Compensation Recovery Unit (Northern Ireland) Compensation and social security benefits
If you have had an accident, an injury or a disease for which someone else is to blame, you may have claimed or be thinking about claiming compensation. If you are getting a social security benefit it may affect your compensation. The following information tells you how benefits affect compensation and which benefits they are.
When someone claims compensation, the person or company they are claiming from (the compensator) must tell the Compensation Recovery Unit. The compensator is the person or organisation likely to be paying the compensation.
Have you:
Claimed or received compensation?
Received a social security benefit because of your accident, injury or disease?
If Yes to both, the compensator has to pay back the amount of social security benefit you have received as a result of your accident, injury or disease to the Department for Social Development.
The amount the compensator has to pay equals the total benefit you are paid from the day after the accident or injury to the date of the final compensation payment or for up to 5 years – whichever is earlier. If you have claimed benefit because of a disease, the amount the compensator has to pay is worked out from the day you first claimed a benefit because of the disease.
Reducing your compensation payment
The compensator may reduce your compensation in certain circumstances if you have had benefit to meet the same need.
For loss of earnings
The compensator can only reduce your compensation for loss of earnings in the past if you have had one of these benefits to meet the same need:
- Disability Working Allowance
- Incapacity Benefit
- Income Support
- Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
- Invalidity Pension
- Invalidity Allowance
- Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Reduced Earnings Allowance
- Severe Disablement Allowance
- Sickness Benefit
- Statutory Sick Pay paid before 6 April 1994
- Unemployability Supplement
- Unemployment Benefit.
For cost of care
The compensator can only reduce your compensation for cost of care in the past if you have had one of these benefits to meet the same need:
- Attendance Allowance
- Disability Living Allowance (care component)
- Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit increase for Constant Attendance Allowance or Exceptionally Severe Disablement Allowance.
For loss of mobility
The compensator can only reduce your compensation for loss of mobility in the past if you have had one of these benefits to meet the same need:
- Disability Living Allowance (mobility component)
- Mobility Allowance.
Other reasons
Compensation for other reasons, such as pain and suffering, cannot be reduced in any circumstances.
Retirement Pension
Retirement Pension does not have to be paid back from compensation but if you get any of the benefits shown above after retirement age, they may have to be paid back.
War Pensions
If you get a pension from the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency, this may go down because of your compensation.
If you are awarded compensation
Check the facts
The Compensation Recovery Unit sends a certificate of recoverable benefit to the compensator and a copy of the certificate to you or your representative. The certificate shows how much benefit, if any, the compensator has to pay back to the Department for Social Development. If you do not agree with the information on the certificate, you have the right to ask for a review. There is information on the certificate that tells you what to do.
If you do not agree with a decision to reduce your compensation, you may be able to appeal. You can only do this after the compensator has reduced your compensation to repay benefit to the Department for Work and Pensions. You must appeal within one month of the date that the compensator makes the final payment of benefits to the Compensation Recovery Unit.
You can get more information from the leaflet Z2 What to do if you think a Compensation Recovery Scheme Certificate is wrong. You can get this from the Compensation Recovery Unit.
If you are receiving benefit
You must tell the office that pays your benefit as soon as you get your compensation if you receive:
- Income Support
- Working Tax Credit
- Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Housing Benefit
- Council Tax Benefit
- Pension Credit
- If you get a pension from the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency, please make sure you let them know. Call the Veterans Free Helpline on 0800 169 2277. People with speech/hearing problems using text phones should dial 0800 169 34 58.
Where to get help and advice
Social Security Benefits
- CRU Update Stencil (PDF 11KB)
Insurers can use this stencil to request a Benefit Statement/Certificate of Recoverable benefit or to notify CRU of the outcome of a claim.
- CRU1 Form (PDF 90KB)
Insurers use this form to tell us a claim for compensation has been made. We will send them a CRU4 so that they can request a Certificate of Recoverable Benefit which tells them how much benefit has to be repaid.
- Leaflet Z1 (Word 351KB)
A guide for companies and solicitors. It explains the recovery of benefits scheme.
- Leaflet Z2 (Word 133KB)
Appeal Guide. It explains what compensators can do if they disagree with compensation recovery decisions (includes the Appeal Form)
- Appeal Form (PDF 14KB)
The Appeal Form can be used if you disagree with a compensation recovery decison. NB The form should not be modified in any way
- HS Appeal Form (Word 82KB)
Notification of an appeal against HS charges
If you need further advice or information please contact Compensation Recovery Unit.
CRU staff are available to give short presentations about our role to interested parties at your location.
Notifying Compensation Recovery Unit On-Line Compensators can now send on-line notifications of compensation claims directly to Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU). This service is provided through the Claims Underwriting Exchange (Personal Injuries).
CUE(PI) is a UK wide secure database of personal injury/illness claims and includes claims previously held on the NI database - NIPAR. Any claim which is submitted to Compensation Recovery Unit is held on the database as well as claims from individuals resident abroad (who do not need to notify CRU).
The information on the database is provided by insurers and other compensators who are members of IDSL@Polaris UK Ltd. IDSL@Polaris UK Ltd manages three claims databases on behalf of its members - CUE PI, CUE Motor and CUE Home.
All claims for compensation arising out of injury or illness are held on the CUE PI database. Each record on the database relates to a single claimant.
The CUE PI database can be searched at any time to provide the claims history of the individual.
No claim settlements are shown on CUE PI as the purpose of the database is to show all claims and which type of injury/illness have occurred to the individual.
The benefits of the database are:
- Claims management - Identification of previous related claims
- Potential fraud - Identification of patterns of similar claims against other insurers/compensators
- Convenience - Easy search for related claims
- Efficiency - Desktop access means less paper
- CRU benefit - Can create notification form (CRU1) to send to Compensation Recovery Unit
- Future options - There is potential to link with similar databases both in the UK and in Europe. There is also potential to allow CRU to issue acknowledgements and certificates on-line.
The system allows users to:
- Add claims to the database (when claims are added the system automatically searches for related claims)
- Submit the CRU1 electronically to CRU in GB and NI
- Update CUE PI records (e.g. finding an additional previous address)
- Make ad hoc enquiries (e.g. it would allow a search to be carried out on a witness to ensure that there are no previous claims involving the witness and the claimant)
You can get access to this database by contacting IDSL@Polaris UK Ltd, which is a "not for profit company" set up by insurers to allow data to be shared between them.
Membership is open to all authorised insurers in UK, Lloyd's syndicates and compensators.
To discuss membership please contact:
Fraser Fundell
IDSL@Polaris UK Ltd
1st Floor
100 Fenchurch Street
London
EC2M 5JD
Telephone: 0207 265 5768 (General Enquiries) 07740 402969 (Direct to Frazer Fundell) Fax: 0207 216 7375 E-mail: info@cuek.org.uk Website: www.cueuk.org  |
