Tax Credits

[jenthelaugh]

Hi, just wondering if anyone can help me!

Since last week my tax credits have gone down by £60 per week due to them removing my working tax credits.

I phoned HMRC to query this and they advised me I'm not entitled to working tax credits anymore because I declared my part time income (DH lost his job a couple of months ago) and they automatically put a 2 and a half grand buffer on it so they don't overpay me, but that makes me over the threshold to receive wtc!

I asked her if there is a way to dispute this and she just kept repeating the above.

Does anyone else know if I can dispute this? To lose £240 a month is a lot. They have messed me around with tax credits and CAB have even told me previously when DH was employed that I was getting a ridiculously low amount of tax credits.

Lougle it says the LHA is £102.56 per week apparently

Are you over occupied, do you have more bedrooms than you need, this will affect what Housing benefit you could get?

I have 3 bedrooms for me and my partner and my two children, which the council would class as having too many bedrooms.

What I don't understand is that they were giving me the working tax credits up until last week and my financial position and working hours were the exact same

Yes, so your LHA rate needs to be for 2 bedrooms. Is £102.56 the 2 bedroom LHA rate? So that's part of the problem to start with. The LHA rate for your area, for a couple with two children is £444.42 per month, and you are paying £1400 per month in rent. So even if you were eligible for full Housing Benefit, which we can look at in a bit, you'd still have to find £1000 per month of your own money to cover the difference between what the Local Authority believes is a reasonable rent for a family in your area, and the house you have chosen to live in.

Couple rate £114.85
Child 1 £66.90
Child 2 £66.90
Family allowance £17.40
Total:£266.05
Your salary is £187.83 per week after deductions? That's what I got by running it through Listen to Taxman.

So I don't know the rest of your financial situation, but if your DH's JSA and your tax credits total more than £80 per week, then you won't qualify for housing benefit, sorry.

The bedroom thing depends on gender and age though of the children.

Noooo rent is £625 but adding on other direct debits our bills come to £1400 in total

Thank you for helping me with that however. I appreciate it.

Ahh, I see! Well that is a bit better, but still £180 more than your LHA, which means that even if you get full housing benefit, you have to find £180 out of your own money to top it up.

Any contribution towards rent is better than nothing, maybe it's worth while me questioning their rejection for my claim.

Could either of you try to get at least 4 hours a week doing this short term?

www.expd8.co.uk/join-our-family/find-vacancy/

Afterthestorm thanks for sharing that link, I've never heard of it before!

However - HALLELUJAH, my DH got a phone call to say he got the job from his interview yesterday.
Luck hasn't been on his side lately. He's had great jobs all in managerial positions and usually has no issue getting them but the past couple of months have been tough it would seem.

So we just have to make it through until the end of June, until he gets his first pay, just in time for both my kids birthdays in July!

I nearly cried when he told me! This has been so difficult and I've been paying our bills by myself (I have a decent paid job for only working 20 hours, but doesn't quite cut it as we have a lot of debt from previous years)

Thanks for all of your help everyone