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  2. Benefits and money
  3. Benefits and financial support
  4. Guide to benefits
  5. After claiming benefits

Standards Assurance Unit review to check your benefit payment

You may be contacted by an officer from Standards Assurance Unit to check your benefit payment is right. The results from the review will be used to develop statistics about the amounts of benefit paid correctly or incorrectly to customers.

What Standards Assurance Unit (SAU) do 

SAU check to see if you are receiving the correct amount of the following: 

  • Carers Allowance 
  • Employment and Support Allowance 
  • Housing Benefit  
  • PIP 
  • Rate Rebate Scheme  
  • State Pension 
  • State Pension Credit 
  • Universal Credit 

SAU contact people either primarily by telephone or, exceptionally, by post to review their award.  

Why you were chosen 

Your name is selected at random by statisticians. 

You will receive a letter telling you the date and time of the phone call. 

What to expect from telephone reviews 

At the start of the interview, an SAU officer will ask you some security questions to verify your identity and to make sure they are speaking to the right person. 

Then you will be asked some questions so a review form can be filled in.

Then you will be asked to send in some verification to confirm what you stated during the telephone call.  

For example:  

  • payslips 
  • bank, building society or Post Office accounts 
  • rent book or tenancy agreement 
  • benefits  
  • tax credit awards 

You will be sent a pre-paid envelope to return the documents.   

Phone calls can last up to an hour but may be longer. 

The office locations are:  

SAU Falls Road Office

SAU Ballymoney JBO

SAU Lisnagelvin JBO 

SAU Magherafelt JBO

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After claiming benefits

  • Appeal a benefits decision
  • Becoming an appointee for social security benefits
  • Benefit appeal hearings
  • Benefits: report a change in your circumstances
  • Going abroad
  • Information for prisoners about benefits
  • Overpayments of benefits and financial support
  • Standards Assurance Unit review to check your benefit payment

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What to do next

Comments or queries about angling can be emailed to anglingcorrespondence@daera-ni.gov.uk 

If you have a comment or query about benefits, you will need to contact the government department or agency which handles that benefit.  Contacts for common benefits are listed below.

Carer's Allowance

Call 0800 587 0912
Email 
dcs.incomingpostteamdhc2@nissa.gsi.gov.uk

Discretionary support / Short-term benefit advance

Call 0800 587 2750 
Email 
customerservice.unit@communities-ni.gov.uk

Disability Living Allowance

Call 0800 587 0912 
Email dcs.incomingpostteamdhc2@nissa.gsi.gov.uk

Employment and Support Allowance

Call 0800 587 1377

Jobseeker’s Allowance

Contact your local Jobs & Benefits office

Personal Independence Payment

Call 0800 587 0932

If your query is about another benefit, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

Comments or queries about the Blue Badge scheme can be emailed to bluebadges@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk or you can also call 0300 200 7818.

For queries or advice about careers, contact the Careers Service.

For queries or advice about Child Maintenance, contact the Child Maintenance Service.

For queries or advice about claiming compensation due to a road problem, contact DFI Roads claim unit.

If you can’t find the information you’re looking for in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) section, then for queries about:

  • Restrictions or regulations — contact the Department of Health
  • Travel advice (including self-isolation) — contact the Department of Health
  • Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations — contact the Department of Health or Public Health Agency

If your query is about another topic, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

For queries about your identity check, email nida@nidirect.gov.uk and for queries about your certificate, email covidcertni@hscni.net.

For queries or advice about criminal record checks, email ani@accessni.gov.uk

Application and payment queries can be emailed to ema_ni@slc.co.uk

For queries or advice about employment rights, contact the Labour Relations Agency.

For queries or advice about birth, death, marriage and civil partnership certificates and research, contact the General Register Office Northern Ireland (GRONI) by email gro_nisra@finance-ni.gov.uk

For queries about the High Street Spend Local Scheme,  email HSSS.mail@economy-ni.gov.uk.

For queries about:

  • Car tax, vehicle registration and SORN
    contact the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Swansea
     
  • Driver licensing and tests, MOT and vehicle testing
    contact the Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA), Northern Ireland

If your query is about another topic, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

For queries about your identity check, email nida@nidirect.gov.uk.

 

For queries or advice about passports, contact HM Passport Office.

For queries or advice about Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs), including parking tickets and bus lane PCNs, email dcu@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk

For queries or advice about pensions, contact the Northern Ireland Pension Centre.

If you wish to report a problem with a road or street you can do so online in this section.

If you wish to check on a problem or fault you have already reported, contact DfI Roads.

For queries or advice about historical, social or cultural records relating to Northern Ireland, use the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) enquiry service.

For queries or advice about rates, email LPSCustomerTeam@lpsni.gov.uk

For queries or advice about  60+ and Senior Citizen SmartPasses (which can be used to get concessionary travel on public transport), contact Smartpass - Translink.

If you have a question about a government service or policy, you should contact the relevant government organisation directly.  We don't have access to information about you.

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