CCM10700 - Penalties and interest: identifying incorrect claims - enquiries or examinations

You are likely to encounter penalties for incorrect claims in the following situations:-

• an incorrect claim is made and this is picked up during a Section 14, 15 or 16 in-year examination or as part of the High Risk Renewal process
• an incorrect Section 17 end of year declaration is made and this is picked up during a Section 19 end of year enquiry or as part of the High Risk Renewal process

In each situation the maximum penalty provided by the legislation is £3,000 but in reality most penalties will be set at a lesser amount. The amount of the penalty will depend on:

• the behaviour which led to the incorrect claim - see CCM10710
• whether the examination is opened pre-award - see CCM10795.

Where an incorrect S17 notice has been used to finalise the previous year and has set the provisional award for the current year there is only one penalty. If you have determined fraudulent/non fraudulent behaviour and you are using an S17 notice to finalise one year and set provisional payments for the CY see CCM10810.