Tax Credits. Are there "Case Workers"?

hearts

Hi I see/hear a lot of people having problems with comunicating with the Tax Credits office. What exactly happens. Is there a case worker for each case? How are decisions made? Who makes them?
I was trying to help a female friend but it is very confusing. Every time you phone you deal with a different person on the phone. What do they do with the information ( I know they enter it onto a computer) but what happens then? Who decides what? Is there someone dealing with each case or does it just depend on whoever you speak to. Who or how are the figures worked out by?
It would be helpful if I knew I could phone and ask for Mr X or Ms Y.
Do the people on the phone have any say or are they just data collecting? If they are data collecting, who is next in line and what do they do? Are they contactable?
The whole thing seems quite hit and miss and I'm hoping that I may understand it more if someone can explain how it works ;-)
Thanks

hotblu

Hello hearts,

The majority of the time their isn't a case worker. The helpline has two systems running at the same time, the first is to manage call details- date, time and details of conversation. The second system is the Tax Credits sytem, that has the claim on their and is used to update the claim, for example, ending work, moving address etc. I only know of 2 types of casework for tax credits, if you are subject to compliance checks (fraud) or are in dispute.

HTH

Hotblu

NL2984

The TCO is different from the tax credit contact centre, generally there are referrals sent to the head office and then it is dealt with from then. dependant on whether or not TCO are within there timescales you can make a complaint to speak with someone at TCO but this is usually through a team manager.

the contact centre does not have any contact numbers for TCO and any contact with TCO is by referral.

hearts

What is the TCO? Is it different from the call centre?
The girl I'm trying to help recieved a letter from them saying she had not sent in her renewal form yet but she had phoned them with the information. The letter had a name on it so we were wondering whether to contact him direct or to phone. In the end she just phoned and they said the box for estimate had been ticked or soemthing along those lines. It's all very confusing.

System

The TCO is the Tax Credit Office and the contact centre staff work for the TCO, however they can only action certain things and send through referrals to "backroom" staff to deal with more involved queries.

Contact centre staff are very knowledgable about tax credits but curtailed in what they can do because there are call time constraints/targets they have to meet.

The contact centre staff could easily sort your friends problem regarding inadvertantly providing estimates on her annual declaration.

However if your friends problem was something like a disputed overpayment or a compliance issue then your friend would have to deal with TCO in writing.

When I worked in that particular part of TCO dealing with overpayments I had to meet a target of 4 disputes per day. That should give you an idea how time consuming and complicated such an investigation can be and also explain why it is not always possible for contact centre staff to deal with such a dispute over the phone.

There are no caseworkers so to speak and so no guarantee that the same person will deal with you twice.

Gemmzie

I had a set person dealing with my case as it's in dispute, didn't really help. I've dealt with TCO and Tax Credits helpline.
I'd just keep phoning and nagging!