The Social Security (Child Maintenance Bonus) Regulations 1996

Claiming a bonus

10.—(1) A claim for a bonus shall be made in writing on a form approved for the purpose by the Secretary of State and shall be made—

(a) not earlier than the beginning of the benefit week which precedes the benefit week in which an award of a qualifying benefit comes to an end, and

(b) except in a case to which sub-paragraph (c) or (d) applies, not later than 28 days after the day the qualifying benefit or entitlement to the qualifying benefit ceases; or

(c) where—

(i) a parent with care cares for one child only; and

(ii) that child dies,

in the period not exceeding 12 months which begins on the date the child died and throughout which she was entitled to a relevant benefit; or

(d) in the case of a person to whom regulation 8(4) refers, not later than 28 days after the day the applicant attains the age of 60 or, as the case may be, pensionable age.

(2) A claim for a bonus shall be delivered or sent to an appropriate office.

(3) If a claim is defective at the time it is received, the Secretary of State may refer the claim to the person making it and if the form is received properly completed within one month, or such longer period as the Secretary of State may consider reasonable, from the date on which it is so referred, the Secretary of State may treat the claim as if it had been duly made in the first instance.

(4) A claim which is made on the form approved for the time being is, for the purposes of paragraph (3), properly completed if it is completed in accordance with instructions on the form and defective if it is not.

(5) A person who claims a bonus shall furnish such certificates, documents, information and evidence in connection with the claim, or any questions arising out of it, as may be required by the Secretary of State and shall do so within one month of being required to do so or such longer period as the Secretary of State may consider reasonable.

(6) Where a person who has attained the age of 60 but has not attained pensionable age for the purposes of a jobseeker’s allowance ceases to be entitled to a jobseeker’s allowance and becomes instead entitled to income support, regulation 8 (retirement) and this regulation shall apply in his case as if he attained the age of 60 on the day he first became entitled to income support.