A warning - tax credits and claiming free nhs dental treatments

METAL_MICKEY · 22 July 2012 at 4:27PM

Please do make sure you hold the little white and blue NHS branded card which is misleadingly called a Tax Credit Exemption Certificate. Most people may wrongly assume that a 'certificate' is an A4 piece of paper and therefore they believe their normal WTC/CTC is proof of entitlement to free treatment.

If you are on tax credits you have to meet certain conditions to be entitled to the little white card and HMRC will automatically send you one and any partner who was included in your claim.

Too many dental staff do not know the above and give poor advice. And too few patients read carefully the form you sign at the surgery. Because of this thousands of people are asked to pay retrospective NHS dental charges plus a £100 fine!

The NHSBSA in eastbourne will not let you off if you plead an innocent mistake or tthat you were wrongly advised.

Poppy9 · 22 July 2012 at 4:35PM

OH was wrongly advised by dental practise that he didn't have to pay for dental care as he gets ESA and Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit. I wasn't convinced though and rang to check as I guessed that as he was on contribution based ESA not income related then he probably entitled to nothing.

Very helpful lady confirmed he was not entitled and told him to go back to dentist to pay and gave a contact phone number for the surgery to contact if they were unsure of how to process the payment.

no-oneknowsme · 22 July 2012 at 5:52PM

This post made me think back to the time when myself and my Hubby first became eligible for tax credits.

Hubby had an appointment with his dentist and whilst Hubby was lying back in the chair with his mouth wide open (lol) the dentist started to tell him that he needed some extensive work dont to his teeth.

The dentist asked Hubby "do you get tax credits?" Hubby replied , "yeah the wife does" to which the dentist replied "ok then that automaically means that you qualify for free dental treatment".

Hubby was over the moon with this (at this point in time Hubby didnt have a clue about tax credits/free treatment etc).

Dentist sets to work with the treatment and at the end of the session the dentist gives Hubby several further appointments to come back to get the next stages of the treatment.

Hubby comes home and tells me that we now qualify for free dental treatment as we are receiving tax credits. I ask him is he sure and he says "yeah , the dentist told me that as long as you are receipt of tax credits then all treatment is free!".

over time Hubby finishes with the expensive dental work and the bill - if he had to pay it would have run to almost £300.

5 months later I open a letter received in the post for Hubby and its only a letter from some official dept to say that following random checks on patients who have received free dental treatment it had been found that Hubby had wrongly claimed free nhs treatment when infact he wasnt entitled!

I called the number on the letter and spoke to a nice understanding lady who informed me that tax credits do not AUTOMATICALLY entitle the claimant to free treatment. This was only available to those claimants whos income was below a certain level.

I assured her that we genuinly had not known this and that Hubby had only gone on the assurance of the dental practise.

Fortunately we were able to arrange a payment plan and we paid the full amount back.

Just proves that as the OP states you cannot trust the word of the dentist to know who should be paying and who shouldnt lol.

SuziQ · 23 July 2012 at 3:46PM

My surgery told me I was automatically entitled as I get Income support, however I have not received the card described here and I believe that is due to the fact I get other benefits (Carers allowance) I get reduced Income support because of the CA. I have been lucky not to have needed any treatment except inspections since I have been on benefits and have always paid for them, despite the vociferous attempts by the Dental receptionist to sign that I am entitled to free treatment!

I think this is one of those areas that a lot of people fall foul of. I get free prescriptions as I had cancer 3 years ago, and the receptionist even pointed that card out as proof to me, even though it clearly states it's for prescriptions!

mynameistallulah · 23 July 2012 at 4:05PM

SuziQ wrote: »

My surgery told me I was automatically entitled as I get Income support, however I have not received the card described here and I believe that is due to the fact I get other benefits (Carers allowance) I get reduced Income support because of the CA. I have been lucky not to have needed any treatment except inspections since I have been on benefits and have always paid for them, despite the vociferous attempts by the Dental receptionist to sign that I am entitled to free treatment!

I think this is one of those areas that a lot of people fall foul of. I get free prescriptions as I had cancer 3 years ago, and the receptionist even pointed that card out as proof to me, even though it clearly states it's for prescriptions!

You do not get an exemption card if you are in receipt of IS - you need to take proof of your IS entitlement with you.

SuziQ · 23 July 2012 at 6:30PM

mynameistallulah wrote: »

You do not get an exemption card if you are in receipt of IS - you need to take proof of your IS entitlement with you.

When I have asked CTC I have been told my income is too high to be exempt for Dental treatment, though. Maybe this is due to my son getting DLA so that I get higher tax credits? As I said I have paid for my own inspections, and am very lucky that I didn't need any other treatment. I do know my NHS dentist allows people to pay their bills off over a period of time, they are excellent like that.

Two4Tuesday · 23 July 2012 at 6:58PM

What happens if you get the Tax credits exemption certificate but your income grows too high and your tax credits then eventually stop on renewal?

For example, I received working tax credits in 2011/12 because of a very low income in 2010/11, but by April 2012 my income was £27000. With the tax credits £10K disregard, I would still be entitled to some working tax credits.

I completed my renewal as soon as I received it, declaring the income of £27000 for 2011/12. My tax credits for 2012/13 have now stopped and I accept that I will likely have an overpayment to repay (depending on my final income for 2012/13)

The thing is though, I still have a tax credits exemption certificate that was sent to me and is dated till June 2013. I haven't used it since my tax credits have stopped just in case but I wonder what the rules are with regard to this?

SuziQ · 23 July 2012 at 7:03PM

I would think it is no longer valid. I don't know what happens if you have already used it at a point where your income became too high though.

mynameistallulah · 23 July 2012 at 7:07PM

SuziQ wrote: »

When I have asked CTC I have been told my income is too high to be exempt for Dental treatment, though. Maybe this is due to my son getting DLA so that I get higher tax credits? As I said I have paid for my own inspections, and am very lucky that I didn't need any other treatment. I do know my NHS dentist allows people to pay their bills off over a period of time, they are excellent like that.

You are asking the wrong people. Your entitlement is due to your IS, which is dealt with by the DWP, not your CTC, which is HMRC. IS is a passport benefit, even a 1p entitlement will result in you getting free dentistry.

METAL_MICKEY · 23 July 2012 at 11:17PM

mynameistallulah wrote: »

You do not get an exemption card if you are in receipt of IS - you need to take proof of your IS entitlement with you.

Spot on! And now for really "clever" bit about the process of showing proof of your entitlement.

When you attend an NHS dentist you are required to sign a little blue PR declaration form (non EDI dentists may as you to sign an A4 sized FP17). As part of that process ALL NHS surgery staff are supposed to ask you to show proof of your qualifying benefit and if you are unable to show them anything they are supposed to mark the front of the form with an X to indicate "Evidence Not Seen". The wonderful theory being that the NHSBSA in Eastbourne then sample more claims with an X.

However, the really dumbass bit is that if you read the PR form small print it states that you and NOT the surgery are WHOLLY responsible for the exemption claim and that checks are in fact made in cases where "evidence" was seen.

Therefore it could be argued that the whole process of asking for evidence is pretty worthless in respect of cases where people may be genuinely confused about their benefits and in reality it only acts as a real time deterrent for the 'chancer' trying to commit fraud who panics when asked to show some form of documentation. It could be argued that the wording of the PR form should almost read "please show the surgery evidence of WHAT YOU THINK is proof of you entitlement!

And now its gets even trickier. If the front of an exemption claim PR form is not marked with an X at all there are two possible scenarios:

a) They asked to see evidence and what you showed they readily accepted

b) They did not bother to ask for any evidence whatsoever

And should you receive a retrospective request to pay the NHS charges and the £100 Penalty charge, do not base any defence/appeal based on advice given by the surgery because you will have signed a form to acknowledge that you are wholly responsible for the accuracy of the benefit claim.

The sample used by the NHSBSA is focussed on the largest category of exemption which is Income Support. The end result thus being that the most common fee/fine recovery scenario is where people on IB/DLA mistakenly believe that their benefit is the same as Income Support. And because of this sampling vast numbers of patients who are challenged are in vulnerable groups or with serious health issues hence why they are on IB/DLA in the first place.

Thank god for the NHS and its concerted attempt to chase down the easy money rather than trying to focus on those deliberately committing benefit fraud

bestpud · 24 July 2012 at 8:03AM

SuziQ wrote: »

When I have asked CTC I have been told my income is too high to be exempt for Dental treatment, though. Maybe this is due to my son getting DLA so that I get higher tax credits? As I said I have paid for my own inspections, and am very lucky that I didn't need any other treatment. I do know my NHS dentist allows people to pay their bills off over a period of time, they are excellent like that.

I agree with Tallulah - you are entitled to free NHS dental care as IS is a passport benefit.

You don't need the tax credit card as its irrelevant.

1p of IS means automatic exemption, full HB etc

A warning - tax credits and claiming free nhs dental treatments

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