HSMP application referred to policy department

[gordon]

My application (from the US) was received by the HSMP team on 2 April; I was told (this morning) that the application is now outside the caseworker's domain and has been sent to the 'policy department'. This seems unusual to me, since this seems to differ from document verification or upper-level review. Has anyone else had this experience? I'm not sure what is going on, or what to expect.

Points claimed:
45 from earnings (of which 25% from independent contract work, 75% from salary)
30 from bachelor's degree

Many thanks
G

[ball1333]

Mmm, that does sound odd...wonder if it's the mixture of contract + salaried employment? Maybe they haven't seen a caselike yours from the US before? I would think you are entitled to a better explanation, or at least a communication from the policy department stating when they will have more information for you.

[jah79]

I have the same issue. My application was sent from in the UK and has been with the policy team since mid February!

Apparently they're drawing up new guidelines on how to deal with people who earned money through limited companies and that there are thousounds of applications where people claimed for salaried employee earnings when in fact they should have claimed for independent contractors, vice versa etc. But it sounds like they acknowledge the guidelines weren't that clear and will request more documents from people with these issues rather than just turn them down. But then again this is all hearsay rumours.

It's been exactly 15 weeks now since I sent my application in could really do with an answer soon!

[SASMAN]

Hi there,
I sent in my application in January and had a combination of salaried and Ltd company earnings, and was told that it had been sent to the policy department to make a ruling on . I rang up every week and each time it was still with the policy department, eventually in april I withdrew my application because it was taking so long. I then paid 950 fees (excluding the govt fees) to get a company to take care of my application for me, they sent it , had it processed and ACCEPTED , and returned to them WITHIN 7 DAYS!.
I wish I could tell you what they did differently to me, but I am sorry I cant because I don't know. Things I did learn on my many phone calls to the home office were;
There are many other people in the same situation,
The Policy department are notorious for not making decisions quickly,
And all they can advise you to do is wait.

So I wish you all the best, you would think that they must make a ruling on this situation soon. It's not exactly rocket science, just add 1 type of earning to the other!? but common sense does not always prevail..

[gordon]

Thanks for the feedback. I rather suspected it might have something to do with the independent contractor earnings. Fifteen weeks to wait (and counting) with no reply is a long time to wait for a policy decision, esp since they should have sorted the policy before accepting applications.

In the case (just above) where the earlier application was withdrawn and then resubmitted through a firm: is there a way to engage a firm mid-stream? My problem is that all of my earnings documentation refer to Jan-Dec 2006, so I would have to get new supporting documentation (without tax returns, since the tax returns in the US are reported for whole calendar years only). And for independent contract work, there was no option in the application for exceptional consideration (ie if the tax return did not cover the period claimed).

Any thoughts? Many thanks.

[gordon]

http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/workin ... dance.html

I hope this FAQ update denotes some decision on the policy front.

[umeshsethi]

Hi there,
I sent in my application in January and had a combination of salaried and Ltd company earnings, and was told that it had been sent to the policy department to make a ruling on . I rang up every week and each time it was still with the policy department, eventually in april I withdrew my application because it was taking so long. I then paid 950 fees (excluding the govt fees) to get a company to take care of my application for me, they sent it , had it processed and ACCEPTED , and returned to them WITHIN 7 DAYS!.
I wish I could tell you what they did differently to me, but I am sorry I cant because I don't know. Things I did learn on my many phone calls to the home office were;
There are many other people in the same situation,
The Policy department are notorious for not making decisions quickly,
And all they can advise you to do is wait.

So I wish you all the best, you would think that they must make a ruling on this situation soon. It's not exactly rocket science, just add 1 type of earning to the other!? but common sense does not always prevail..

Hi Sasman, but perhaps you can help...there may be some documentation or letters that this company asked from you which you hadnt included earlier. Perhaps.. if u could broadly touch on those..

Regards

[jalal.din]

Hi,
i applied for HSMP as an independent contractor. Whenever I call they say that my application is sent to Policy department for a decision since 2nd of May. Does any body have some idea what is this Policy department and how much time they take to process the application?

regards,
Jalal