§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will revise the guidance given to family credit claimants in the claim form and information leaflets to ensure that they are aware of the circumstances in which delaying their claim for the purpose of obtaining pay slips or other documents will result in loss of one or more weeks' benefit. [39657]
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§ Mr. Roger EvansThe administration of family credit is a matter for Mr. Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member with such information as is available.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Paul Flynn dated 26 October 1995:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about revising the guidance given to Family Credit (FC) claimants in the claim form and information leaflets to ensure that they are aware of the circumstances in which delaying their claim for the purpose of obtaining pay slips or other documents will result in loss of one or more weeks benefit.Since the introduction of FC in April 1988, the claim form (FCI) has been regularly updated. The current version has been designed to take account of comments made by customers, in an annual customer Opinion Survey, regarding the guidance on the claim form about delaying their claim.From April 1996, the FCI will include eight separate, highlighted statements informing the customer that sending in a claim should not be delayed in order to obtain any relevant documents.I hope that you find this reply useful.