Cildrens Tax Credits Overpayment of £4500 any advice?

Unclefoobar

Hello all,

First post, been a lurker for many years!

Due to an error by tax credits (I put down approx £40 a week in childcare costs, they had over a £1000 a week in child care costs on their system) we were overpaid for the first year by several thousand (about £7500). After the first year our payments stopped and since then they have reclaimed the overpayment from our monthly payments that we were now not receiving.

Several months ago we received a letter to say our 2003/2004 claim was to be investigated and we have just received another letter to confirm our over payment and that we now owe £4500.
We have the right to appeal but to be honest i'm happy to keep paying the paying the overpayment by not receiving our monthly tax credit.

I did try and contact tax credits as soon as I realised they were paying too much but was either cut off or kept on hold for so long i gave up, i realise now i should have tried harder but i can't change the past so, does anyone have any advice on whether i should appeal? do nothing? or ask tax credits what they're going to do?
Just to say i'm not after sympathy, we had the money and spent it although the original error was not mine, i should have chased them up or put all the money away.
Any advice greatly appreciated!!;)

System

If you are sure that the overpayment is due to the incorrect childcare figure then it's unlikely that you would win a dispute.
However I would still be tempted to write to them asking for an explanation for any overpayment on your claim as there might be other factors involved that you aren't aware of. Once you get the explanation you will then have more information on which to decide whether to dispute or not.

If you do write then send it recorded delivery and keep a copy of your letter.

septemberblues

Appeal, you have nothing to lose. I was overpaid £6,200, due to a clerical error on their part. I wrote to them and said it was their fault (it was) and they agreed and reduced the amount to £788, they even asked if I wanted to appeal this figure, but no, I am happy to pay the reduced amount. I don't get tax credits now, but I pay them £25 a month by Standing Order. Roll on October 2010...................(when I've finished paying them!)

Unclefoobar

Oops, I can't even spell childrens correctly!

This argument septemberblues has raged in our house for sometime. My Wife has wanted to appeal for some time whereas I have not. My thinking being let sleeping dogs lie, as long as the money is being paid back hopefully they'll leave us alone. The wife says it was their fault, so we should keep the money. If i knew I'd get the same outcome as yours, then I would appeal too!

septemberblues wrote: »

Appeal, you have nothing to lose. I was overpaid £6,200, due to a clerical error on their part. I wrote to them and said it was their fault (it was) and they agreed and reduced the amount to £788, they even asked if I wanted to appeal this figure, but no, I am happy to pay the reduced amount. I don't get tax credits now, but I pay them £25 a month by Standing Order. Roll on October 2010...................(when I've finished paying them!)

sarflee

Definitely appeal.

I used to be one of those people that thought if you received too much, you hadn't tried hard enough to get it sorted, until it happened to me.

They took my partner off my claim, then lost my children so I ended up receiving WTC when I shouldn't. I phoned them every week and things got worse and I ended up receiving more money. I begged them by phone and letter to stop paying me and offered to pay back the money on several occassions. When they finally sorted it, 18 months later, I owed them just under £1000. I appealed, just because of the stress I had endured and they reduced it to £180.

This was 4 years ago and they still haven't asked for the £180.

You have nothing to lose, and from what you have said it was not your fault.