tax free childcare - reconfirmation issue - payments stopped

Annie_Clark · 18 August 2017 at 6:07PM

Hi, I'm having a bit of a nightmare with HMRC at the moment. The TFC website is an absolute joke. So I'm an early joiner of the TFC program, I was invited in the trial. I don't get tax credits and income-wise I'm eligible for TFC. I asked my employer to stop the childcare vouchers to me and they did, in March 2017. I enrolled in TFC right after that and it more or less worked for a couple of months, I was making payments, HMRC was contributing their part, and I was able to pay my childminder.

At the end of June I had to reconfirm my eligibility (the TFC system asks for reconfirmation every 3 months). You log in, fill out a form confirming income, and that you don't get tax credits and vouchers, and that's all. So I reconfirmed late June, then in July the system still worked for a while. Then, out of the blue, I received a message from HMRC saying that TFC payments stopped, because I failed to send them proof that I wasn't getting childcare vouchers anymore. They never asked for such proof! the online reconfirmation asks yes/no questions, you can't upload anything, and you cannot even enter any comment.

I called them and at first they said it was a technical difficulty. Then, after a couple of other calls where they kept passing me between departments, I was asked to reapply... which I did. I now received another message in my TFC inbox saying I'm ineligible and that my case needed to go under "Mandatory review" and I needed to send them proof that I don't get childcare vouchers. They have not provided an address - post or email. In the TFC system you cannot reply to their messages, it's 1-way inbox. You get messages but cannot reply back. The reps on the phone are useless and powerless, they keep saying it's due to a technical difficulty. 2 different people said they would call me back and they haven't.

I've been trying to solve this for almost 2 months now! I ended up paying my childminder in cash. I did fill out a complaint online but it's a generic complaint form and they said they'd get back to me within 15 days. School starts soon and I will have even higher childcare fees, I don't want to lose out on the 20%. Anyone has any idea what I can do?

Icequeen99 · 18 August 2017 at 7:34PM

Keep records of any costs you are incurring on this as you can claim compensation.

Perhaps try contacting one of the tax charities like https://www.litrg.org.uk to see if they can offer some advice or CAB? And maybe get your MP involved.

Seems an odd process if you can't respond and they are not telling you what they need.

IQ

Annie_Clark · 18 August 2017 at 8:40PM

Thanks. I posted this on another forum and surely enough someone gave me the magic postal address for complaints, I'm re- posting here for others' benefit....

It looks like I might not be the only one in the same boat, since HMRC have already set up a page with info re compensation - this is most likely because the system was malfunctioning for a while. I find it really odd that their own telephone reps are unaware about this...

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/childcare-service-compensation

If you’ve been affected by technical issues, you may be able to get the government top-up as a one-off payment. We’ll also consider refunding any reasonable costs directly caused by the service not working as it should, mistakes or unreasonable delays.

You may be eligible for these payments if you’ve:

been unable to complete your application for Tax-Free Childcare
been unable to access your childcare account
not received a decision about if you’re eligible, without explanation, for more than 20 days

To make a claim, you must send us:

a brief description of the issues you’ve had
copies of receipts for payments to your childcare provider
your full name
your home address
National Insurance number
bank name, account number and sort code

Send this information to:

Childcare Service
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1GR

If you’re eligible for compensation, we’ll write to you and make a payment directly into your bank account.

Icequeen99 · 18 August 2017 at 9:50PM

I meant to link to that page in my post!

IQ

whskyngngr · 22 August 2017 at 10:10AM

I've experienced the same issues. Having reconfirmed eligibility I got messages via the secure message inbox to say we were no longer eligible and TFC for both accounts had been stopped! The system claimed I was receiving vouchers and so TFC wasn't available. I had confirmed via the reconfirmation process that we were not receiving vouchers.

Unfortunately just before reconfirming I had transferred this month's payments into the two accounts, so I stood to miss out on the top up. I have called the 'Help' line 5 times in the last 24 hours, and the 'Help' available differs greatly depending on who I speak to. Some ask for my NI number, some don't. Some seem to know what they are doing, others need to 'speak to their colleagues' for even the simplest of questions.

The following are some of the replies given:
1) I need to send in proof that my childcare vouchers have stopped. They give you an address and ask you to send a letter from your employer(s). This isn't made clear on the website so 'sorry for that'.
2) This is clearly a mistake and can be manually overriden by the eligibility team. However once transferred to the eligibility team you automatically get cut off after 15 mins on hold and have to go through the whole process again!! This has happened 4 times!

This morning, while on hold again, I decided to re-apply for both my girls. Almost immediately after the re-application (which they said was under consideration) the money I transferred yesterday showed up in the accounts, together with the top-ups. However now I can't make any payments. So that's another problem. I have been advised by the Helpline to wait for 24 hours and see what happens.

So, in conclusion, as a first step to save you spending hours on the phones, re-apply for your accounts. All the details are stored on there. If this doesn't work fight to speak to the eligibility team when you call. They can see from your NI number that your childcare vouchers have stopped and can manually fix the mistake made by the reconfirmation process.

It's at the point now where I dread having to pay our nanny as it's never a smooth process!

Annie_Clark · 23 August 2017 at 7:59PM

whskyngngr wrote: »

I've experienced the same issues. Having reconfirmed eligibility I got messages via the secure message inbox to say we were no longer eligible and TFC for both accounts had been stopped! The system claimed I was receiving vouchers and so TFC wasn't available. I had confirmed via the reconfirmation process that we were not receiving vouchers.

Unfortunately just before reconfirming I had transferred this month's payments into the two accounts, so I stood to miss out on the top up. I have called the 'Help' line 5 times in the last 24 hours, and the 'Help' available differs greatly depending on who I speak to. Some ask for my NI number, some don't. Some seem to know what they are doing, others need to 'speak to their colleagues' for even the simplest of questions.

The following are some of the replies given:
1) I need to send in proof that my childcare vouchers have stopped. They give you an address and ask you to send a letter from your employer(s). This isn't made clear on the website so 'sorry for that'.
2) This is clearly a mistake and can be manually overriden by the eligibility team. However once transferred to the eligibility team you automatically get cut off after 15 mins on hold and have to go through the whole process again!! This has happened 4 times!

This morning, while on hold again, I decided to re-apply for both my girls. Almost immediately after the re-application (which they said was under consideration) the money I transferred yesterday showed up in the accounts, together with the top-ups. However now I can't make any payments. So that's another problem. I have been advised by the Helpline to wait for 24 hours and see what happens.

So, in conclusion, as a first step to save you spending hours on the phones, re-apply for your accounts. All the details are stored on there. If this doesn't work fight to speak to the eligibility team when you call. They can see from your NI number that your childcare vouchers have stopped and can manually fix the mistake made by the reconfirmation process.

It's at the point now where I dread having to pay our nanny as it's never a smooth process!

I'm still having the same problem, not sure if I'm happy or angry that I'm not alone. I lost count on how many times I called that bloody helpline (help is an overstatement), then got transferred to the mysterious eligibility team, and got disconnected after 15 mins or so on hold. The front line customer reps cannot solve ANY issue.

I found the postal address online on my own, I sent them a letter from my employer.

I also logged in a complaint online and after several days I received an automated email that they logged my complaint. No one contacted me so far.

The system doesn't work no matter what I do or don't do, even though I'm eligible for the payments. It's been the worst experience I've ever had with any customer service - private or government...

Annie_Clark · 24 August 2017 at 12:17PM

So they re-instated my account today, after I spent almost 20 mins on hold for the N-th time, to reach that elusive eligibility department. Once I got to them, it took them 1 minute to override the system. After ending the call I logged in and was able to make a payment, got the HMRC top up, and pay my childminder. She apologised for "HMRC sending confusing notes, not asking for proof, and not providing an address where to send the proof" - it was an automated error on the system which affected a lot of parents.

Phew!

tax free childcare - reconfirmation issue - payments stopped

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