Can you claim Income Support and Working Tax Credit??

Icequeen1

Without quoting legislation which will get complicated, SSC you might want to look at HMRC's own website:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/work-illness.htm which says:

If you're off work for 28 weeks or less

If you're already claiming tax credits, you'll be able to keep claiming Working Tax Credit for the first 28 weeks that you're off work, as long as your usual working hours are at least 16 (or 30 depending on your circumstances) and you're getting one of the following:

• Statutory Sick Pay
• Incapacity Benefit at the short-term lower rate
• Income Support paid because of incapacity for work
• Employment and Support Allowance
• National Insurance credits awarded because of incapacity for work, or limited capability for work (how your illness or disability affects the amount and type of work you can do).

This applies to employees and the self-employed.
If you're not already claiming tax credits, you could make a claim for the first time if the above applies to you. You'll need to fill in a claim form which you can get by contacting the Tax Credit Helpline on Tel 0845 300 3900 or textphone 0845 300 3909.

It clearly says that if you receive INCOME SUPPORT (paid because of incapacity for work - even though this is now gone since ESA introduced) it is just one of the examples where you can claim IS and WTC. It also makes it clear that if you are not already claiming tax credits, you can make a claim if any of those points apply to you - which includes INCOME SUPPORT.

Take a recent case I saw. A husband who was working 2 jobs, a wife receiving carers allowance for looking after a severely disabled daughter. The care needs of the daughter were such that the husband was going to give up one job thus reducing him to 21 hours.

With 21 hours - he qualifies for WTC. Because his wife is a carer, she could claim Income Support. Now, as some have pointed out, income is likely to be too high. But once housing costs are allowed, taking into account their mortgage outstanding, they just manage to qualify for a small amount of IS.

This small amount of IS, under tax credit legislation, passports them to maximum WTC. I am confident there is nothing on HMRC's website that would contradict this.

Indeed if you look at the DWP decision makers guides for Income Support it clearly states that WTC is to be taken into account as income for Income Support. Why would it say this if as SSC says, DWP will not ever pay IS if WTC is in payment?

It is concerning if what SSC says is correct, and this post is not intended to say whether the OP can claim anything, but merely that it is possible to claim IBJSA/IS and WTC at the same time. It is rare but indeed possible.

Please seek some independent advice.

IQ