Working Tax Credit and Income Support Problem - Advice Welcomed

Simon7685

Hi Everyone

I have a problem with Working Tax Credit that was taken into account as Income in my Income Support claim.

This dates back to Novemeber 2006. At the time I claimed Income Support due to being to ill to work and being Self Employed. When I couldn't work we were left with just our tax credits to live on. I claimed Incapacity but didn't qualify so they awarded IS instead.

I was awarded £16 a week Income Support. £76.58 was taken into account as income and represented the amount of working tax credit we got. At the time I did not realise I should have told HMRC I wasn't able to work and asked them to stop my working tax credit. I just thought that as I was receiving overall the correct amount of money, that was fine!

What I only discovered this year was that the amount of wtc paid during November 2006 to June 2007 has been declared an overpayment and I have to pay it back. I can understand now that as I wasn't working I wasn't entitled to the working tax credit but I was entitled to the money in Income Support.

I have written to Income Support explaining that the £76.58 they took into account as income has been declared an overpayment and I have to pay it back. It is being taken back from my current and future tax credits and will do until fully repaid. I have asked for the money to be paid to me from Income Support as it cannot be taken into account as income, if it has to be repaid by me.

I hope that sort of makes sense and if anyone has come accross anything similar, I would appreciate any advice.

I expect Income Support to say I can't have the money and I will have to fight for it. Initially they asked me to provide proof of the overpayment and has taken nearly 3 months to get it in writing from HMRC!

Thanks in advance
Simon

Simon7685

I meant to put that in total we talking about over £2200!

zappster1966

Think you've got a Battle Royale on your hands with Income Support.

Advantageous changes to an Income Support assessment generally only take effect from the week in which you advise them. There are some exceptions to that rule, other benefits (DLA, Carers etc) being awarded/backdated etc ... but I don't think your change is "backdateable". In fact I'm sure I've discussed such a scenario with colleagues & have been advised it's not.

Suspect yours is a very expensive mistake.

SuziQ

Our MP printed off something from the Dept work pensions guidelines (I think) which said where an overpayment was not a loss to the public purse they wouldn't enforce repayment. If clearly you should have had the full amount of IS rather than WTC then I would ask about this angle if I was you-maybe get your MP involved?

[Deleted User]

I am not sure about the backdating rules with DWP but if you tried to make an amendment to tax credits, they would only backdate any changes that would cause an increase in your award for a maximum 3 months.

If the DWP backdating rules are similar I think you will fnd it almost impossible to have anything backdated.

Good luck but I don't think there is much chance.


Although from another angle (the correct one as far as I can see), you would still have been classed as being self employed and working for 28 weeks as you claimed income support.

See this link for guidance http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/tctmanual/TCTM02421.htm

You may want to try contacting TCO to see if they can correct you award to show you should still have been classed as in work for the 28 weeks. It may be best to write to them and include a print out of that page in the link.

Simon7685

Thanks for all the advice everyone, I suspect that it is going to be very difficult to get this sorted and I know I am going to have to fight but at over £2000 it is worth fighting for! I will be paying the overpaid tax credits back for goodness knows how many years.

I like the idea of the 28 weeks still being classed as being self employed and I am going to have a look at the link, thanks very much for putting it on for me.

I did speak to someone at DWP when I found out about the overpaid wtc and put it to them that if wtc was overpaid then conversely it should not have been taken into account as income in my IS claim. The person I spoke to said I would need to provide proof of the overpayment and it would go to a specialist decision maker. She then said that I should get the money. I knew it couldn't be that easy then!

I don't really have anything to lose though and over £2k to gain.

The other thing that really galls me is, when I claimed IS they contacted HMRC to confirm the amount of tax credits in payment. So they talked to each other, so why couldn't they just make the adjustments then and correct everything? Or at least let me know that I needed to do it? At the time I was very ill and nearly died, if I hadn't been so ill, I would have probably sorted it myself but sometimes because of circumstances you can't do it. The end result is I still only received the correct amount of money, irrespective of which government department paid me it, so I should not have to suffer financially now.

I have to wait now for DWP to get back to me over it, so I am at that thumb twiddling time for now but I will begin preparing to involve my MP.

Thanks again for the advice
Simon

Simon7685

Subsoniccoyote, I have looked at that link you gave me and it seems to make sense that I should have been considered as still working for 28 weeks. So if I can't get it sorted one way, I can always try and fallback on that route, so thanks again for posting it for me.

Simon

Simon7685

Quick Update

I telephoned Income Support yesterday for an update. It is currently with a specialist decision maker and apparently that usually takes about 10 working days.

Whether this is good or bad I don't know? At least I hope it shows they are considering things and not just dismiss it out of sight.