to think the Tax Credit system is a farce?!

[Fairywhitebear]

They've overpaid us by £4k.

Basically, 80% of the payments they made to us last year were overpayments.

Despite me keeping them fully informed of exactly what our current income was, they still based the payments on the previous years income and therefore deem we owe them.

Just waited over an hour to speak to someone and she says that it is likely we will be overpaid again this year, as they are unable to pay based on how much you are currently earning.

Now, is it just me that finds this ludicrous?! Or just me that cannot understand any of the paperwork that they send out?

Surely this whole system only works if you earn say £11k, you've always earned £11k, and you're likely to earn £11k next year and the year after and always!

I might add that we've needed the payments. They have not been in any way surplus, not seemed excessive and all went on normal bills. So before anyone accuses me of taking money I don't need, and surely I must have twigged etc!

I think it is. Haven't had Tax credits for years, not even when dh was unemployed and the job centre said they should be paying us. They haven't sent a renewal form for years either.

So last week they sent me an award notice telling me that we are due some due to a change in circumstances.

And the bloody automated system doesn't understand my accent and they cut me off after 3 minutes on the phone trying to get through!

They can pay you based on this year. It's called an in-year assessment of earnings.

I had this with overpayments (luckily it was 'only' about £700 @ £4k).

I wrote them letters and called them to keep them updated but they still insisted on overpaying us. They want to know every penny you earn but they won't listen when you tell them. The system is totally flawed, and most definately a farce.

yanbu
they are useless
told them we were not entitled to CTC from April this year, made it really clear why and all that.
so they stopped them.....fine, except they now say we owe for the year before......we don't as we were fully entitled then. arghh

lougle I was under that impression too. But the woman I spoke to today insisted that was not possible.

Why didn't they just pay me what I was actually due in the bloody first place?! Why would they think I was even ringing up with new information if it wasn't to make sure I was getting the right credits?

And surely I will never end up in credit/settled. Because as our wages go up, they will always then be paying me based on the year before, therefore overpay me, and I'll constantly be paying back?! wishes we earned more than £19k a year

They should be able to sort it, this clear as mud link may offer some help.

You can appeal the decision they have given. Make sure you have all the dates/times you spoke to the TC office.

I took up Tax Credits last year, they awarded me £56 per week which really helped out.

One day the payments just stopped. Turns out they had overpaid me £900.

They are not communicating with me in regards to how I am supposed to pay it back.

When I applied for TC, my friend said "Don't bother, I'm telling you now you will end up owing them money"

I chortled...

Having had lots of dealings with them myself my biggest advice is...

1. always get the name and call centre of the person you speak to.
2. make a note of the time of your call.
3. make notes of why you are ringing them and what their response is.
4. at the end clarify the purpose of your call and the action they are taking.

I spent over 2 years telling them about a change in my employment, proved it when they did a random check on me and they still overpaid.
If you can prove it was their mistake you can keep the money. I went through the complaints procedure twice, got transcripts of phonecalls (that they'd allegedly listened to) before they admitted their mistake.
If I'd had the time/energy I might have gone further to push for compensation for the phonecalls, time and stress getting it sorted when I had, clearly, done the 'right' thing.

They are utterly bloody useless. Last year they decided i wasn't entitled to anything at all, ever, and demanded it all back. I had to appeal and the appeal centre lost my documents and the phone number they gave me did not work and it was horrendously stressful until they decided, in their own sweet time, that i was due the money. great.

fast forward to this year and they announce that my tax credit is being cut from about £200 per month to £68. why? I am a lone parent, working in a low-paid job and i had the temerity to send my child to university! So much for encouraging low-income families to go to uni! I still can't believe it and i am now having to look for another job that brings in more money.

I stupidly haven't made notes of the dates/times I spoke to them. I sadly presumed that because i was ringing, and keeping them updated, they would get it right.

You have to report income changes of more than £5k, which I did.

The woman today says it doesn't matter because they don't apply the changes until the following year.

First year we applied, we took home £10k. We were barely awarded anything because the previous year we had earned £30k. The following year, we earned £12k, but they based it on £10k so we owed them. Now we owe them again.

At what point do we actually get the benefits we should have got for the year we only earned £10k?!!

I would suggest you write down everything you can remember in chronological order, check through any previous award statements to either jog your memory or to pick out any discrepancies and then raise the issue as a complaint. This will, hopefully, assign a single person to you who will be looking at the whole picture.

From here on, record everything and add it to your list. Keep all correspondence in chronological order (to make it easier).