§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if Benefits Agency staff will review all new and repeat claims for jobseeker's allowance received since 20 June 1998, and cleared(a) on the basis of information from his Department's systems other than NIRS II and (b) on the basis of information from the claimant. [72370]
§ Mr. TimmsA special exercise will be carried out to identify all new and repeat claims (system and clerical) to Jobseeker's Allowance processed during the NIRS closure period (20 June to 8 November 1998). Each claim identified will then be reviewed to ensure correct entitlement was paid. The special exercise will ensure that those claims paid on the basis of information provided by jobseekers are identified and reviewed.
A date has not yet been finalised when the special exercise will commence, but it is not expected to be before April 1999. The position will be kept under review but, depending on other work priorities impacting on the field, the intention is to clear the relevant cases by the end of this year.
Claims made since 9 November (the date NIRS2 became "live" for Jobseeker's Allowance) are automatically reviewed by the Jobseeker's Allowance computer system upon confirmation of contribution information supplied by NIRS2. These cases therefore will not require a special exercise to review entitlement.
Claims made from January which could not be assessed using information from NIRS2 have been assessed using other evidence. These cases will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, when contribution information is updated to NIRS2, as NIRS2 automatically notifies the JSA computer system of the revised details.