Proving Receipt of UC for other agencies

We are having problems with proving a client is getting UC.  The council wont accept a print out and that’s if the client can manage the technology to print out from online account!  We have another client who needs to prove UC entitlement for NHS Dental Services and wait to see if a print out will suffice. Any thoughts?

Presumably this is for Full Service?
I have just asked this question of our UC Partnership Manager as we are preparing for Full Service in December in one of our LAs.

This came up on a training course I was running yesterday - I’d be interested to hear what response you get Sarah.

Yes full service. We are exploring things with the council so will keep you posted.

I have also put it to our UC contact via stakeholders meetings

We have been told by most HB departments they require the original award letter to pay the claim.  Some also requested bank statements initially but have pulled back from that.  I think it’s a good idea should the letter not be forthcoming. 

This should be online like the Atlas link for JSA/ESA etc.  Residents presenting as homeless to supported housing rarely arrive with their neat file of benefit paperwork to hand over.  Where a new claim is made there can be significant days.  Particularly problematic in short-stay hostels.  This presents significant risk to maintenance of tenancies, high rent arrears and support provider income.

The problem is exacerbated as (I understand) a new UC letter is only produced should the award amount change.  A change of address does not produce a letter.  Is this correct?

One benefit trainer has advised that DWP will not provide copy letters if requested .  Can anyone corroborate this?

At present we are looking at HB appeals and reconsiderations on the basis of lack of DWP response or DWP refusing to provide letters - the very proofs requested by HB departments (whose funds come via the DWP!). Not very joined up….

I have requested copies of UC decision letters, which were sent to my client promptly. This was a live service case. Not convinced it would happen a second time though!

I have also had UC Helpline issue duplicate award letters where they have been mislaid or not previously existed.

We had problems when we first went to full service with the local authority requesting UC letters as proof of claim but no letters are issued for UC at all. I followed this up with our LA contact and she said that they should go into the housing benefit office log on their on line account and show them and this would be accepted as proof. Not always easy as we have some very rural areas and many clients with mental and physical health problems. Not to mention those who can’t event switch on a computer let alone use one.

Excuse me if I’m missing the point, but why do you need to prove UC entitlement in Full Service area? Surely HB isn’t payble, as UC pays housing costs?

I completely get why it can be problematic in all sorts of other ways, like the NHS charges mentioned above, or for homeless applications say, but is there something else I should be aware of? Thiniking ahead as we’re likely to see more and more older people falling under UC with rising retirement ages.

Paul_Treloar_AgeUK - 14 October 2016 04:51 PM

Excuse me if I’m missing the point, but why do you need to prove UC entitlement in Full Service area? Surely HB isn’t payble, as UC pays housing costs?
.

Council Tax Reduction, domiciliary care charges, food bank vouchers etc?

Email answer from UC Partnership Manager:

When you have a digital only account with no award letters, how do you prove to other agencies that you are on UC?.  For example, councils are currently asking for UC award letters in order to assess Council Tax Reduction and Discretionary Housing Payment.  Or if you need to prove to the dentist that you are entitled to free treatment.  Apparently advice workers in other areas are reporting that print outs from the customer’s account are not being accepted and also that not all customers have access to a printer.

The answer is the claimant prints off their statement, we are unaware until now that there have been issues with these not being accepted – no feedback on this from Newcastle. There is also the facility to log in on a mobile device and show your statement to say a dentist. These letters can be printed in JCP Office if required.

I have asked whether JC appointments will be required for printing off statements.

This is the reply from our UC contact through stakeholders -

In UCFS(universal credit full service), we have made it possible for OGDs(other government departments) to automate the checking of entitlement for Passported Benefits.  For those OGDs who chose not to automate, claimants can prove their entitlement to UC by showing (via a smart phone), printing or emailing their statement to the OGD. This has been agreed with OGDs and we are not aware of any case where an OGD has not accepted the claimant’s statement.

99.5% of UCFS claims are made online, either via a computer or mobile or other portable device.  For the small minority of claimants who are unable to access the service online, we will produce an alternative proof of benefit.

This is a (albeit not an exact) version of the best evidence rule adopted in the courts long before the electronic age when original documents were far easier to forge.  It has since fallen into disuse.  Public authorities should not be using it routinely: only in exceptional cases.