I applied for tax credits last year (2015/16), but they based the decision on 2014/15 income when me and DH both worked full time and so never gave us any money. Our income for 2015/16 was only a third of what it was in 2014/15.
I updated our information when they sent us a renewal form. We got three different envelopes. They say we still get nothing for 2015/16 but we are getting £2k for child tax credit for 2016/17. I don't understand this. The information they are basing both decisions on is surely the same, that is our actual earnings for 2015/16 and then using these earnings to give us our provisional award for 2016/17 .
They say we have no qualifying child care costs for 2015/16 but do for 2016/17 despite the fact that our costs have not changed.
Why is this? Do I need to phone them? I don't want to as it costs so bloody much. The last phone call I made cost a bloody fiver!