Application channel

Application channel is automatically entered into the case management system for online applications, and manually entered for applications taken by phone or paper.

If ever an application channel has been manually entered incorrectly, the application channel will be classed as ‘unknown’.

Age of applicant

In a small number of cases, the birth date of the child or the application date has been entered in the parent date of birth field in the case management system.

In these cases, the date of birth of the parent has been changed to ‘unknown’. Further dates of birth of the parent showed very young ages.

For these applicants, we have assumed that the dates contained typographical errors and have classed age as ‘unknown’, although we cannot be certain that their date of birth contained an error.