to think tax credits are a joke

[mumof2children]

my sister put in a claim begining of june, and still hasn't got a reply and every time she phone they are asking for diffrent things.

she is struggling to pay her rent as her husband wage dont cover it so has skipped paying water, tv licence ect.

this is the 1st time they have had to put in a cliam as her husband wage before being made redundent was really good ( he found a job within a week but lost 40% of his income)

my sister is unable to work, due to a medical problem or she would go and get a job

yanbu
try phoning their shit help line, you can't get through

Maybe it's just because it's a busy time of year for the tax credits people. All the renewals are done in June / July.

IIRC ours came through quite fast when we first applied for them.

i can understand it is a busy time of the year, but surly it shouldn't have taken almost 3 months to sort out my sister cliam

They will backdate it though. They can claim housing and council tax benefit if their income is dire, they can get the forms from the council office.

I agree there seems to be a big delay my DGS2 was born mid June and my DS2 and his fiancee are still waiting for their claim to be settled. They live very rurally so my DS has quite a fuel bill getting into work and all the usual household bills. I know things will be backdated but it has been a struggle. I am just glad they tried to save before the baby was born

it take approx 4 weeks to claim housing benifit, and as adviced by the council is wont be worth claiming until tax credits are claimed or they could end up with an over payment

Have you been to see the CAB?

not yet, but my sister is going to phone the financial ombudsman tomorrow

The financial ombudsman will take ages. The CAB is your best bet.

your sister should claim HB and Council Tax Benefit straightaway- the arrears of tax credits are not counted- so if they pay her 3 months back money for tax credits it does not mean her HB is overpaid. She needs to phone her council tomorrow , tell them she wants to claim HB & CTB - they will send her a form but by requesting this over the phone she has stated her intention to claim and as long as she sends her claim in within the next month any entitlement would be paid from Monday next week. She should also request a backdate of HB on the grounds she was mis- advised by the council- they should have told her to claim the day she rang them.Grr this makes me mad!

thanks you all, will tell her to get on top of it.

my dad has paid for the kids uniform to go back to school so atleast that is one thing off her mind

If your sister receives any benefits due to her medical problem, she should go into her local job centre, explain how they are struggling financially without the tax credits, and things should be sorted.
A couple I know, have spent the last 2 wks trying to get through on the helpline, with no joy, so he went into Job Centre. They had a line on the phone, that went straight through to someone at Tax Credits, and the problem was resolved-this was on Tuesday-they hope to have the momey in the bank by Friday.(We will see), but worth a try if your dsis is desperate.

Try visiting the local tax office (they used to be able to help) Or your MP sould be able to sort it out. My old MP used to do a lot of them, they had a faster phone line