16 year old child tax credit stopped

Rosemary_Jane

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Hi,

I get full working tax credit and child tax credit for my younger son, who is still in education.

When I got my renewal stuff through in June this year, I saw that the award of CTC stopped on the 31 August.
I rang the helpline and stated that he would be remaining in full-time education, going into the 6th form. The adviser told me that he had entered this onto the system, and that my payments would therefore continue unchanged, but that I wouldn't get a new award notice until his status changed from 'child' to 'qualifying young person' in September. I made a note of the date and time and adviser's name in my diary and on the award notice.

I was therefore extremely miffed last week to discover a much reduced tax credit payment into the bank. With the WTC the lone parent element has stopped, and so has the CTC - family element, child element, and disabled child element.

I am down about £150 per week. I rang the helpline and was told that yes, the update was put on the system in June, when I rang, but that the updates are never done until September, and I should not have been told that payments would continue, and no, there's no way they can tell me how long it will take to be updated, and when it is, it will be added to the weekly amount, not paid in a lump sum.

I'm fuming, how are we supposed to plan and budget?

Growl <rant over>

Rosemary

bestpud

This crops up every year, and it caught me out too!

They cannot simply carry on the claim, apparently; they have to stop it and start it back up agian.

Daft imo, but there you go...

You will get it all when they sort it out though.

Oh, they told me they'd continue as well, despite tax credit employees on here saying they know full well it doesn't happen! Obviously something amiss with staff training as it seems to be an ongoing issue.

Rosemary_Jane

Hi bestpud,

thanks for the reply.

They cannot simply carry on the claim, apparently; they have to stop it and start it back up agian.

But in my case, I think it stays as a continuous claim, as I am still getting (a reduced) WTC.
You'd think they'd be glad to be able to do some of the work ahead of the busy period. Obviously designed by someone who cannot multitask!

Regards,
Rosemary

KimYeovil

£652 per month benefits. :eek:

bestpud

Rosemary_Jane wrote: »

Hi bestpud,

thanks for the reply.

They cannot simply carry on the claim, apparently; they have to stop it and start it back up agian.

But in my case, I think it stays as a continuous claim, as I am still getting (a reduced) WTC.
You'd think they'd be glad to be able to do some of the work ahead of the busy period. Obviously designed by someone who cannot multitask!

Regards,
Rosemary

Ours carried on too, as we have a younger dd, but they have to stop the award for the teenager and then restart it apparently!

I think it was subsonicoyote who explained why they do it that way but I can't recall what it was now.

I think they need to make sure parents are not being told rubbish when they call, personally, as like you, we found ourselves in difficulty because we had no idea it was going to happen.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

The system will accept the information in advance for this but it cannot process until 1st September when the "change" happens. Like any other change it takes a few days to go through. This is the only change that happens this way but the only other option is to tell you to call back when the change has happened - like almost every other change you need to report. I wish the system was better but we need to do the best with what we have right now.

Please, to anyone else reading this - stop shouting at the advisers on the phone. It is not their fault and it is very unikely the same adviser who told you that your payments will continue.

This is not a training issue, it is because certain advisers waffle when speaking to customers to keep them happy. The guidance tells the adviser to advise the customer that the change wont take effect until after 1st September, although it doesnt tell them to advise the customer that there payments will stop.

Customers will still complain if you tell them it is going to stop though and what if it doesnt stop? For some it wont make any difference as the the change is processed through by the time the next payment is due.

The reason it doesnt keep going past 31st August is because the child is 16 so can legally leave full time education.
Tens of thousands of people every year dont update changes quick enough (or make any changes at all) so end up being overpaid if the child did actually leave education. The CTC will end at 31st August and only continues if your child continues on in full time non-advanced education. Many people think that if the child leaves education they should still receive CTC as the child is not working so wouldnt bother to tell TCO.

Another note - if your child stops being in full time education (less than 12 hours in educational establishment per week) or goes on to advanced education (Above NVQ level 3 and equivalent - this would include any University qualifications) you should NOTIFY TCO as your CTC should end.

bestpud

subsoniccoyote wrote: »

Hi,

The system will accept the information in advance for this but it cannot process until 1st September when the "change" happens. Like any other change it takes a few days to go through. This is the only change that happens this way but the only other option is to tell you to call back when the change has happened - like almost every other change you need to report. I wish the system was better but we need to do the best with what we have right now.

Please, to anyone else reading this - stop shouting at the advisers on the phone. It is not their fault and it is very unikely the same adviser who told you that your payments will continue.

This is not a training issue, it is because certain advisers waffle when speaking to customers to keep them happy. The guidance tells the adviser to advise the customer that the change wont take effect until after 1st September, although it doesnt tell them to advise the customer that there payments will stop.

Customers will still complain if you tell them it is going to stop though and what if it doesnt stop? For some it wont make any difference as the the change is processed through by the time the next payment is due.

The reason it doesnt keep going past 31st August is because the child is 16 so can legally leave full time education.
Tens of thousands of people every year dont update changes quick enough (or make any changes at all) so end up being overpaid if the child did actually leave education. The CTC will end at 31st August and only continues if your child continues on in full time non-advanced education. Many people think that if the child leaves education they should still receive CTC as the child is not working so wouldnt bother to tell TCO.

Another note - if your child stops being in full time education (less than 12 hours in educational establishment per week) or goes on to advanced education (Above NVQ level 3 and equivalent - this would include any University qualifications) you should NOTIFY TCO as your CTC should end.

Thanks for the explanation.

I would never shout at an advisor anyway as it's just not an acceptable way to behave imo.

But that said, I do feel frustrated that advisors are not warning people of this.

I do feel many claimants would not be too bothered if told in June/July that their payments may stop for a few days in September, just while it is being processed.

I feel people are more likely to shout when they suddenly find themselves without a payment, and ring in a panic, to then be told this always happens.

One would hope every advisor who takes a call from an anxious parent in September would remember to tell people from the start the following year, but that doesn't seem to be happening. (Staff turnover perhaps?)

It cannot be better to leave people in ignorance just because it may not happen (but in all probability will).

Apart from anything else, it must increase the workload in September and yet it is avoidable...

mumps

I had a nightmare with mine this year due to errors last year. My son was going into sixth form and daughter leaving sixth form to go to university. Phoned and told them and payments continued at level I expected, all good. Then got renewal this year to find I had been paid for daughter but payments for son had stopped so I had been overpaid for daughter for about six months but this was exactly balanced by my son who had been underpaid for the exact same period. Phoned to inform them and the overpayment for my daughter was reclaimed and payments started for my son but his payments were not backdated so I owed money and was told his payments would not be paid for six months to repay what I owed.

I phoned and explained this to three different advisors who all refused to accept what I was telling them, all kept me on the phone for 20 to 30 minutes while they tried to figure it out and all eventually agreed that "something" was wrong. All promised to sort it out but none did. I phoned a 4th time and went through the same performance and yes I did get a bit irrate when he told me I did owe the money, that what I had said could not happen, and in the end I asked for a manager, he refused but agreed that he would speak to a manager. Ten minutes later he came back on explained what the problem was, exactly the same as I told him, I said, "So what you told me couldn't have happened did in fact happen?" Long pause and then he agreed. I got letter within a week with new details of payments and all was sorted out. What a waste of time and thank heavens I could afford it.

Dumyat

We only get the minimum payment and mine has stopped a year early too, even though when I phoned my claim in I made it clear one child has gone to uni and I confirmed the other was staying on at school.
I'm in two minds whether to sort it out, because due to circumstances its likely that at the end of next year when we are due to finish, we'd end up owing them money..

Bethankim

Just want to check something,

My son is just starting year 11 (last year of school) but his 16th Birthday is in November this year. Do the tax credits work to their 16th or to when they actually leave statutory education. I know may be a daft question but want to make sure i have it right.

He will be going onto college next year so this thread had been really useful as i can at least plan ahead for it - although we should be ok as i tend to get my money at the end of the moth so in theory would get it at the end of August allowing 4 weeks to sort out new claim for September.

bestpud

Bethankim wrote: »

Just want to check something,

My son is just starting year 11 (last year of school) but his 16th Birthday is in November this year. Do the tax credits work to their 16th or to when they actually leave statutory education. I know may be a daft question but want to make sure i have it right.

He will be going onto college next year so this thread had been really useful as i can at least plan ahead for it - although we should be ok as i tend to get my money at the end of the moth so in theory would get it at the end of August allowing 4 weeks to sort out new claim for September.

As far as I am aware, it automatically runs until the August 31st after their 16th birthday.