TCM0152020 - Notes - recording and viewing: Notes - recording and viewing (Introduction)

You must check the following fields prior to making any changes on a claim to determine

  • whether or not the changes have already been processed
    or
  • whether the changes will affect any other activity that may be taken on a claim.

Check

  • the Application Notes field in Function CAPTURE APPLICATION if the claim is pre-award
    or
  • Household Notes in Function MAINTAIN HOUSEHOLD NOTES if the claim is post award.

Individual Action Guides in other sections of the Manual will tell you if and when you’re required to record notes on the computer. The accurate completion of notes will help keep colleagues in other teams or offices informed, and help them deal with any follow up enquiries or actions. For accountability, a note must be recorded. If notes aren’t completed correctly, cases will fail quality checks and this may have an adverse effect on accuracy figures.

Note: You must not attempt to add a note to a Rejected claim as this action will resurrect the Rejected claim.

A note

  • must be clear and concise and all details recorded must be compliant with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018
  • must be recorded in the Application Notes field in Function CAPTURE APPLICATION for pre-award claims
  • must be recorded in Function MAINTAIN HOUSEHOLD NOTES for post award claims
  • can be viewed in Function VIEW HOUSEHOLD NOTES if the claim is post award
  • can be viewed in the Application Notes field in Function CAPTURE APPLICATION if the claim is pre-award
  • can be marked as retained so it will appear on screen regardless of the tax year being viewed.
    Note: Only people working in Appeals, Complaints, Compliance, Disputed Overpayments, Debt Management or Persons From Abroad (with the correct user roles) can mark a note as retained, or remove the retained marker.

A record of your action is required to

  • maintain a history of all contact with the family
  • provide general information relating to tax credit customers and employers
  • record your activity taken on a particular claim
  • record any activity that is required on a particular claim
  • record the effective date of the change or the date you were notified of the change
  • record any additional information received from
    • customers
    • Contact Centres
    • Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Department for Communities (DfC) offices
    • forms or outstanding enquiries issued to customers.

If there isn’t enough room to record all the details that you need to record (in Application Notes for a pre-award claim or Household Notes for a post award claim), you must

  • complete form TC648 with the details and send the form to storage
    then
  • make the following entry in Application Notes or Household Notes
    ‘TCMZ TC648 recording information about XXXXXXX (enter brief details of the information obtained) has been sent to storage XXXXXXX (PI Number) DD/MM/YY’.

Note: When a claim becomes post award

  • any existing notes recorded in Function CAPTURE APPLICATION are deleted and you won’t be available in Function VIEW APPLICATION
  • the deleted notes are copied into Functions VIEW HOUSEHOLD NOTES and MAINTAIN HOUSEHOLD NOTES
    • in exactly the same format
    • numbered
      and
    • allocated a category of ‘Application’.

Note: You must follow the guidance in TCM0152060 when you record the note and also follow the guidance in TCM0152040 (pre-award) or TCM0152160 (post award).

Note: If you work in one of the following areas

  • Appeals
  • Complaints
  • Complex Case
  • Compliance
  • Debt Recovery
  • Payments
    and
  • you enter a note using your work area as the category from the Category drop down list
    • only somebody from your work area should delete the note. You must consider the nature of the note you are entering and where possible use the ‘General’ category. Only use your work area as the category where absolutely necessary.