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

its just been very annoying. I've spent a lot of money on ink , paper , costs for statements etc . Printed sheets of paper. . It's going to cost me more money sending . This shoud be Freepost . And then the waiting of your answer , putting you through stress . Worried that they have the power to change or suspend your tax credits . Most of my letter was worded about an overpayment and penalty and payments could be stopped . Without even hearing my side of the story . Even asking me i can send any other information so I can prove im single claimant . How else can I prove there's no adult living here ??? It's a joke !

Does anyone with legal knowledge know how far back these Concentrix people on behalf of HMRC are allowed to go? Or do you think its for as long as you've been receiving tax credits? Are there no rules to protect our human rights/privacy. Pity the other Government Dept, the CSA, didn't work as hard and aggressively as Concentrix, to get child maintenance off the father of my children!! Might mention that when I'm presented with a huge tax bill.

Concentrix received my documents on 23rd Feb

Today I've received them back via Recorded Delivery (which at 90 pages has to cost them a fortune too).

The letter is dated 28th Jan, thanks me for the documents and says that they will be 'writing shortly about your tax credits claim'.

Have raised this with my local CAB, and will await the full response from Concentrix.

23rd Jan even

They went special delivery, not via

Dear All

Well I've been in touch with the press this morning (Daily Mail) asking them if they've heard anything about the scare-mongering way Concentrix has been employed on behalf of HMRC. They told me they'd heard nothing. I really think it's time ladies to get this story out there to the general public and the only way I know how to do this is through the press/media/TV. The lady from the Mail asked to see the letter from Concentrix. I said I'd post it to her but obviously will score out my name and personal details. I also wrote a long letter about how wrong I think all of this is. I admit during the last few years I have had to share my house with friends/acquaintances/lodgers in order to have enough money to pay my mortgage and bills and support my children and have still received my tax credits BUT if the CSA had worked as hard as Concentrix to get money from my childrens' father I wouldn't be in the situation I am currently in.

So, if you agree that the way Concentrix on behalf of HMRC has gone about getting us to give over very very personal information in such an aggressive and scary manner then please write to the lady at the Mail - or a local MP - or another newspaper.

The contact details I have are: Miss Izzy Ferris, SW News, Media Centre, Emma-Chris Way, Fitton BS34 7JU. She works for the Daily Mail.

I hope you agree that this story needs to go public as it is totally wrong how we, the Mums who have tried to bring up our children by working, in the absence of the fathers, are now being targeted to replenish 'the pot' because we are easy targets.

If I had a tax bill of £20,000 to pay this would finish me off. I don't know how I will enter my old age - I'll be paying back the HMRC until the day I die, and this will all be down to the fact that I've had no financial help from the childrens' father.

Let's do something about this ladies - get the story out there. I'm sure it will affect the General Election and I think this is why it's staying quiet. What about the massive companies who evade tax (Amazon, Star Bucks to name but a few). They have intelligent knowledgeable lawyers who know the loop holes of tax. We are sitting ducks - waiting to be attacked.

If you want the issue taken seriously, might i suggest the Daily Mail, with it's history of woman and single parent bashing, is not the best place to start.

Go for one (or all) of the broadsheets

I contacted one of the broadsheets and have been ignored.

Thanks for your replies. Let's see what response I get from the Mail, if anything. Fingers crossed. I'm just so angry about how unfair this all is. I'm living, sleeping, breathing the whole mess at the moment, whilst trying to hold down a job and family! I'm sure it's the same for us all and it's wrong.

I have tried another broadsheet and I have now been listened to and am very hopeful.

I agree completely concernedmum, and it is vital that this is all publicised. I too have tried a few both tabloids and broadsheets, including the Daily Mail. So far have been ignored.

I was concerned at all the secrecy to start with, but am becoming more suspicious by the minute. This is national news and nowhere in the media can any story be found at all....well not that I can see. Concentrix is only mentioned in propaganda pieces where they pat themselves on the back for job creation. The HMRC contract has never been mentioned either. Nothing negative ...until you go into the forums and that's a different matter.

Looks like there is some sort of universal 'gagging order'. Why is one political party not using against another with the up and coming election? No-one is advocating that serious benefit fraud is acceptable but the benefit 'professionals' are hard to catch. Most people are just ordinary individuals trying to survive. Their lives are not black and white and have complicated personal circumstances - it doesn't follow a check list. These are the people being picked on as if they can find a small misdemeanour they can go after everything. East meat!

Hope everyone will keep at it until it can't be ignored by the media....or will it take some poor person committing suicide due to all this. Yesterday's news publicised the results of a recent inquest for a very similar situation. Incredibly sad! - www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/man-killed-himself-after-benefit-changes-left-him-owing-800-inquest-told-10021877.html

Lots of people are having to contact ex husbands/ partners etc to prove that they don't llive at the suspected address. This can be very uncomfortable for some as not everybody gets along with the ex. Having to ask for proof of payments etc . Some people don't want to have to face or contact the ex partner to ask such information. . Breaking up or divorce is not a nice thing to go through. . And having to dig it all up again. How awful . Have they though of this .

i too have had the same letter, i even called HMRC just to veify they are connected with them as im not gonna go giving my very sensitive informatin out to ant billy bob that askes, im not stupid lol. I tried ringing 3 times as the 'system' was down. On the 3rd call i spoke a girl called Hannah. poor girl! i told her that i had read that everytime anyone tries to call them their 'system' always seams to be down over the past few weeks, she said this was true, i asked how the letters were being sent out if the 'system' is always and convieniently down. she was stumped. i asked her about the letter which had no name of the person i was supposidly living with, i do have a bf that doesnt contribute to my household in any financial capacity at all and lives in a different county altogether.
she then started to panic slightly wen i accused her of causing distress at the wording of the letter and how contradictory they stated they 'have evidence' that there 'may' be an adult living in my home. she then wanted my NI number which miraculously worked on the 'system' that had been down for weeks. for which she said there was possibly a bill with my exhusbands name on it. I realised she was talking about the motgage which his name is still on but he make zero payments to. i asked her why she needed csa information because any monies coming to my children have absolutely nothing to do with any benefits receive. she said she needed evidence that we were separated. i told her i will send her a copy of my most recent motgage statement and a letter from my solicitor with information of the ongoing divorce procedings and nothing more. she was satisfied with this. she told me to write a letter of complaint about the wording of the letter as it has caused unneccessary distress, she even remarked that it causes them distress too. so thats what i am going to do.i hope this has helped at all.

On a side note, ALWAYS get the persons extension number, time of call and importantly write urself an email stating exactly what was said during ur call. i saw this on martin lewis site it can be used as evidence if needed. i always do this now, pls do the same xxx

Thanks for that isseycat . That would have been my questions if I had got through to them . It's the "we may " part that really annoys men. So you reckon no need to send in how many £ you actually get. . Just the divorce letter ? I will be sending them as little as possible but enough hopefully to shut them up

I received the same letter this morning out of the blue and I've felt sick all day. I divorced 6 years ago, don't have a partner, live alone with my kids and can't believe I'm being asked to prove this by sending a year's worth of bank statements, phone, gas, electric & water bills, divorce papers, etc. Who in their right mind wants to send such sensitive information to a relatively unknown company which apparently has an extremely high turnover of staff due to terrible working conditions? Research I've done today tells of lots of documents going missing and there are awful reviews on Concentrix by their own employees. I feel sick at the thought of them having the power to stop my tax credits if I don't send it and panicky at the thought of my personal information falling into the wrong hands if I do! I just don't know where to turn for advice. I hope this can somehow get into the media as it is scandalous.

10 months of all utility bills, bank statements, tenancy agreements, and letters re: things such as housing benefit reached 90 pages quite easily.

Utter waste of time, paper, and money at both ends.

Its all well and good wanting to contact said news papers. The mail is a Tory paper. The only thing that's going to affect the general election is to vote against the party that's brought in the social changes and cut backs. You decide.
Regardless of if you like, believe or think the leader of a party is a nice guy, he might not be there next year. Vote for the policies you think affect you.

I, too, have received one of these letters today. Concentrix cannot tell me who I'm supposed to be living with - Data Protection of course.

Took me ages to get through on the phone to them, but they said I can printout my online bank statements, and it's also okay that they show things like mortgage and utility bill costs on them (I have no paper bills).

I don't like the idea of them trawling through my bank statements either, but you have so little time to do anything about it before they'll stop Tax Credits, that I guess I will have to send them on (all 23 pages of statements).

I suspect my ex-husband is using this address and this is what has triggered the Concentrix letter, although it could be my 17-year old son applying for a driving licence. Either way, it's very annoying.

On the plus side from today's conversation with Concentrix, I got some positive information regarding 'debt threat letters' addressed to my ex-husband here (he left in 2005). One, received last year, said that some "new information" had come to light that made the company that were writing to him think that he was living at my address. Of course, under Data Protection this company refused to tell me what this information was.

Anyway, it turns out that you can write to HMRC and request a 'Subject Access Request' to find out who is connected with your address, and HMRC will divulge any info they have. HMRC confirmed this to me and they require the following info:-

Exactly what you want to know
Your full name (+ any maiden name)
Current address and any other addresses in the last 5 years
Date of birth and NI number
If self-employed your UTR number (Unique Tax Ref)
If employed employer's details
Child Benefit number

Send this info to:-

The Tax Credits Processing SAR Team
Floor 1, Area E
St Mark's
PRESTON
PR1 4AT

I hope the above will be of use to some of you.

By the way, you don't have to send any divorce info unless you divorced during the time they want the info. In my case they want info from 6th April 2014 - 27th Jan 2015 and I divorced in 2010, so no need to send details of this.

By the way, you don't have to send any divorce info unless you divorced during the time they want the info. In my case they want info from 6th April 2014 - 27th Jan 2015 and I divorced in 2010, so no need to send details of this.