims this week where the claimant is on UC and their household has altered. One of them had reported to us that their partner had moved out with his child leaving the claimant as a single mum with 3 kids. The latest UC award breakdown was still for a couple with 4 kids. I did not amend the household composition on Northgate. Presumably the next monthly UC award will be based on the claimant being a single mum with 3 kids. Council Tax have already awarded 25% single person discount and so there is currently a mismatch between Council Tax records & benefits records. One of my wages updates from HMRC involved a claimant whose wage income on Northgate is based on their Feb/Mar payslips. The updated info showed that their April wage had been significantly higher but then May's wage was lower. This potentially would entail an overpayment due to the high wage & then an underpayment due to the low wage which would offset. I decide...

7/8/20 to 13/8/20 The review of self-employed cases affected by the Covid-19 outbreak cropped up again. An HBINFO email dated 12/08/20 mentioned that some authorities had ended up creating overpayments but the concensus was that this was incorrect. One post referred to the small business grant & stated this should be treated as capital. Our local Council Tax Reduction scheme has a capital limit of £8,000 so a grant of £10,000 could potentially end entitlement for a claimant. I trawled through the cases I had dealt with and found that two of may cases had received grants of £10,000 each in April or May. I discussed this scenario with our Appeals Officer. We agreed that the payments amounted to a bail-out or emergency help and as such were not intended to cause someone to be overpaid benefit. The amounts received should be classed as business income & therefore included in the claimants 2020/21 accounts. I added diary entries for my two cases to check that this is done. No...

31/07/20 to 06/08/20 More testing of new version of Anite@Work (our document imaging system). More automatic wage notifications from HMRC. One of mine was down to half-pay as per pay details at end of July. I rang to check if had left job or been furloughed. The customer advised that neither of these had happened and that she would have to contact her payroll as she was due her normal wage & thanks for letting her know. We had received her pay information before she had.

24/07/20 to 30/07/20 More online learning delivered by Emma Freestone from Escalla this week. We covered assessing the self-employed including Company Directors ; Student claims ; and claims from Persons from Abroad. Not much normal work this week as I had annual leave on Monday 27th July and on the Friday I was doing testing for the new version of Anite@Work which is being brought in.

17/07/20 to 23/07/20 We had a Team Meeting via MS Teams to discuss the issue of how to deal with our Covid-19 Self-employed review cases. We decided that each one was uniquely different but as a rule the SEISS payment did not have to lead to a reassessment and the 31/05/20 end date for SEISS income suggested by one colleague was not really appropriate. It was left to each individual processor to decide whether SEISS payments should be included at all as this income ought to appear in their 2020/21 self-employed accounts and we risked including it twice. Eventually we decided that as long as we were acting in the best interests of the customer we could justify the amendments made. Also Online learning this week delivered by Emma Freestone from Escalla. We covered overpayments ; changes in circumstances; revisions, supersessions & reconsiderations ; Tribunals and Appeals ; Universal Credit; and Overpayments.