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

The letter, dated 27th Jan 2015 arrived today and they've given me until 26th February. So one month from the date of their letter, but not one month from receipt.

Itsgoingtoreindeer - yes, that's what I thought too. So many companies hide behind Data Protection, but protecting who? Not me.

Trouble is, to investigate all this kind of stuff, i.e. in this case whether or not they can use DP as an excuse, takes time, and lots of it. I don't have enough hours in the day as it is.......

Hey everyone, even if you have already send your documents I would suggest you look for legal advice. They not only making false accusations, they are also abusing of their authority for ask for more documents then required and they are keeping copies of documents without authorisation. Plus they are making you enclosure 3rd parts information to proof you innocenc, such as mum, brother, boyfriend detail's. Serious the false accusation is easy to proof as they are accusing everyone of the same thing. They are also causing stress to all of us.

Please note you also have the right to question how will your bank statement help with the investigation. As you don't need to send you bank statement to proof you are a single parent.

They are looking to see who is paying the utility bills, to see if they are in your name or not.

Yes, but if I live with my family my utilities bills may be on my parents name. I just may give some for the bills. So there is no way they can use the bank statements to proof you don't have a partner. My bills are all on my name but I have family leaving with me so we share expense. I still don't have a partner and they never asked for such details on the tax credit form they only ask if I have a partner. So if you want to proof you don't have a partner send your utilities bills and the details of who live with you. Remember to stop you tax credit or take you to court they will have to proof that you do have a partner, if you don't have one you shouldn't be worried as there is no way to proof something that's not truth.

I sent off my big load of paperwork Monday via 1st class recorded delivery, it was signed for the very next morning at 7.05am. Am hoping my documents don't take too long to be returned as I am hoping to move house and the landlord wants to see some of the documents ive sent off! Am so stressed with this. Just want it over with!

I'm going to report it to The Independent. The email address is [email protected]. Maybe if we all contact them something will be done about it. Concentrix apparently have targets they must meet so are presumably hoping that if they send enough threatening letters out then someone will hold their hands up and say, yes I did it. They are targeting a very vulnerable group of people who in the main will be very honest and will be horrified to read this letter. Reviews by their own employees include comments such as Concentrix is losing big clients one after the other and their reputation is a disaster, another says he'd rather clean toilets, yet another described it as desperation work - minimum wage with no training for a profit hungry company. Its horrifying to know that the decision as to whether or not our tax credits continue lies in such hands.

Hi Duckeggblue, I've just typed a really long email and sent it to the Independent but it bounced back. Is that the right email address?

It's ok. I've done it again. It's worked this time.

Has anyone had their Tax Credits stopped?
I had the - we have evidence you may be living with someone letter. When I rang Concentrix they said they check Expedia etc and in 2009 a man I have never even heard of, applied for a credit card from flat 1, my address is 1A.

They accepted that they had made a mistake but I still had to send in a huge amount of paper work.
I am worried they are just looking for one piece of paper not sent in correctly to use as an excuse to stop payments.

No, bank statements from the 6th January 2014 to 12 Janury 2015 and the last three months of all bills.

I've been busy. I've contacted LBC, Telegraph, Independent and the Mail. LBC would be a brilliant medium because they do lunch time debates with Nick Ferrari. Here's the link for LBC: www.lbc.co.uk/contact-lbc-newsroom-3487.
Here's the Telegraph email address: [email protected]
The Mail: [email protected]
Independent: [email protected]

I truly believe that if enough of us try to get the media's interest, this will end up on the news. My reasoning for getting the story out there is to prove how wrong this Government is to be targetting the single parents in such an aggressive and frightening way who've had a really hard time bringing up children ON THEIR OWN in the absence of the fathers. I don't want to go on but my life's been so tough for the last 17 years - I haven't been able to have the luxury of finding partner due to having no money for babysitters or the time required to have a relationship but I survived it - I go through! My 2 children are now grown up (youngest is 17, eldest is 24 and has left home now) - I gave them a nice home, good food, school trips, money for books and pens and clothes - just as I thought I could begin a new chapter, this happens - they want to go back and see how I've managed to do it!!! Unbelievable. There are a lot of 'grey' areas - there have had to be - but none of them involve living with a partner!!

Hi all

I got the link to this thread on Twitter (hi @musictheatremum - thanks!!).

Basically, we moved, mail got forwarded (forgot to tell HMRC our new address and now I can't get through to them!!) - anyway, received a letter from Concentrix dated 7 January on Monday, 2 February.

They're questioning the number of hours we work (mine haven't changed in 18 months - I work 37.5 hours per week and told HMRC this when I started claiming WTC) - my husband did about 20 hours of work last year but is now a full-time student. They want payslips from April - December I think. I get paid weekly - do they REALLY want all of those? April and May's payslips are still in a box somewhere and I haven't got the May - December ones yet - I work remotely and just pick up my payslips when I visit head office. I could ask them to post them I suppose :-/

I have the payslips and P45 for my husband's 20 hours of work but how do I prove he was unemployed until the end of September?

So they want all this by today. I've been trying to contact them all week and just can't get through (bearing in mind that I do actually work the hours I have told them I work - I obviously can't and won't call from my mobile during work time). Also, we are with Virgin so calls to 0345 numbers are NOT free - this is costing me money!

They threaten to "adjust" my tax credits - they don't say exactly how! I'll probably try ringing them again tonight but I really don't know what else to do. We do rely on the tax credits :-/

The tone of the letter was appalling - it made me feel as though I'd done something really wrong - which I haven't!!! I know I get more back in tax credits than I pay in tax but I am still a taxpayer and think it's disgusting that people who can treat others in this way are paid out of my taxes!

Rant over lol.

Any advice anyone???

Hi Working Mum2014,
Out of interest, you put in your message: "Please note you also have the right to question how will your bank statement help with the investigation. As you don't need to send you bank statement to proof you are a single parent". I agree with this comment totally, but who told you we had the right to questions how will our bank statements help with their investigation? I'd like to send a letter to Concentrix saying this, but I'm not sure it will help and I just wondered where you'd got this info?

It doesn't, but they have said that they were mistaken as the two addresses were similar.
I'm glad I found this thread as I suspected Concentrix was just set up by someone to cream money off the government by promising to stop WTC and CTC payments. Seems it's true, a 3.5 million pounds of grant aid to set it up! 75 million commission contract when they recover tax credits! How much are the directors earning from this?
Where's that Independent email address : )

Here it is. Good luck!
[email protected]

What is interesting is that some people on this thread seem to have been able to get more information out of Concentrix, but some of us have been quoted "Data Protection".

For example LynnOllie, above, said the following:-

"I had the - we have evidence you may be living with someone letter. When I rang Concentrix they said they check Expedia etc and in 2009 a man I have never even heard of, applied for a credit card from flat 1, my address is 1A."

How did you get Concentrix to tell you that? They wouldn't tell me anything. I asked who they were protecting - certainly not me!