It is a condition of entitlement to any social welfare benefit that a claim be made in the prescribed manner and that the claimant satisfies the Minister as to identity. For that purpose the Minister may require attendance at a designated office or place, production of information and documents, an electronic photograph or image and an electronic sample of signature; such images and signatures must be retained electronically in a form that permits reproduction. Any claim or notice sent by post or other method is deemed made on the date it is received by an officer of the Minister.

The Act prescribes retrospective payment limits and disqualification periods: generally 6 months for State pension (contributory), State pension (transition), bereaved partner’s (contributory), guardian’s payment (contributory) and invalidity pension; 12 months for medical care; 7 days for illness benefit and disability allowance; specified rules for maternity benefit; 3 months for disablement benefit and certain related payments; and in paragraph (c) a range of benefits (including jobseeker’s, carers’, one‑parent family payment, State pension (non‑contributory), working family payment and others) are disqualified for any period before the claim. Special transitional provisions apply to certain pension claims before April 2012; deciding officers or appeals officers may allow up to 6 months’ backdating for some benefits where good cause is shown, extend prescribed periods, apply specific rules for child benefit and domiciliary care allowance, and regulations may permit provisional allowance of claims.