CCM5400 - Working the examination: Meetings at claimant's(s') home: Personal safety: Claimant Compliance Officers

You must not compromise your personal security under any circumstances. Always ensure that your manager or a colleague is aware of the meeting and that they know as many details as possible including:

• the name of the person(s) you are visiting
• the address and telephone number of the person(s) you are visiting
• the start time and estimated duration of the meeting
• whether you anticipate returning to the office after the meeting, and if so approximately when. If you do not return to the office, but go straight home, you should make a “returned home safely” call in accordance with local arrangements
• if you find that you are going to return to the office later than expected, or not at all, then you should inform the office as soon as possible.

Whenever you have a meeting at a claimant’s home you must be accompanied by a colleague, who can be in any pay band. If you will be meeting a lone female claimant, at least one of the attending officers must be female.

Take a mobile phone with you, and a personal alarm, if appropriate. When visiting a claimant’s home you must:

• not trespass - only enter the property with the claimant’s permission
• not snoop - do not enter any room other than the one(s) into which the claimant shows you
• not take photographs
• not act in an aggressive, high handed or bureaucratic manner.

If at any time the claimant(s) asks you to leave their property you must do so immediately and record this fact.

If at any time you feel vulnerable to physical attack, or physical threats are made against you:

• you must withdraw immediately
• you must make a detailed report of the incident and advise your.