Tax credits system so complex that it is abused by fraudsters, misunderstood by claimants and mismanaged by officials

[onceinalifetime]

Apparently. How can they pay £1.5bn of tax credits out in error and I'm still not entitled to anything? Colleague of mine on similar salary/situation but only one child, not two, has just had hers bumped from £100 per week to £250 per week for no apparent reason! I don't get it.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7505860.stm

The Tax Credits department is shit.

and why do they always send two of everything to each named person

I wish I'd never claimed.We are another family who get nothing towards childcare,despite earning well under the upper limits.This resulted in me not working for as many hours as I could have done,due to not being able to afford childcare.

Then the Tax credit people made a mistake & doubled my childcare costs,and started paying me money towards them.I was astounded-all those years I'd been told there was no help available,and here,it apparently was.If I'd known that, I would have worked longer hours years ago.Anyway,I told them it was an error,but I was repeatedly told that it wasn't,there was no money to be paid back.For over 2 months I phoned,begging them to stop paying me,as I knew I wasn't entitled & I'd have to pay it back,but was still told that it was all correct.

Guess what?This year I recieve a letter saying that I owe them £1988.A few weeks later I get another one saying I owe them £2000 and they will reclaim it from my future payments.As we get the very minimum family element,it is going to take them about 4 years by my reckoning.I just want to ring them & tell them to leave us alone,I don't want anything to do with them again ever.

I have several friends who have never claimed tax credits & they say this sort of cock up is the reason why.

oooh, I have a question...does anyone know what happens when you have another baby?

I am due in september and duly rang and told them and asked what I had to do as my circumstances were going to change. I spoke to someone who didnt really sound like they knew what they were talking about and he basially said that I contact them after babys birth but that I wouldnt get any more TC until April 2009 (next financial year)

Is that right?? You get CHB straight after the child is born so why is TC different?

No thats not right Bec. Call us after baby is born and your TC will be recalculated to include 1 extra child element and the baby element (which you get until child is 1) can take a week or so to go through but you certainly don't have to wait until next tax year.
I hate it when people are given wrong advice on the simplest thing it makes us all look stupid

why do they send two copies of everything

Thank you very much Boredveryverybored

I had a feeling it was wrong - he didnt really seem to be listening to me.....

(Must just point out that I have had no problems at all with the TC system, apart from not getting the right advice re: new baby)

We send out a copy of everything to each person in the household because we had a lot of instances were people were not reporting changes aking istakes on claims etc and then telling us that their dp/dh takes all the post and they don't see it. Equally had a lot of people saying that dp/dh were aking changes etc without thier knowledge.
So now we send out a copy of paperwork to each person for every renewal award and for every change made

It sounds like such an unbelievably expensive system to administer - there must be a better way. Wouldn't it just be simpler to increase everyone's child benefit regardless of their situation. Ok, some people wouldn't need the money but it would limit all the fraud, overpaying and the whole additional administrative set-up, staff, computer systems, etc. Sorry, boredverybored, I'm talking you out of a job here - nothing personal - if they were all as helpful as you, the bloody thing might work properly.

Trying to find several hours I can set aside to having another go at seeing if I am entitled to anything.

how bonkers by that argument you would get two utility bills and two car insurance etc

Don't spend money if you think you shouldn't be getting it! I checked three times and was told all is correct then got letter over a year later saying I had to pay it all back. Luckily it had been sitting in my savings account as I had heard so many horror stories about people being over paid.

i seem to have been paying the tc back for the past 4 years. as they work it out wrong every year, then say we owe them, they even stopped our payments for 6 months, luckily i have a working life balance lady who we can contact as i work in the NHS and she has sorted out lots of peoples problems.
i recieved 3 years of backpays in feb, due to my work having me on the wrong payband and after a big fight our union got a lot of us all our backpay, but now it is going to affect my tc and i doubt i will get anything now for this coming year (still waiting for them to tell what we are entitled)

Ours was continually miscalculated and we'd get some, then need to pay it back, then recieve more only to be told a few mths/years later to pay it back it was a constant rollercoaster it was ridiculous and drove me mad trying to sort it all out. Now we just don't claim.

This system cost the taxpayer £582m to adminster last year.

And then there are the billions of pounds worth of errors.

They're are shitty shite!

Of course, the tax people on lower incomes less and raise the personal threshhold ideas were not acceptable for some unknown reason

So we get this, from Gordon Clown and Darling 'we cannot afford inflationary wage increases'.

If they only put the £582m into the wages increases we wouldn't need the tax credit [ahhh emotion]

£97 per person (man, woman and child) in this country - and gordon clowny goes on about people not wasting food [another ahh emotion]

boredveryverybored you realise now you have been ousted as a Tax Credit 'insider' you will have to become the MN Tax Credit Expert (if you aren't already! ) I am compiling a list of questions and you should have your own topic header!!!

I have looked on entitledto.com and it appears that I am entitled to teh basic 545 per year - I am single parent on good income but also have really high outgoings rent of r #1300 per month for a fairly poky terrace house.

However although that money would be really handy I am too scared to claim it in case I get into an overpayment situation.

Also don't qualify for housing benefit but not a priority for any housing association or social housing either. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The property ladder is all very well unless you fall off it due to adverse circumstances - in my case divorce

Hi. We are currently claiming tax credits but having been screwed over previously we are putting the money we get into a seperate account so if they demand it back we have it available. They demanded £3500 back in 2005. BE WARNED!!!

Apart from obvious deliberate fraud i think the main reason for overpayments is the system of estimating earnings for the coming year. Very few people will earn exactly the same amount from one year to the next, so when the estimates are checked aginst actual they are more than likely diffeent resulting in over(under)payment.

This coupled with a poor computer system(wasnt it built by the same company that cocked up NIRS2?)and Id imagine inadequate training for staff, is the reason for all the mistakes.

By the way is it true that tax credit staff are so low paid most of the ae claiming taxcredis themselves?

So boredveryverybored - I'm guessing you'll get quite a few questions coming your way...

I've just sent in a claim form:

1. How long should it take before I see any payments? Helpful lady on the phone said we'd get £39pw.

2. Last tax year I worked 30hrs pw, now down to 22.5 - Is it all done retrospectively? So The fact that I've dropped my hous won't actually show until April 2009 when I receive my p60?

Am confused! Thanks for any advice!

Fio, TC staff are paid well above min wage. We are however given huge range of choice in hrs to work. Only real reason I do this job is that is only decent job that will allow me to work school hours and pay a good wage. But I obv work PT and am single parent with childcare so I personally do claim TC. Among my close colleagues, I don't know any other that's claiming. Oh and I spent months in training and have weekly training updates
The official guideline is that claims aim to be dealt with within 2 weeks but it really depends on circs, if yours are straightforward you'll hear back fast, certainly within a fortnight I think.
As a general rule TC are paid retrospectively, we base calcs on previous years earnings.
There is a drop in WTC payments if you go from 30hrs or over to less. IME the drop in hrs and subsequesnt drop in money will take immediate effect...obv when we can pay you less we do so with immediate effect. (You never heard me slagging off the system...really you didn't )

last year I was classed as working as was on mylast month of unpaid maternity leave (last april.)

Do I really need to call them to tell them I'm not working, will it make any difference to my payments??

You do need to call and tell us. If we have you as working on the system we'll be paying you working tax credits. It will all be classed as an overpayment if we keep paying you while you're not working. hth

Every time I've rang I get a recorded message telling me they are so busy I should try later. I must pick the worst times.