Sure Start Grant

OrkneyStar

atlantis187 wrote: »

We applied after the CTC had been set up we are getting around £21 a week which includes the family element at £545 and also the higher family element for the child being under 1 with is another £545 for the first year.

They said we did not meet the criteria and were not eligible.

That sounds right by the criteria they apply (not necessarily fair though imho)- to qualify you must get CTC at a higher rate than simply the family element (which will be £545 or thereabouts- fig might have changed slightly if no children under 1, and double this if child under 1). From your post it seems you are simply getting the family element of CTC which includes the higher rate for child under 1 (your award letter should say what you get).
hth
(A tax credits specialist could explain this a lot better but I hope it kind of makes sense!)

atlantis187

OrkneyStar wrote: »

That sounds right by the criteria they apply (not necessarily fair though imho)- to qualify you must get CTC at a higher rate than simply the family element (which will be £545 or thereabouts- fig might have changed slightly if no children under 1, and double this if child under 1). From your post it seems you are simply getting the family element of CTC which includes the higher rate for child under 1 (your award letter should say what you get).
hth
(A tax credits specialist could explain this a lot better but I hope it kind of makes sense!)

So what are u saying should we have qualified or not. We have lost the letter they sent us .

flea72

basically if your CTC award was more than the minimum £90.84 a month, then you should have been entitled to the grant.

Flea

OrkneyStar

atlantis187 wrote: »

So what are u saying should we have qualified or not. We have lost the letter they sent us .

Basically if you only get the family element of £545 (with no child under 1)/higher family element of £1090 (with child under 1) or less per year (this equates to approx £20-21 per week, approx £84 per 4 weeks or approx £90 per calendar month as Flea says) you will not qualify for SureStart Mat grant.
Without checking the award letter it is hard to say for definite but as you said you are getting approx £21 per week it sounds like you are only getting the (Higher) family element and therefore don't qualify for Sure Start. To qualify they would need to start adding on other elements such as 'Child element' etc.
Hope this explains it a bit better and any tax credits experts feel free to correct little ol me!
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debnlee_2

my tax credits consist of .... wtc £1448.14 per yr and ctc £4234.85 per yr. on my award notice its says family elements basic £547.50 can anyone advice if i will get the sure start grant please. im due to send my form of next wk thanks in advance

OrkneyStar

debnlee wrote: »

my tax credits consist of .... wtc £1448.14 per yr and ctc £4234.85 per yr. on my award notice its says family elements basic £547.50 can anyone advice if i will get the sure start grant please. im due to send my form of next wk thanks in advance

With those amounts of CTC I think you must be getting more than just the family element (£545/yr if no children below 1 at the moment, £1090/yr if any children under 1 at the moment) - your award should have other elements stated on it e.g. child element. If you are getting more than the family/higher family element of CTC you should qualify. Any tax credits advisers could explain this more though.
Here is the link again.
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debnlee_2

ive just had another look at my award it says under family element -basic £547.50
total child tax element £4723.10
wtc element- basic £1803.10
2nd adult £1770.25
30hr element £737.30,
i cant get my head around all the figures at the moment i was at work last night , im of again in 30 mins and had no sleep!!!! thanks for your help orkneystar

OrkneyStar

debnlee wrote: »

ive just had another look at my award it says under family element -basic £547.50
total child tax element £4723.10
wtc element- basic £1803.10
2nd adult £1770.25
30hr element £737.30,
i cant get my head around all the figures at the moment i was at work last night , im of again in 30 mins and had no sleep!!!! thanks for your help orkneystar

No worries, I think maybe a tax credits adviser could help more though so one might be along soon.
x

flea72

atlantis187 wrote: »

We applied after the CTC had been set up we are getting around £21 a week which includes the family element at £545 and also the higher family element for the child being under 1 with is another £545 for the first year.

They said we did not meet the criteria and were not eligible.

the thing to check here, is whether your CTC claim was based on your income pre-children (ie both parents worked and brought in a reasonable amount of money)

When claiming CTC after baby is born, you should inform the IR of your drop in income for the coming tax year. they have to base your first claim on your joint income from the previous tax year, but due to mat leave only one parent is now classed as having an income, so they are obviously working from the wrong figures. I know all the paperwork says you dont have to notify them of any changes under £25k, but that means your true award wont be assessed until the end of that tax year, which in most cases means people have missed out on the Maternity Grant deadlines

This is what happened in my case. if the IR has used mine and ohs wages from the tax year before we had our children, then we were above the mat grant threshold, so as soon as baby arrived, i contact them and gave them revised figures for the coming year. Its fairly easy to work out what your projected income will be, and as soon as you have your revised award notice, you can put in your claim

I dont think you have any recourse here, as the IR were right, you wouldnt have been entitled to the grant, based on your pre-baby income. But you might have been, had they taken into account the fact the mum no longer had any income.

Flea

OrkneyStar

flea72 wrote: »

the thing to check here, is whether your CTC claim was based on your income pre-children (ie both parents worked and brought in a reasonable amount of money)

When claiming CTC after baby is born, you should inform the IR of your drop in income for the coming tax year. they have to base your first claim on your joint income from the previous tax year, but due to mat leave only one parent is now classed as having an income, so they are obviously working from the wrong figures. I know all the paperwork says you dont have to notify them of any changes under £25k, but that means your true award wont be assessed until the end of that tax year, which in most cases means people have missed out on the Maternity Grant deadlines

This is what happened in my case. if the IR has used mine and ohs wages from the tax year before we had our children, then we were above the mat grant threshold, so as soon as baby arrived, i contact them and gave them revised figures for the coming year. Its fairly easy to work out what your projected income will be, and as soon as you have your revised award notice, you can put in your claim

I dont think you have any recourse here, as the IR were right, you wouldnt have been entitled to the grant, based on your pre-baby income. But you might have been, had they taken into account the fact the mum no longer had any income.

Flea

Flea, a similar thing happened with us too re the income, and only qualifying after bubs was born. It's only cos I knew a bit about maternity rights and benefits that I was aware of this at the time, I wonder how many parents don't realise or are not informed about their potential entitlements? This is why I'd always say its worth checking, on here, or even better at somewhere like CAB. You have explained it well .
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