IS20 - A guide to Income Support

Making a claim

How to claim/how to contact us

We are now introducing Jobcentre Plus offices across the country in place of Jobcentres and social security offices. If you are of working age there are two different ways of making a claim.

If you are in an area with Jobcentre Plus offices, you will need to call your local claim number. This is an 0845 number. Calls are charged at local call rates based on current tariffs from BT landlines. Calls from mobile phones and other networks may differ.

We will take some claim details and may arrange a work focused interview at your local office. We will also make arrangements to call you back and gather more information to help you find work or make claims to benefits. You will be provided with a Statement of the information you provided. You will need to check and sign the Statement before returning it to Jobcentre Plus. When you make a claim, we will tell you who your personal adviser will be. They are your main contact to help you look for work, or deal with any other questions you may have.

You can get details of the areas covered by Jobcentre Plus offices and the local claim numbers from your local office or visit our website at www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk or look in the phone book under Jobcentre Plus.

If you are in an area without Jobcentre Plus, you should continue to use:

• your local Jobcentre if you are looking for work or claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance,
• or your local social security office if you are claiming other working age benefits.
  

Most people will have a work focused interview. In some cases we may decide that this interview is not needed. Or we may decide to put it off until a later date, for example if you are too ill. If we ask you to, you must take part in a work focused interview with a personal adviser and give us some basic information about your circumstances. You will not usually be able to get benefit if you do not. If you do not attend or the personal adviser decides that you did not take part in this interview, this may affect your benefit. You can appeal against this decision.

If you live in an area that still has social security offices, you can make your initial claim for Income Support in two ways:

• by writing to your social security office. You can find the address in the phone book under social security or Jobcentre Plus;
• or by getting a friend, relative or adviser to write to your social security office on your behalf.

In either case you will be sent the detailed claim forms and a pre-paid envelope, addressed to the social security office. You can also get a copy of the claim form from the Jobcentre Plus website. The address is www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk. Claim forms should be returned to the office within one month or you may lose money.

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