TCM0184180 - Notices - general: RLS items: undelivered notices
Background
When Royal Mail is unable to deliver a notice or an item of correspondence to an address, it will return it and provide a reason for not being able to deliver it. The undelivered item will be returned because the address is
- illegible
- or
- RLS.
Note: Items marked ‘DLO’ will be treated in the same way as items marked ‘RLS’.
The Post Room staff will then firmly attach the envelope to the returned correspondence before forwarding it on to the relevant team.
Where the address is illegible, the returned item should be correctly addressed and reissued.
When Royal Mail is unable to deliver to an address, an RLS signal must be set on the computer against the customer’s address. This will highlight that a problem exists with delivering to the address. If possible, new address details should be sought using the Access to DWP Data (ADD) system, in order to re-issue the correspondence.
When a new address is obtained for a claim that is pre-award or post award, the details must be recorded on the computer to ensure that future correspondence is issued to the correct address. Once the address is amended, you will have to manually remove the RLS signal.
Note: You must not amend the address or insert a note in Application Notes on a Rejected or Withdrawn claim as this will resurrect the claim.
If new address details cannot be traced on ADD, the correspondence must be discarded in confidential waste.
If you set the RLS signal after an award notice was issued a work item will be created on the ‘Household RLS’ work list.
Note: For decision (rejection) notices where the customer has not received the original notice, you must issue a duplicate notice. For award notices where the customer has not received the original notice, you must issue a copy notice.
Note: From 15 June 2018 some historical NTC notices are no longer available to issue to customers. An unavailable historical notice may be required for an appeal or tribunal, or because the original notice has been lost / damaged, or because another government department has asked for a copy of a notice. The information can only be provided from the customer’s tax credits account, we are unable to send them a duplicate or copy of the original notice.
(This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000) .
Guidance
To process an undelivered notice, consider steps 1 to 5.
Step 1
Check the envelope attached to the returned notice to identify the reason that Royal Mail is unable to deliver the notice.
If the address is RLS, go to Step 2.
If the address is illegible, go to Step 3.
Step 2
Use function ‘View Application’ and go to the ‘Application Summary’ screen to check the status of the claim.
If the entry in the Status field indicates that the claim has been rejected
- follow the guidance in TCM0184240 and take no further action.
Note: Do not enter a note, as this will resurrect the claim.
If the entry in the Status field indicates that the claim is post award
- follow the guidance in TCM0184200
- take no further action.
If the entry in the Status field indicates that the claim is pre-award
- follow the guidance in TCM0184220
- take no further action.
Step 3
Check whether the returned notice is an award notice or a decision (rejection) notice. For how to do this, use TCM1000120.
If the returned notice is a decision (rejection) notice, go to Step 4.
If the returned notice is an award notice, go to Step 5.
Step 4
Where the returned notice is a decision (rejection) notice
- issue a duplicate notice. Follow the guidance in TCM0184140
- discard the returned notice in confidential waste
- take no further action.
Step 5
Where the returned notice is an award notice
- issue a copy notice, following the guidance in TCM0184140
- discard the returned notice in confidential waste
- take no further action.