A letter from Concentrix oh behalf of HM REVENUE

[Howes68]

Hello please help if you can , I am worried sick , I got a letter from the above , the letter states We need to talk to you about whether you are living with a partner , I claim tax credit as a single person , they are saying that they have evidence that there may be another ault living with me , I do have a bf whom stays 3 days a week , they wish me to call , and are asking in the letter for Bills, tent from 06 April 2014 to Jan 2015 , scared they are going to horrible on the phone not sure what to make if it , feel sick , any tips or help would be great thank you

It really is an utter shamblesd. I wonder if we can start some sort of petition to get it all looked at? Maybe we all need to get our daily fail sadfaces on and contact as many press offices as we can?

I'm worrying I won't get my documents back now either as I didn't send a signed for envelope. They have both mine and my ex's original copies of our maintainence agreement, my original copy of my tenancy agreement, bank statements for the last 3 years.

I'm really fortunate I've got an understanding employer as all my breakdowns at work could have forced me into sick leave and then I'd have been truly fucked!!!!

Has anyone received a payment after the "deadline" while hmrc were making a decision? I get paid this week but I'm two days down as dd was sick and in hospital and what's left won't cover the bills!!!

AdmiralCLingus my deadline was the 15th march and I received my normal payment on Thursday,also an extra payment on Friday for child tax credits!! Then what a surprise got a letter from them this afternoon at 2pm informing me I don't qualify for wtc only ctc as my hours have changed from 16 to 15?? What on earth is going on,my hours haven't changed I still work 16 hours sometimes 18 hours a week. They sent me a letter in feb asking me to confirm my living arrangements as they had evidence I was living with a partner ( I share my house with a friend) I replied and sent receipts for everything I pay out but I certainly haven't told them I've changed my hours because they haven't changed. So yes it's a complete shambles I don't think they have a clue what they're doing to be honest so another phone call to them on Monday morning to try again to sort this out,incidentally no reply from the letter I sent them regarding my living arrangement so frustrating I could SCREAM

Oh and another thing the letter I got today also kindly tells me I've been overpaid n have to pay them back but I HAVEN'T changed my hours they went from 22 to 16 in November 2014 I rang n told them and they changed my award stupid people

This is one of the things that really gets me!!! THEY are the ones saying "oh yes xyz" and then its us that gets penalised when its actually wrong?!

I'd kick up a fuss about them changing your details without your permission! Its worrying what else they might have cocked up in the meantime!

We should start a protest about getting these people adequate training!!!!

Well AdmiralCLingus I agree with you there,I did think about starting some sort of support group regardless of the outcome with my own situation. I haven't a clue where to start to be honest but going through the stress and sleepless nights has really made me think about this so any ideas or advice would be appreciated. These people are bullies and incompetent bullies at that!! they don't seem to know what they're doing my letter today has made me realize that,how dare they assume my hours of changed god knows where they dreamt that up,they wrote to me asking about my living arrangements not my bloody hours yet the only reply I've had from them is the one I got today telling me my hours have changed and I OWE them money. I don't know what I'll do if I lose my wtc I struggle enough with them.

It seems clear that HMRC don't know what they are doing. Small wonder, as all government agencies have been getting rid of the established civil servants for the last few years and taking on apprentices. they don't know what they are doing, there is nobody to ask, as they made all the experienced staff redundant, so the mess just gets deeper.

Admiral, i didn't send a reply paid envelope for my documents either - i just told them that if they were lost, i would be holding them responsible and suing for the cost of a new divorce certificate and emotional distress. while the money would be peanuts to them, the publicity would hurt. we should all be contacting MPS, MSPs/members of the Welsh parliament and every news organisation that we can to alert the rest of the UK that this is happening. It is a disgrace!

I certainly won't be voting Tory in the election, you can rest assured of that!

Redhead I didn't send a reply paid envelope either,I didn't when I had the exact same letter two years ago but I did eventually get everything back. Good for you for telling them you would sue if your documents got lost,they demand all of our important documents the least they can do is ensure they are returned safely maybe that's too easy for them! What gets me is a lot of us on here have received our letters on a Saturday and as my letter was sent by tax credits and not concentrix I have no choice but to wait until Monday to phone them I've spent Five weeks worrying about this and still not sorted,it's unacceptable they pick on people like us who are trying to do the best we can for our children and its bloody unfair

I have contacted my mp but she seems utterly disinterested and I've had no reply other than "we are looking into it" so I feel that's a wasted avenue for me!

Perhaps we should start a separate thread where we can list the agencies we've contacted or something? I just don't know where to start,but SOMETHING needs to be done!

I got an automated reply from my MP and a promise to follow up within 15 days. I haven't heard anything from her since. Perhaps I should follow up with my MSP, too.

Morgan i hope you can get this sorted soon. I know that when my letter arrived last week saying everything was fine, I was almost too scared to open it. It was an overwhelming relief, but I am still very angry that I had to go through all the worry and hassle yet again. I am fed up jumping through hoops for them, only to be accused of fraud.

Thank you for your comment Redhead11,what I don't understand is why have I got a reply telling me my working tax credits have stopped as my hours have gone down to 15 when my hours haven't changed,my first letter was to tell me I was living with a partner and I had to prove otherwise!! Nothing to do with my hours,I rang them in November to tell them my hours changed from 22 to 16 and they amended my award 2 days later,I feel worse than I did before I struggle with my tax credits so I don't know what il do without them so worried now

Morgan97 do you have wage slips as evidence ? A letter from your employer even. What a shambles. , I really feel for so many people on here. Perhaps complain . They can't do this to you.! You shouldn't be penalised for being honest with them !

It is possible that expenses can be claimed back from HMRC/Concentrix, save those receipts, log those phone calls. I everyone claimed back the costs of print, post, phone it would be an office nightmare for them.

I am so sorry to hear of your problems, Morgan. Unfortunately, you just need to keep bombarding them with information. It seems that HMRC is appallingly bad at keeping records of anything and utterly incapable of finding them even if they are kept. I think you really need to involve your MP in this again if you haven't already done so, and inform HMRC that you are doing this. They really don't want an MP involved, because any MP's questions have to be given priority and if they are cocking up (if - i of course mean that they are cocking up continuously) they really don't want MPs sticking their noses in and finding that out. It might also be worth going down the publicity route. Try the Daily Mail - crap paper, but always on the lookout for stories that put public bodies in a bad light. I would also demand to speak to a manager/supervisor when you call and insist that you need to speak to them now, that you have a complaint and are not going to go away until you have a satisfactory answer for their incompetence. Ask for the person's name, too. That way, you have a reference point to start from, should your call be 'interrupted' or 'lost'. Make sure you have a pen and paper ready to jot down what is said.

Chin up - we're on your side here.

I've had a letter from my mp this morning, basically saying there's nothing she can to help

DDS father is being an utter cock about this whole thing. He doesn't want them to start "looking into him" and his finances, so fuck knows whats he's up to, but that's really limiting my options on what I can do to be heard!!! He said yesterday "oh you'll just have to work out what you can scrimp on,buy cheaper food and stuff" ..... Helpful when I already buy the value ranges of everything and limit meat to once a week to save on shopping!!! And that's WITH the tax credits money!!! I get nothing off him for dd, (except he reduced my rent), he's never bought a pack of nappies or clothes for dd, never bought her shoes or Christmas/birthday presents, nothing!!!!

(Sorry for the rant! Just frustrated)

My payments have stopped! I haven't been able to get my bank statements in for the time stayed but when I phoned them I did tell this plus I received their post dated letter 12 days late! I'm fuming I haven't done anything wrong and I have been peanilised. I have no money now for bills and the rest of the month!

There was no warning this was going to happen either!

Another hour holding on the phone.
I now have a Senior Case Worker searching for my missing paperwork which was supposedly returned to me at the beginning of February. I was told as I sent my documents via recorded delivery they should also be returned by the same method. (I did request this on the original forms I sent in). So in theory a missing parcel shouldn't be too difficult to trace, but I won't be holding my breath.
When all of this is finally resolved I will be sending a complaint for my expenses & time wasted chasing around trying to get answers.

I think you should be reminding your MP that there is an election coming up...

Does anyone know how long the letters take. I was phoned last Friday and she said a letter was being sent out but as yet I still haven't received it??

I've been on the phone every night this week about my missing docs and at one point one of the advisers told me they had a backlog of about 2 weeks. HTH.

Still waiting for my birth certificates back - received letter with decision last Saturday. It's worrying as they could have fallen into the wrong hands but also annoying as I have enough to do without spending time making phone calls to chase them. Do Concentrix not realise how much they eating into people's time and money with their demands and overall incompetence?

They've stopped my payments as they have insufficiance evidence so I've no money apart from my wages from my part time job don't know what to do

Oh no Morgan. Have they stopped everything. Did you get a letter? Appeal there decision when you have complied with all they've asked for

Nothing went in my bank today so I rang tax credits they've closed my case,I can't send them anything else I sent all I could I'm so upset and worried I can't think straight

Tax credits said they sent a letter on the 20th n it's takes up to 14 days!!! So to those of you who are still waiting to hear don't hold your breath