SPM240200 - Information Powers - informal enquiries

In all cases you should try to get the information you need to establish whether a statutory payment is payable by making informal enquiries.

Employer Compliance

Caseworkers and Assistant Officers may ask employers to produce their records so that they can carry out a compliance check. Most of the time employers co-operate and produce their records as requested. Very occasionally employers may be obstructive. Guidance on how to deal with this situation is provided in the Compliance Handbook.

Intervention Team Managers are also authorised to issue Formal Information Notices requiring people to produce information or documents. They will not need to use this power very often. They may need to use it if, when looking into irregularities in the payment of statutory payments:

• it is more appropriate to require an un-cooperative employer to send information or documents rather than requiring them to produce documents at a prescribed place
• they need supplementary information or documents from the employee, and the employee is un-cooperative.

Statutory Payment disputes

Officers in the Statutory Payments Disputes Team deal with statutory payment disputes between employers and employees.

They need to get information and documents from employers and employees, and may also need to get information or documents from other sources.