How to gather Official documents and Paperwork

stack of paperwork

You may be asked to provide various documents from different sources, for example: 

Council tax bills

Utility bills

Tenancy agreements

Letters from the Home Office

Letters from school or employment

Immigration paperwork 

It is important all paperwork you submit is clear, straight, and the full page. All official paperwork must show the details of the company it came from.

Headed Paper

Some documents will specify the paperwork must be on ‘headed paper’
This means the document is official and from a trusted source.

The ‘header’ of the paper is at the top of the page, it will include information about the source, usually: name, addres, logo, contact information.

This is an example of a letter from the Home Office on headed paper. The scan is good quality, you can clearly see all the information and the page has been scanned straight. 

headed paper example
Utility Bills

Utility bills are documents from companies that provide a service, for example: Internet, water, electric, council tax etc.

You may need to provide a bill to prove outgoing costs.

 

This is an example of an internet bill. The bill shows the name and logo of the company, their website, and your information: name & address, account number

The bill also shows the money that is owed, and the bill date. This information must always be clearly visible when providing a utility bill as evidence.

utility bill

Once you have gathered all of the evidence needs for the application, you will need to record and send it to your caseworker. This page shows you how to use a photocopier & scanner, how to printscreen pages from your computer and phone, and how to electroncially send documents to your caseworker.