Messed up tax credits, any advice much appreciated

[Namaste87]

Hi all I have just come across this website after frantically searching for days for advice in the hopes someone can help with some advice as I’m at a loss atm. I will try my best to explain my current situation as best as I can, I have been a lone parent for a number of years with 3 children and up until 2018 I received child tax credit and income support. Once my youngest daughter turned 5 in 2018 my income support too was stopped and after this I never received any guidance on what I should have moved to or claimed. I live with my mum and 3 children and look after my very sick mum and my son was diagnosed with autism in 2016 after a long wait for diagnosis which has prevented me from ever finding any work. I have got by on child tax credits as these always auto renewed and stupidly I never checked my rewards due to thinking not having any income would affect this as was based on children being in full time education which they are, I also thought that tax credits would know my income support ended as I assumed they were all part of the same department. Fast forward to present and I have my partner moving in been going through a traumatic couple of months and wanted to give things a try together so I update online my child tax credits to being in a couple, claim was ended and they sent out my provisional end notice I opened this to check and it still has me as receiving Income support which I’ve not had since 2018. I am now sick with worry at this and feel like there is no way out I’m unsure as I don’t seem to be getting any information CAB don’t seem to know etc. with all the changes to benefits and kids ages etc I am totally confused by it all. I guess I’m trying to find any advice if anyone has been through similar or if anyone knows anything regards this? Many thanks for listening and any advice offered

Hi what a worry. Just a thought surely income support is an extra amount you would have received separately is that correct? Therefore they would take that figure off any amount you were paid in UC wouldn't they ?
If you weren't receiving that £70 odd pounds a week surely that is better than receiving income support you hadn't declared? I'm sure they will huff and puff about it but just clarify they can't have overpaid you if you are no longer receiving that benefit - if anything they might have under paid you now you are without income support although very unlikely to backdate any award as you failed to notify them promptly. This musing is on the assumption you are not receiving any other benefit you have not declared such as carers allowance or jobseekers allowance or have any other undeclared income ?

Wow I didn't realise tax credits still existed, it ended in our area in 2016

Sorry posted too soon. Go to CAB, they have a solicitor who can help, you need proper advice here

I did explain to CAB but in my area they no longer have face to face meetings and when I spoke to them online they didn’t really have much advice for my situation thanks for your reply

Were you also claiming CA ?
If they thought you were receiving Income support and you haven't then if this does affect tax credits surely you would have been underpaid rather than overpaid ? It should be fairly easy to prove you haven't been paid the income support.
Now that you have moved in with your partner your tax credit claim will end and you will need to claim UC if eligible.

Thankyou for your reply I think in my area back then from what I’ve since looked into it appears I should have moved over to job seekers due to my child turning 5 im just terribly confused by it all as I assumed tax credits would have been updated of me not receiving income support my own fault essentially for not checking my renewals each year and assuming all was part of the same department. I didn’t realise I was able to claim for looking after my son and mum so was getting child tax credits only I’m just in a complete panic with it all

CAB seem to be pretty useless at times. Our local one told one of my clients this week that they didn't know the answer and just left her upset, they didn't even seem to attempt to find out or look up the rules. or the legislation, this was in relation to Income support too.

It is like a minefield and nowhere seems to be able to give advice as even the advisors seem to not understand how benefits work anymore due to the constant changes etc. I think also CAB doesn’t receive any funding anymore so are limited in what they can do at times relying on volunteers

I would not panic as likely would be an underpayment of tax credits. Either that or income support does not affect tax credits.
It's a shame you've missed out on carers allowance.
I think from 2018 all areas of the Uk were full service for Universal credit. When they ended your Income support claim they should have told you what you needed to claim really.

@EnglishBluebell a rolled out stop. So no new claims, then a process of moving everyone over.

Op you need to be looking locally for specific benefits specialist solicitors on legal aid organisations who can help. CAB are often voluntary people with little specific knowledge.

Give a country and area. Eg Scotland Perthshire or England London and people can post organisations who might be able to help.

You would have be entitled to the same amount of tax credits whether you claimed Income support or not.

My country is England and Liverpool I did try a solicitor but they also didn’t seem to know my situation and told me CaB don’t help much anymore due to lack of funding so I’m pretty much left to guess and worry myself sick over it

Would this be correct? Without an income as I assumed maybe without any income you wouldn’t be entitled ?

Benefits adviser here. If you had no income for tax credit purposes, your entitlement would have been the same as it would have been if you were in receipt of income support. You don’t need so worry.

@Namaste87 you may have been moved over to universal credit but you are unlikely to have a repayment

Hi thanks for your reply yes income support was all I received then this ended when child turned 5 I didn’t receive guidance what it if to move over to something else so I continued receiving child tax only but stupidly not checked my last fee years renewals as it always auto renewed. I was unable to go into work due to living with and looking after my mum who at the time of income support ending was having major surgery and dealing with my son who has autism who I didn’t even know I was able to claim help for either so it appears I should have really seeked a different support when income support ended. But I’m worried now as I don’t even know if I’d of been entitled to child tax credit if I had no other income sorry it’s all very confusing I’m trying to explain as best as I can

RAISE. Is first Google result. You may not have even been claiming what you were entitled to. Merseyside law centre drop in.

Tax credits unfortunately put the onus on you to report changes. I've appealed twice and won when it was their fault for actioning changes too slowly, and I had advised them. I too found no one could help me work out if I'd be better off in work 8 years ago! No one council, citizens advise etc would sit and work it out with me, and I'd class myself as fairly intelligent with a degree!
I am on universal credit now and much better off than with tax credits so like previous posters have said you may actually have been underpaid? Surely you'll be moved onto UC now too? Are there any tax credit online calculators about so you can work out how much you should of been paid to work out the variance in payments?

Ah ok i am worried that having zero income would affect this as on my renewals I’ve since looked at have me down as receiving the highest amount of CTC due to receiving income support and I’m worried sick now as I stupidly didn’t check previous renewals so they have thought I was actually receiving income support Thankyou so much for your reply this has eased my mind a little is this a situation you have seen before ?

Op take a deep breath and try to stop panicking. When your income support ended in 2018 you would have been told you needed to reclaim either universal credit or jobseekers. For some reason you missed them telling you that so you didn't do it. Because you haven't had any other income you have remained entitled to child tax credits since that date. In fact you should have had more income , not less. You have not been overpaid, and you will not have to repay anything as you haven't made any false declarations and you haven't been overpaid. What you need to do now is make new claims with your current circumstances.

You may not have anything to worry about here. Yes you should have declared the change in circs in 2018. The DWP and HMRC do not update each other that is your job as a claimant unfortunately in most circumstances. Although for UC if you are working the HMRC provides the monthly income data from wages reported by your employer so that your UC is adjusted each month to avoid the massive over and under payments that tax credits can create.

So from what you have described you have been under claiming if anything. You should make a claim for DLA for your son if he requires additional care and supervision in comparison with other children his age. You need to claim UC as a couple of your family income needs supplementing. You will be contacted if your tax credits claim has any overpayments but it seems unlikely if anything you will have been underpaid judging by the circumstances. If you get a letter from HMRC with an overpayment take that to CAB as then they will have something concrete to advise on. Many Citizens advice offices have a reduced service thanks to funding cuts but still have specialist debt teams that could help if there was a tax credits issue.

There’s no issue! And yes common scenario, seen all the time. We usually deal with much less innocuous failure to reports. This one will not generate an overpayment

Thankyou so much for your reassurance, would it not be seen as a false declaration if I ignored my tax credit renewals for those years though and didn’t update them to me not receiving income support anymore I’ve just heard so many horror stories of these sort of things I’m going out my mind with worry

Thankyou was your issue the same ? It really does seem to be a minefield and finding advice is literally none existent, I’m so glad I come across this group as I’ve had more advice here than anywhere

Thankyou What would you suggest would be best for me to do moving forward I have written a letter explaining my problem and sent it off but doesn’t like been received as yet I’m too anxious to even call so thought a letter would be better for me would this be advisable ? I’m worried with it being so long and 3 kids on my claim this would be a massive amount if they deem I’ve been negligent