Tax Credits help line - Alternative number is ...

Indie_Kid

joanne_d wrote: »

I called the tc line at around 8.50 this morning and was only on hold for 2-3 mins !

Seems that a lot of people would be doing the school run at that time of the morning ? Try it tomorrow , see if you have any luck before you post the letter off .

There was a post (or a few) where someone said that there are good times to phone up.

midgetsmum

Just so you know, most Tax enquiry centres have a bank of phones that are free to use, and have priority lines through to some of the helplines. If you're able to get to your nearest EC, you should be able to use the phones to get through quite quickly. If you don't know where your nearest EC is, the first URL should help you find it, unless you live in Northern Ireland, in which case the second URL give a list of all ECs in NI

http:// www. hmrc. gov.uk/enq/main.htm
http:// www. hmrc. gov.uk/enq/nireland.htm

(new poster so I can't include the URLs as links, just copy and paste into search bar and remove the spaces)

Unfortunately the busy helplines are just due to the time of year. Summer/autumn is the peak period for Tax Credits and Child Benefit. There's only so much traffic the systems can take, and so there's a cap on the amount of advisors the contact centres are able to have working at any one time. Both helplines are working to capacity, but there are still often more than 60 people waiting in the queues, not to mention the many unable to get to the queues, and there are still between 1000 and 1500 calls abandoned each day. The reason calls are cut off in the queues is there's only so many waiting calls the telephony system can hold at one time. Too many and it will just crash.

At the minute, from what I understand, the Child Benefit helpline is quieter than Tax Credits, so here's a few pointers that may help speed up any updates:
If you have a change of address, and you claim child benefit (Chb) and tax credits (TC), call the Chb helpline first. If you claim tax credits on your own, then the TC system will update automatically from Chb records, so you've saved yourself a phonecall. This happens overnight, as the Chb systems don't complete updates until 5 pm. If you claim TC with a partner you have to call the TC helpline yourself, as Chb only have access to your records with TCO, not your partner's.

If you're updating account details, and can afford to wait a while for an update to come through (ie the old account isn't being closed immediately and you'll still have access to any payments made into it), then you can either call Chb and ask for the details to be passed through to TC (again, if your TC claim is joint with a partner, you'll need to contact the TC helpline yourself), or update with TC and ask them to pass details to Chb. Unfortunately the system for updating bank details works differently to the system for updating addresses, which is why the update could take a few weeks. If the change is urgent you need to contact both helplines separately. Chb can also take changes of account details online, but do not pay into a Nationwide account that the Chb claimant isn't named on (this isn't the fault of the Child Benefit Office, Nationwide Building Society refuse to accept payments of Child Benefit if the Chb claimant is not the person named on the account).

If you're updating education details, call the Chb helpline first. You need to have:
the exact qualification your child will be studying for (the subject is completely irrelevant) or the name of their training course (e.g. E2E)
the name and address of their school/college/training provider
the dates they start and finish the course (month and year minimum, they can't accept "it's a 2 year course" or " the end of the summer term". This can be different depending on the education establishment/final exam dates, and the advisors aren't allowed to guess).
if the course is full time (more than 12 hours per week in supervised study)
if your child will live with you (if not what will their address be? Will they return home for weekends/holidays?)
is the course provided by an employer as part of a job
will your child receive any state benefits in their own right and
(if they've been released yet) the dates of any final exams.
If you have your national insurance number, the Chb advisor you speak to can check the tax credit system to see if it needs updated. They have to confirm first of all if there are any notes held on the records that put the case out of their remit. If they can't update the tax credit records themselves, they can use a priority line to hand you over directly to a Tax Credit advisor, who will complete the update. Be aware Chb advisors are only allowed to transfer calls for Education changes, and only when they have completed an update for Chb records during that call. You can't just call Chb helpline, say you've got an education update for TC and ask to be passed through, and they will not pass you through for anything other than an education change.

I hope this helps sort out any issues with getting through to the helplines. I appreciate that the delays caused by the peak period can be extremely frustrating, hopefully the advice given will help resolve some of the issues.

dark_lady

You can also always ask your telephone provider for itemized billing so you can prove to tax credits that you did try to call them.

joanne_d_3

Hi Midgetsmum

That was a very informatifve post thanks , im sure a lot of people will be gaining info from that .

Do you mind if i ask do you work for HMRC / Tax credits ? You just seem knowledgable.

Looking_for_some_savings.

Can anyone tell me if there is a landline number for the Working Tax Credit Office? I've just had my phone bill from Virgin Media and it's cost me over £10 to call the WTC office because they are busy all the time. Had I access to a landline number, the call would have been free!
And why is it that the WTC office don't tell you at the beginning of the call thet they are too busy to answer instead of leaving it till the end and therefore costing us more money? :mad:

midgetsmum

joanne_d wrote: »

Do you mind if i ask do you work for HMRC / Tax credits ? You just seem knowledgable.

I've been working on the Child Benefit helpline for the past 2 years. Just trying to get through the peak period now...

Looking_for_some_savings.

Thanks for the help!:T

midgetsmum

No problem, glad I could help

Just a quick update on queue times. The CB helpline, for the past 3 days, has had some available time between calls, where there are no calls in the queue. We're hoping we're finally getting out of the peak period, now most people have updated education details. The helpline is still most likely going to be hectic on mondays and tuesdays, the start of the week is always busier than the end, and and it'll still be very busy, although with shorter queues, on wednesdays and thursdays, but today we had no queues all day, except 2 or 3 callers waiting at lunch time. Also, CB and TC helplines are both open at the weekends from 8am to 8pm (though that might change soon for Sundays). I've not worked a weekend shift for a few weeks so I'm not sure how quiet it will be tomorrow.

Really hoping this is the end of the peak period...

angiemay

ty all will try these numbers tomo ,after trying for over a month too tell them i have started a pt job i even sent a letter with no reply ,bet they soon get intouch when they want the overpayments back grrrr makes my blood boil,report any changes asap what a joke ..

NEH

Tried again this morning and still on hold for over 5 minutes so gave up....

Going to try the letter route....

Does anyone know that with income do you report net or gross before i start wading through the website...I've forgotten since last time.

Thanks