tax credits question - how long do they take to make adustments?

[SpandexIsMyEnemy]

just thinking ahead here, I start work & child care for DS on the 16th I was going to ring them then and inform them of the new circs, BUT i'm due to get 2 weeks on the following money I think, due to the holidays etc they usually pay it early.

it's not a lot to some people £100 for the 2 weeks but it's all the money i'll have over xmas for food etc etc. so if I ring and get an adjustment will they

a) stop my claim and
b) how long will the adjustments take to process. (nursery fees of £400 will be due at t he end of dec for the month of january.
oh and finally c) will I be able to keep it to weekly payments instead of 4 weekly?

sorry following monday (16th is a tues)

x

How longs a piece of string ??

Honestly I think it can vary wildly from person to person. This is oneof the reasons why I refusxed a start date of 15th Dec, just incase I ring tax credits and they leave me penniless for weeks and weeks, which they have done in the past.

see I didn't think that far ahead when I said yes/accepted the job etc etc, only other option is to wait & inform them after xmas, and try to beg steal/borrow the nursery fees, but I can't really as my folks have helped me out so much already.

any other thoughts?

Ok, am TC officer. What money you are getting in the short term makes no difference to them. All they need from you is what you expect to earn over the year. If you are already getting CTC then your claim won't be stoppe it'll just be changed, so you won't stop receiving money. Until the change goes through the system you'll just keep getting the CTC, and when it does go through it will be backdated to the date you started.
If you're starting work and childcare on the 16th the earliest you can call is the 10th, they'll only take employment changes that are happening 'within a week'
As for processing, all being well the changes are made whilst you are on the call to them, it is done real time, it goes through the system overnight and depending on when your pay day is, is often changed in time for the next payment.
I however have just had a change take over a month to go through because of a system fault and my claim 'stuck' luckily it was the other way around and I was getting more than I should have been.
But be aware this can happen and have emergency backup for childcare fees incase you need them. This happening to me is the only time I've encountered it though oddly enough

HTH

thanks bored, was hoping to catch your eye - main thing is not to stop payments, i'll make other arrangements (rent money for example isn't until the 15th so if needed I have 4 weeks to get that together if iycwim.) so the 10th I can change things - ok - i'm thinking the sooner I ring and get it sorted hte less chance of messing up??

Yep sooner you ring the more chance of getting it sorted in time for when you need the money
There is no reason I can see at all for any money being stopped, you'll just continue as you are until the change is made.
And if as happened to me there is a problem (I hope not tis a pain in the arse!) then all it will mean is you will continue with your CTC and no WTC until it is sorted. So better doing it now than later just incase I think.

Btw, Just realised I completely lied in my first post I don't work for them any more so technically am not a TC officer any more. Still know how it works though, so give me a shout if you need any help

oh one more thing, do I have to have the PAYE ref for the new employer or can I jsut give their name/address, and the same with the nursery - when I used a child minder I had to give her registration number.

thanks bored. incidental I know you've said there's a calculation for the credits can I be cheeky and ask again for it as my neighbour was having a bit of troubles

It's handy if you have the PAYE cos that brings up all the details. If you don't you can still call and just give the name address etc. You will need the registration number for childcare though. Again you can call without it but you'll have to call back asap to add it on, probably easier to have it to hand.

Did you want me to do a calculation for you? Or just give you the details of how it's worked out?? sorry bit confused

jsut the calculation if that's ok - they're getting £10 per week with 2 children under 5, and basically the house hold income is £35K p/a. the lady's been having probs with the old occupants claiming for things under that address still and she seems to think it might still be going on.

Don't need all the ins and outs there if household income is £35k, the minimum CTC is all they will be entitled to which is £545 per year, works out £10 a week. So she is getting the right ammount.

Will put up all the calculations for you though in a little while, so she can look at it herself
Just need to go collect DD first!
(almost forgot her )

ok thanks.

If they do all the changes there and then, then why did I have to make a completely new claim for tax credits when I split with my partner ?? Even though it was obvious that I wouldn't be entitled to any less money ??

They left me 6 weeks without any money when I made a claim as a single person.

In those circumstances they do stop the claim IB, either when you split up with someone or move in with someone. Its because the claim you have is in joint names and everything to do with that claim is joint, i.e anything owed, or any overpayment. so when you split with someone they end the joint claim and set up a new single claim.
Is insane that you were left for so long though. When going from joint to single with children involved there is a fasttrack system which is supposed to ensure that claimants with children don't go without, in reality it usually works out that a weeks money is missed but should never be more than that.
Were you told to go to your local tax office? You should have been, if TC have messed something up and left you with no money the tax office can issue giros.
As for just making general changes to your claim, adding or taking away a child, moving huse, starting job etc they're all done with no stopping of your claim.

Right will go get all the info for the calcs for you spandex

Thanks

I wasn't told to go to my tax office no. Infact when I told the guy on the phone that this meant I actually had no money coming in at all he said 'well thats not my problem'.

Pleased to hear that it should get sorted quickly when I go back to work though.

Bloody hell IB, thats horrible I'd have complained if I were you.
Tax offices probably hated me, whenever I had someone who had been left with no money or was struggling I just sent them down there straight away
I remember one lady that called us to say that she had a party to go to, and didn't have enought money to buy a present and 'she couldn't possibly go without one' and could we plese increase her payents for her..face looked something like this I sent her to her tax office to give them a good laugh lol

Here's the current elements:

WTC
Basic - 1800
Couple and lone parent - 1770
30hr element - 735
Disabled worker - 2405
Severe disability element - 1020
50+ return to work (16-29hrs) 1235
50+ return to work (30+hrs) 1840

Childcare
Max for 1 - 175 per week
Max for 2 or more - 300 per week
Entitlement is 80% of childcare costs.

CTC
Family element - 545
Baby addition - 545
Child element - 2085
Disabled child element - 2540
Severely disabled child element - 1020

Work out which elements you are entitled to and add up your total entitlement.

For eg. Family of four income of £25k,one parent working over 30hrs per week, two children over 1yrs old.

WTC entitlement:
Basic: £1800
couple and lone parent: 1770 (everyone is entitled to this, which one you get is only to show entitlement to childcare)
30hr element: 735

No childcare entitlement as only one parent working

CTC entitlement:
family element: 545
child element: 4170

Total award before deduction: 9020

That award is now tapered down according to income. the first £6420 is disregarded and the rest tapered by 39%

£25k - £6420 = 18580
18580 x 39% = 7246

so total award 9020 - 7246 = 1774 which is what they will receive.

This way of calculating isn't exact, computer does strange things with fractions of pennies ffs and is impossible to figure out. But calculating like this
I usually get within £10 either way of the actual award

In your neighbours case, the ammount to deduct from the income is actually higher than the award, but everybody earning less than I think £55k is entitled to the minimum family element whilst they have children.

Phew, that was a long post!

as a lone parent then do I not get the family element?

Yes you do, everybody gets the family element [fsmaile]

of course lol

sorry very finally! my award for this would be £6200 - (but child care on top =- £100 per week)

my earnings for next year are £8892

so the adjusted figure is £2692

then my bit would be £8892-1049

so i'd have £7842 per year.

does that sound about right to you? or a bit much (with the child care on top) i've not included that bit.

one final honestly question - will they keep it weekly for the remained of this tax year to help my cash flow or not?

It's no problem Spandex honestly They're bloody confusing I know, better to have a rough idea of what it should be so you'll know straigh away if somethings wrong
If your award total from the elements comes to £6200, then you need to add your childcare onto that aswell, it's all tapered down together by earnings. Childcare of £100 per week, gives you a total childcare award of £4160, so total award = £10360

It's not next years earnings that'll taper that down it's this years. So if you haven't worked since 6th April, new job salary is £8892, you need to work out how much of that you'll earn between now and 5th april.
Quick calculation I get around £2907 for remainder of this year, which is below the threshold and so your award won't be tapered at all.

That gives you total award £10360, so around £200 per week.

This will be different if you've had other earnings this year. As for next year it can get confusing, as a default tax credits are worked out on previous years earnings (except when you're going from no earnings to working they will work it on what you're earning for remainder of this year)
So next year you should then get the same as you are getting this year i.e the £200 per week. Then 10/11 tax year it will go down because it will be worked on your full years earnings.

Hopefully that was understandable, I confuse myself sometimes!

Don't worry about asking more questions honestly