Social Security (Administration) Act 1999

If, under section 123I, a notice is given to a benefit recipient’s correspondence nominee, the following paragraphs have effect:

for the purposes of the social security law, other than this Part, the notice is taken:

to have been given to the benefit recipient; and

to have been so given on the day on which the notice was given to the correspondence nominee;

any requirement that the notice makes of the benefit recipient may be satisfied by the correspondence nominee;

any act done by the correspondence nominee for the purpose of satisfying a requirement of the notice has effect, for the purposes of the social security law (other than Part 6 of this Act), as if it had been done by the benefit recipient;

if the correspondence nominee fails to satisfy a requirement of the notice, the benefit recipient is taken, for the purposes of the social security law, to have failed to comply with the requirement;

for the purposes of determining whether anything done by the correspondence nominee constitutes compliance with the notice, the social security law has effect as if a reference in the notice to the benefit recipient becoming aware that a specified event or change of circumstances is likely to occur were a reference to the correspondence nominee becoming so aware.

In order to avoid doubt, and without limiting subsection (1), it is declared as follows:

if the notice requires the benefit recipient to inform the Department of a matter within a specified period and the correspondence nominee informs the Department of the matter within that period in accordance with the notice, the benefit recipient is taken, for the purposes of the social security law, to have complied with the requirement set out in the notice;

if the notice requires the benefit recipient to give a statement about a matter, or produce a document, to the Department within a specified period and the correspondence nominee gives a statement about that matter, or produces the document, as the case may be, to the Department within that period in accordance with the notice, the benefit recipient is taken, for the purposes of the social security law, to have complied with the requirement set out in the notice;

if the notice requires the benefit recipient to inform the Department of a matter within a specified period and the correspondence nominee does not inform the Department of the matter within that period in accordance with the notice, the benefit recipient is taken, for the purposes of the social security law, to have failed to comply with the requirement set out in the notice;

if the notice requires the benefit recipient to give a statement about a matter, or produce a document, to the Department within a specified period and the correspondence nominee does not give a statement about that matter, or produce the document, as the case may be, to the Department within that period in accordance with the notice, the benefit recipient is taken, for the purposes of the social security law, to have failed to comply with the requirement set out in the notice.