THIS popular weekly column deals with welfare rights issues of interest to people living in Wirral.

This week sees a break in our series about Incapacity Benefit in order to bring you urgent news about Reduced Earnings Allowance and, specifically, renewal claims for this allowance.

RENEWAL RULES

If you are currently receiving Reduced Earnings Allowance (REA) as a result of an industrial accident or disease, you will be aware that it has to be renewed every year. The DSS do this by sending out an innocent-looking form numbered BI34. The form contains only a few simple-looking questions, but don't be fooled into treating it lightly.

Alarm bells should be ringing for the following reasons:

If for any reason you have a break in your REA entitlement, then your REA will be stopped permanently. There is now no such thing as good cause for not having made an earlier claim, so if you are outside the time limit (currently three months) your REA will be stopped. For example, a man aged 55 who currently receives £40.44 per week sends his REA form back after three months and one day. Under these circumstances his benefit is stopped and he cannot reclaim it - meaning he loses at least £20,000 before he retires at the age of 65.

TIME LIMITS

The current time limit for claiming REA is three months and any claims made outside this limit will result in the allowance being stopped. From October 1998 this time limit will be reduced to one month, and the same rules will apply - renewal claims made after one month will mean the loss of your REA.

Although this form looks simple enough, it is crucial that you seek expert advice as any mistakes could cost you a considerable amount of money. When the form is complete, make sure you get a copy of it and keep it safe. Under no circumstances should you post the form - make sure you hand-deliver it and get a receipt. If the DSS should mislay the form or it gets lost in the post, you will not receive any payments at all - so follow my instructions!

ADVICE

As I've already suggested, you should seek advice from an expert in this field - and remember, you get what you pay for. There are large amounts of money at stake for people in receipt of REA, and the slightest error could prove costly. Make sure that whoever advises you is familiar with this type of work - if they aren't aware of the facts laid out in this article, they're unlikely to have the necessary expertise to help you. There are a number of advice agencies that can help you with claims. Many offer free advice, so make enquiries to establish that they know how to deal with the claim form.

JIM STRANG COMMENTS

If you need to know more about this or any other welfare rights problem, you can write to Jim Strang enclosing an SAE, without which you will not get a reply. Address it to Jim Strang c/o Globe House, Catherine Street, Birkenhead, L41 6HW, enclosing an SAE. If you wish him to act on your behalf, call 678-4914, 10am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.

Readers are advised that Jim Strang represents people on a 'no win, no fee' basis. Details are available from him.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.