Page 14 | To think this is DISGRACEFUL! Massive tax credits overpayment!

CrumblingKnees · 2023-03-11T15:57:04+00:00

Just furious that common sense is not prevailing and I am essentially being robbed of money by HMRC! So, twin DC finished education in summer 2021. Both have a disability, DH works but we were entitled to tax credits as wage not massive and we got the higher rate due to disability. I remember getting a letter saying tax credits would stop from August 31st due to this. Was aware and knew I’d have to find a job to cover the shortfall. Payments stopped and I then started working in November 2021. I do remember getting some letters from them but ignored as as far as I was concerned claim had ended (stupid I know). Youngest was diagnosed with a serious illness last summer and I’ve been a bit of a mess, not keeping on top of things like I normally am. Anyway got a letter from them a few weeks ago saying we’d been overpaid almost £2,000! Shocked, rang and basically they’d added on my work income from November onwards to my tax credit claim for that year (it was not closed). I assumed claim had ended in August and if it had been there would be no overpayment! I’ve explained this and filed a dispute. They’ve come back today and said that as I didn’t dispute before the end of Jan the overpayment stands and we need to pay it! AIBU to think this is a pisstake and totally wrong for a government agency to take money from families like this?

OnlyFannys · 15/03/2023 17:14

I earn too much to receive any benefits...apparently my child is not valid?

Florissant · 15/03/2023 17:28

OnlyFannys · 15/03/2023 17:14

I earn too much to receive any benefits...apparently my child is not valid?

I regret to inform you...

Lovelyveg82 · 15/03/2023 17:32

No when I saw thick envelopes from tax credits, knowing we no longer had a claim and thinking it was just the normal 10 page letter saying we had no entitlement, I tossed them in a cabinet!

did the op ever clarify how she squared thinking the letter said “we had no entitlement” and the fact that money was being deposited in her account?

OnlyFannys · 15/03/2023 17:38

Florissant · 15/03/2023 17:28

I regret to inform you...

Show quote history

Off to have an awkward conversation...

BadNomad · 15/03/2023 17:40

Lovelyveg82 · 15/03/2023 17:32

No when I saw thick envelopes from tax credits, knowing we no longer had a claim and thinking it was just the normal 10 page letter saying we had no entitlement, I tossed them in a cabinet!

did the op ever clarify how she squared thinking the letter said “we had no entitlement” and the fact that money was being deposited in her account?

She did not receive any money after she informed them she would be starting work.

Lovelyveg82 · 15/03/2023 17:54

They added on my work income FROM NOVEMBER AFTER payments ended and we were no longer entitled to tax credits.

what is all the

Lovelyveg82 · 15/03/2023 17:54

Sorry.

posted too soon.

the op has got herself in a pickle

BadNomad · 15/03/2023 18:10

-- OP stopped receiving tax credits in August
-- OP started work in November
-- Letters sent to OP saying her tax credits will be recalculated based on her new income
-- OP ignored the letters because she didn't expect them to be anything important seeing as she hadn't had any tax credit since August and was no longer entitled.
-- Letter sent to OP saying, due to her new income, she has been overpaid tax credits
-- OP assumed this was an error. She now knows it wasn't.

That's the simple short story.

fitzwilliamdarcy · 15/03/2023 19:18

@thismamayogi So you find it unfair that you don’t get CTC for three of your kids, but you don’t want the taxpayer paying for your children, but you should be paid by the government for your job of SAHM?

Make it make sense.

RedHelenB · 15/03/2023 19:25

CrumblingKnees · 11/03/2023 16:08

We didn’t receive any payments from August that year @Ilikewinter . As far as I was aware claim had stopped as we were not entitled. I started work in November 3 months after payments ended.

Have I not explained it clearly enough?

The year would run from April to Aoril though. So that 4 months would naybe have nudged that years income up so that you would be entitled to less tax credits.

thismamayogi · 15/03/2023 19:46

Lovelyveg82 · 15/03/2023 16:52

none of us have beds. So myself and DH also on mattress on floor. We are breadline and have never been able to afford it, but we are all happy with mattresses on the floor.

and yet you say that you still would have had five children even if you received no benefits whatsoever? I can’t fathom making that choice when even with hundreds of pounds of benefits a month (CB and UC) you can’t afford beds for your children

Why the vendetta?
we pay nearly £2000 rent a month.
we have a child with such severe mental health needs that after being in and out of camhs for years she was deemed too complex. They tried to section her to a residential unit “to give her carers a break” (that’s us) but we resisted because we didn’t want her sent away. There are no services that can support her level of need so we care for her alone. This means I have 22 hour days between the baby getting up at 4.30 am and my eldest with needs being up til about 2 or 2.30. DH works long hours including weekends. We spend most of what we have on lifestyle modifications to make life bearable for DD1 who we often have on suicide watch - and we share those duties between the two of us. As I home educate we spend what we can on basic resources to assist with that. “Hundreds of pounds in benefits” doesn’t stretch into a lifestyle of luxury for seven under exacting circumstances and when rent has increased by about 50% in the space of a year. Our landlord decided to sell and we were evicted, having to pay for an unplanned house move. We had to move miles away from our area and from my elderly mother - my Dad died three years ago and we see a lot of her as support - she is eighty now and travel is involved in being present for her. Petrol is expensive. My kids have beds, just not bedsteads and we don’t have one either and we don’t mind living simply that way.
one child has piano lessons, one ballet lessons and one adores animals and is horse mad - we save up for her to have a riding session every couple of months and try to do a petting farm or similar in between. These pursuits seem more important than beds - or bedsteads to be exact.
anyone who has a special needs child may understand the level of extra expense involved.
I am a registered carer for my daughter - there is no one else who is able to look after her for extended periods and no one else available to help with even ad hoc care. She can be volatile and is very idiosyncratic. When assessed by the local authority’s EP he said he didn’t know how we do what we do but parents do that, don’t we?
No we aren’t well off and no we don’t squander our benefits and since when is this a witch hunt for the random poster? Have I attacked you this way? Have you sat up at 1 am waiting for the sound of your child’s sharp intake of breath through a door as they run a knife over their wrist? Again? This stuff wasn’t relevant but maybe now it is. I had a cancer scare followed by two miscarriages in the space of a year and then my rainbow baby nearly died last year after being born growth restricted. There was no one to help look after the other kids while I was in hospital and DD1 nearly lost it. so I got a cab back every night to put my kids to bed and so DH could rest for a couple hours and the cost came to hundreds. So I didn’t eat during that time. DH took maximum time off work and runs a small business with less than ten people which takes a hit if he isn’t there.
my little tribe of kids have each other. When DH and I are dead and gone there will likely be no one in the world to care for DD1 and to love and understand her - it haunts me. Her siblings are the best thing that has ever happened to her, to me and to each other. I owe you nothing. Get the fuck off my back.

thismamayogi · 15/03/2023 19:51

Here’s the thing.
It appears these days there are always acceptable views and unacceptable ones.

I was naive enough to imagine an online mothers forum would be a supportive sort of space where things like mothers and children were celebrated, in all ways. Boy was I wrong. It’s like being a SAHM with lots of kids is akin to walking into the houses of others and stealing their cash or being part of a cult intent on some kind of social horror.
It seems that what everyone wants is to validate their own specific choices by damning those of others.

In my view there are:

Mums who also work outside the home and want to because of needing the mental stimulation, or who want to further careers. There are mums who work outside the home also who have to because it’s the only set up that works financially, but who also appreciate the change of scenery and the adult environment. There are mums who work outside the home also who wish they didn’t have to and feel trapped by the system and would like to find a way to be stay at home mums. There are mums who work outside the home also who don’t have to but feel they should.
There are mums who stay at home who do so because it is expected of them and they wish they didn’t have to. There are mums who work only at home who feel trapped and underqualified to enter or re enter the workforce outside the home. There are mums who stay at home who are depressed and desperate and guilt ridden because they thought they wanted to be stay at home mums but dream of being able to work outside the home as well and don’t know how to effectively change their mind. There are mums who are stay at home mums who choose to do so and who work hard and love what they do and therefore are well suited to the role and the choice. There are mums who stay at home who love it but feel they could do with more support and aren’t sure of their choice. And there are mums who work outside the home who are stressed and barely able to make ends meet and who have no idea what their choice would be but do not have opportunity to even think about it. And there are mums who stay at home who are stressed and pushed to an edge and who don’t know what their choice would really be but have no chance to think about it.

They are all valuable excellent mothers who are doing their best for their beloved children and to keep their families together.

I have never yet met a mother who wasn’t genuinely trying to do her best for her children.

It looks different for different families and all the choices are totally valid and should be supported. All mums should be valued for all the work they do - and should be able to survive and be let to live as they choose. All mothers should have sufficient to make their life work and to live in peace.

I have no worries at all whatsoever about my opinion that OP should be allowed to keep the money she was given. I don’t feel she is taking it from anyone else - it doesn’t work that way. The government is not going to take that money back and redistribute it fairly amongst those more deserving. I don’t care two hoots if she gets to keep it because she was obfuscated by a tricky system - she is genuinely doing the best for her family and the impact of having a debt will be so negative.

We are all doing our best and we have all made valid if different choices. And although it seems totally idealistic, I believe every mother should and could be remunerated for all the work she does, in that she is doing her best and deserves to live without worry or judgement.

That’s kinda what I have meant all along but sheesh, apparently instead I just made out everyone should pay for my ridiculous and selfish choices and we all should be looking over everyone else’s shoulder to make sure they don’t have too much…..

Cos that’s the way community works right.

Debate is great - prejudice not so much. And mumsnet bloody sucks.

Florissant · 15/03/2023 20:04

And mumsnet bloody sucks.

Your long, whiny, self-pitying screeds would not be missed if you decided that MN was not for you.

blumppump · 15/03/2023 20:06

thismamayogi · 15/03/2023 19:51

Here’s the thing.
It appears these days there are always acceptable views and unacceptable ones.

I was naive enough to imagine an online mothers forum would be a supportive sort of space where things like mothers and children were celebrated, in all ways. Boy was I wrong. It’s like being a SAHM with lots of kids is akin to walking into the houses of others and stealing their cash or being part of a cult intent on some kind of social horror.
It seems that what everyone wants is to validate their own specific choices by damning those of others.

In my view there are:

Mums who also work outside the home and want to because of needing the mental stimulation, or who want to further careers. There are mums who work outside the home also who have to because it’s the only set up that works financially, but who also appreciate the change of scenery and the adult environment. There are mums who work outside the home also who wish they didn’t have to and feel trapped by the system and would like to find a way to be stay at home mums. There are mums who work outside the home also who don’t have to but feel they should.
There are mums who stay at home who do so because it is expected of them and they wish they didn’t have to. There are mums who work only at home who feel trapped and underqualified to enter or re enter the workforce outside the home. There are mums who stay at home who are depressed and desperate and guilt ridden because they thought they wanted to be stay at home mums but dream of being able to work outside the home as well and don’t know how to effectively change their mind. There are mums who are stay at home mums who choose to do so and who work hard and love what they do and therefore are well suited to the role and the choice. There are mums who stay at home who love it but feel they could do with more support and aren’t sure of their choice. And there are mums who work outside the home who are stressed and barely able to make ends meet and who have no idea what their choice would be but do not have opportunity to even think about it. And there are mums who stay at home who are stressed and pushed to an edge and who don’t know what their choice would really be but have no chance to think about it.

They are all valuable excellent mothers who are doing their best for their beloved children and to keep their families together.

I have never yet met a mother who wasn’t genuinely trying to do her best for her children.

It looks different for different families and all the choices are totally valid and should be supported. All mums should be valued for all the work they do - and should be able to survive and be let to live as they choose. All mothers should have sufficient to make their life work and to live in peace.

I have no worries at all whatsoever about my opinion that OP should be allowed to keep the money she was given. I don’t feel she is taking it from anyone else - it doesn’t work that way. The government is not going to take that money back and redistribute it fairly amongst those more deserving. I don’t care two hoots if she gets to keep it because she was obfuscated by a tricky system - she is genuinely doing the best for her family and the impact of having a debt will be so negative.

We are all doing our best and we have all made valid if different choices. And although it seems totally idealistic, I believe every mother should and could be remunerated for all the work she does, in that she is doing her best and deserves to live without worry or judgement.

That’s kinda what I have meant all along but sheesh, apparently instead I just made out everyone should pay for my ridiculous and selfish choices and we all should be looking over everyone else’s shoulder to make sure they don’t have too much…..

Cos that’s the way community works right.

Debate is great - prejudice not so much. And mumsnet bloody sucks.

Here's the thing.

If you have more and more children and can't provide proper beds for them people are going to judge you.

Lovelyveg82 · 15/03/2023 20:10

I honestly l could not bring myself to read a very very very long post thag really could just be condensed to…

I have 5 kids. I had multiple children despite fact “we are on the poverty line” (according to the other thread)
And on this thread I’m pissed off i am not remunerated for being SAHM and I’m horrified at how unfair the system is that I don’t get more money from the government for my three most recent children.

waaah waaah waaah

Capricornone1 · 15/03/2023 20:12

Looks like your fault OP 🤷🏻‍♀️

Lovelyveg82 · 15/03/2023 20:14

I was a sahm for 7 years 🤷‍♀️
its bigger all to do with you being a sahm
and everything to you wanting more money for your multiple children that you continued to to have despite being a very very low income family that you describe yourself as being “on the poverty” and that’s with benefits (oh but you would still have 5 children even without the benefits you currently receive. So if you’re on the poverty line with benefits, what the heck for you think your children’s life would be without?)

Lovelyveg82 · 15/03/2023 20:14

Bugger all

Lovelyveg82 · 15/03/2023 20:15

apparently instead I just made out everyone should pay for my ridiculous and selfish choices

yep. Finally you’ve got it

SlashBeef · 15/03/2023 22:11

thismamayogi · 15/03/2023 19:46

Why the vendetta?
we pay nearly £2000 rent a month.
we have a child with such severe mental health needs that after being in and out of camhs for years she was deemed too complex. They tried to section her to a residential unit “to give her carers a break” (that’s us) but we resisted because we didn’t want her sent away. There are no services that can support her level of need so we care for her alone. This means I have 22 hour days between the baby getting up at 4.30 am and my eldest with needs being up til about 2 or 2.30. DH works long hours including weekends. We spend most of what we have on lifestyle modifications to make life bearable for DD1 who we often have on suicide watch - and we share those duties between the two of us. As I home educate we spend what we can on basic resources to assist with that. “Hundreds of pounds in benefits” doesn’t stretch into a lifestyle of luxury for seven under exacting circumstances and when rent has increased by about 50% in the space of a year. Our landlord decided to sell and we were evicted, having to pay for an unplanned house move. We had to move miles away from our area and from my elderly mother - my Dad died three years ago and we see a lot of her as support - she is eighty now and travel is involved in being present for her. Petrol is expensive. My kids have beds, just not bedsteads and we don’t have one either and we don’t mind living simply that way.
one child has piano lessons, one ballet lessons and one adores animals and is horse mad - we save up for her to have a riding session every couple of months and try to do a petting farm or similar in between. These pursuits seem more important than beds - or bedsteads to be exact.
anyone who has a special needs child may understand the level of extra expense involved.
I am a registered carer for my daughter - there is no one else who is able to look after her for extended periods and no one else available to help with even ad hoc care. She can be volatile and is very idiosyncratic. When assessed by the local authority’s EP he said he didn’t know how we do what we do but parents do that, don’t we?
No we aren’t well off and no we don’t squander our benefits and since when is this a witch hunt for the random poster? Have I attacked you this way? Have you sat up at 1 am waiting for the sound of your child’s sharp intake of breath through a door as they run a knife over their wrist? Again? This stuff wasn’t relevant but maybe now it is. I had a cancer scare followed by two miscarriages in the space of a year and then my rainbow baby nearly died last year after being born growth restricted. There was no one to help look after the other kids while I was in hospital and DD1 nearly lost it. so I got a cab back every night to put my kids to bed and so DH could rest for a couple hours and the cost came to hundreds. So I didn’t eat during that time. DH took maximum time off work and runs a small business with less than ten people which takes a hit if he isn’t there.
my little tribe of kids have each other. When DH and I are dead and gone there will likely be no one in the world to care for DD1 and to love and understand her - it haunts me. Her siblings are the best thing that has ever happened to her, to me and to each other. I owe you nothing. Get the fuck off my back.

Show quote history

And yet in all the chaos of your life you chose to have 5 (!!) kids and still don't understand why people don't think the tax payer should support that. I have four children myself, I don't have any judgement for big families but these kids aren't anyone else's responsibility. You can't actively chose to live a dumpster fire of a lifestyle whilst simultaneously appearing to be surprised that it's a bit tough and you're broke. You say the kids have each other like it's a guarantee they won't grow up resentful and pissed off about a childhood spent in poverty without even a bed of their own. I wouldn't be do confident about them supporting each other as adults. I'm honestly just aghast.

letthemalldoone · 15/03/2023 23:26

I so very angry and horrified by people like you and your massive sense of entitlement!!! I didn't knock my pan in working full-time and rearing my three children also full-time to pay for a brood of children that you fecklessly decided to have and expect people like me to pay for yours!! What planet are you actually on? How dare you expect taxpayers to subsidise your choices?

Your children won't thank you in the long run for this travesty of a childhood and they could just as well grow up to hate each other too. You can never guarantee anything.

And don't you dare try to pull the sympathy card either. I also had two miscarriage. I've had a cancer scare too, followed by surgery. I lost both parents young right after each other. BUT I have taken full financial responsibility for rearing the children that DH and I CHOSE to have.

Your poor child enduring all that amongst the chaos of her homelife which she can't even escape from to go to school. You knew your DD's needs when you opted to have a 5th baby - do you think someone should also come and look after them too? You literally made your bed (that you, your husband and poor little kids don't even have!!) ... and you expect me, my family, my friends, my colleagues to support you and pay for your kids as well as our own??? Really??? Benefits - my arse, never received any bar child benefit and paid through our fucking noses for every other thing in our children's lives. Why on earth should I have limited the size of my family to what we could reasonably afford subsidise your choice to have a large family that you can't afford off your own back? You might as well be coming into my house and stealing my money.

I am also aghast. What is wrong with people??!!

letthemalldoone · 15/03/2023 23:44

thismamayogi · 14/03/2023 18:10

Blimey. The very idea of savings is so foreign to me that it is laughable. But still the digs about having five children and thinking it seems unfair that only two get tax credits. I’m not asking for unfair handouts - I’m pointing out the inherent unfairness in the system. As I said, we get by. The unfairness is still there, despite the “ceiling” on children - because people are allowed a decent amount of savings and can still claim. Whereas some, like us, have no savings at all. And the same limits on the tax credits.
it’s ridiculous to keep going on about us having kids after the rules changed - who here seriously makes decisions like bringing new life into the world according to the whim of the latest chancellor or inept government? I mean, really? That’s like inviting a cabinet minister into my bedroom practically - leaning over my bed checking we’ve got the contraception all sorted thank you very much.
there's so much injustice baked into the system it seems silly to defend this one fairly minor point as if it’s an anomaly. We rent - and have to pay vastly more than friends and relatives who are eligible for mortgages because they have more income - how is that fair? We pay huge amounts of rent and hence the tax credits are a necessity. Yet we have to rent because we don’t want enough to be ok’d for a mortgage. If we could get a mortgage and pay less on housing we’d be able to make more of a go of things. But there’s very little recourse for renters. We have been evicted twice because the landlord simply decided to sell.
so talking systemic injustice could go on forever - acting like every family with more than two kids who feels the tax credits system is unjust is just a stereotyped freeloading low IQ, socially callous set of people trying to live off of everyone else is disastrously myopic and narrow minded.

Here's a thing - how about you get off your backside and fund your own lifestyle? Like the majority of the rest of us?

Or should the taxpayer be expected to buy you a house too? NEWSFLASH - most people with savings will have worked, you know, earned actual money in order to be able to save, so don't whinge that you don't have any savings - totally your choice!! And you say, "how is that fair?"!!!!!!!

There's plenty of systemic injustice, particularly for middle earners but my god, you are not a victim!!

I can't imagine you're going to stop at 5 children either are you - you will need an insurance policy for when they start to grow up.

Appalling and unbelievable! You think you should be paid to be a sahm - well in that case, pay all mothers a 'salary' including those working in gainful paid employment because let's face it, the responsibilities are the same! Don't come crying the poor mouth either when you are the one playing the benefits system.

Lovelyveg82 · 16/03/2023 05:50

and in that chaos of a baby plus four other children, one of whom with very high needs…. You home educate all your children.

WTAF

Messyhair321 · 16/03/2023 20:50

Babyroobs · 12/03/2023 18:53

Appeal what ? Doesn't sound like there's anything to appeal. It's just that op didn't understand how tax credits work which is totally understandable but appealing isn't going to help.

Show quote history

I appealed a similar decision ie an overpayment from tax credits so it can be done. It will say "if you don't agree with this you can appeal"... at the end of the letter.

berksandbeyond · 17/03/2023 07:55

thismamayogi · 15/03/2023 19:51

Here’s the thing.
It appears these days there are always acceptable views and unacceptable ones.

I was naive enough to imagine an online mothers forum would be a supportive sort of space where things like mothers and children were celebrated, in all ways. Boy was I wrong. It’s like being a SAHM with lots of kids is akin to walking into the houses of others and stealing their cash or being part of a cult intent on some kind of social horror.
It seems that what everyone wants is to validate their own specific choices by damning those of others.

In my view there are:

Mums who also work outside the home and want to because of needing the mental stimulation, or who want to further careers. There are mums who work outside the home also who have to because it’s the only set up that works financially, but who also appreciate the change of scenery and the adult environment. There are mums who work outside the home also who wish they didn’t have to and feel trapped by the system and would like to find a way to be stay at home mums. There are mums who work outside the home also who don’t have to but feel they should.
There are mums who stay at home who do so because it is expected of them and they wish they didn’t have to. There are mums who work only at home who feel trapped and underqualified to enter or re enter the workforce outside the home. There are mums who stay at home who are depressed and desperate and guilt ridden because they thought they wanted to be stay at home mums but dream of being able to work outside the home as well and don’t know how to effectively change their mind. There are mums who are stay at home mums who choose to do so and who work hard and love what they do and therefore are well suited to the role and the choice. There are mums who stay at home who love it but feel they could do with more support and aren’t sure of their choice. And there are mums who work outside the home who are stressed and barely able to make ends meet and who have no idea what their choice would be but do not have opportunity to even think about it. And there are mums who stay at home who are stressed and pushed to an edge and who don’t know what their choice would really be but have no chance to think about it.

They are all valuable excellent mothers who are doing their best for their beloved children and to keep their families together.

I have never yet met a mother who wasn’t genuinely trying to do her best for her children.

It looks different for different families and all the choices are totally valid and should be supported. All mums should be valued for all the work they do - and should be able to survive and be let to live as they choose. All mothers should have sufficient to make their life work and to live in peace.

I have no worries at all whatsoever about my opinion that OP should be allowed to keep the money she was given. I don’t feel she is taking it from anyone else - it doesn’t work that way. The government is not going to take that money back and redistribute it fairly amongst those more deserving. I don’t care two hoots if she gets to keep it because she was obfuscated by a tricky system - she is genuinely doing the best for her family and the impact of having a debt will be so negative.

We are all doing our best and we have all made valid if different choices. And although it seems totally idealistic, I believe every mother should and could be remunerated for all the work she does, in that she is doing her best and deserves to live without worry or judgement.

That’s kinda what I have meant all along but sheesh, apparently instead I just made out everyone should pay for my ridiculous and selfish choices and we all should be looking over everyone else’s shoulder to make sure they don’t have too much…..

Cos that’s the way community works right.

Debate is great - prejudice not so much. And mumsnet bloody sucks.

It seems to me that you have made a series of terrible decisions and now your kids will be the ones who will suffer. No financially stability, no help up into the world and you won’t even allow them to have a proper education so that they can have a better life one day? I don’t understand people like you at all! So selfish, you wanted 5 kids so you had them, who cares that the 5 kids have crap lives eh!