specialist team for tax credits renewal (merged)

joel10873

i got this letter last week and my renewal pack arrived today, rang the number (on the letter) and it was answered within one ring

renewed no problem went through details of information on claim form, i had to estimate income as hubby is self employed and no finalised accounts yet, very quick polite and helpful

will let youy know if my money changes or when i get any further paperwork

(i rang the preston office cant remember the number have letft letter upstairs!)

WWitch

I got one of these letters this morning and straight away thought it was really odd so thank goodness for this thread. :T

My letter comes from Tax Credit Office, Preston PRS OSB and the name I have is Steve Lamey who is apparently a director. It's addressed only to me even though I always claim with my husband and we usually receive duplicate letters. It has only my NI number on it. It's not dated. It's not signed. Little wonder really....I certainly wouldn't put my signature to a letter like that! The phone number is 0845 600 5044.

Is the conclusion here at MSE that these letters are laughable but genuine? Doesn't give you much faith does it when such a letter is sent to thousands of people in need of financial help. What are they trying to do to people at a time when stress levels are surely higher than ever. For us, it's made something that we do without fail, simply and easily every year into something worrying and disturbing. We are not a difficult case - my husband works, I am a SAHM to 4 children and that's how it's been for several years. Nothing has changed for us.

My husband usually just rings the main number to renew when we receive the renewal pack each year. Not this year it seems as the letter insists that I must speak to a specialist adviser and they will help me to get it right! We have never got it wrong before I hasten to add...but hey...there's always a chance that we might have both gone completely barmy over the last year!

My renewal pack came yesterday....the letter arrived this morning. I am still undecided as to which number to ring but either way it's hard to believe that something so important to so many people has been handled so very badly.

I wonder how much this little farce has cost?

ceri231099

Renewed today and phoned the specialist renewals team presumably to Preston, PR 1 0SB on their given Tel No 0845 600 5044 and gave the info over no hassle and straightforward to a courteous young Scottish lad. Had two letters, both letters were adressed in partners name with his N.I. One Friday and another today, which came at the same time as renewal pack. The second letter is the same wording but on better quality paper and the heading in bold Help with your tax credits renewal aligned to the left just under the Dear Mr bit, rather than centred which was the case in the first letter's layout. It looks and feels more authentic than the first.

Afterwards phoned the main tax credits helpline 0845 300 3900 and they verified that my renewal was now showing up on their screen. We have probably a high value claim with three children and two children unfortunately on DLA which may be a reason we received the letters. It does also make sense to renew by phone for the reduction inadministration hours and postal costs. Quick and easy for us at least.

TaxCreditHelp

Pinkpigg wrote: »

TaxCreditHelp: Thanks for the info, thats great and put my mind at rest no end. One question: "You say "When you call we will check ALL the details on your award at present and then ask for your annual renewal details (income, benefit status, Statement Of Circumstances) and process your annual declaration. The sample size for this project affects around 400,000 Tax Credits customers" - does this mean that normally details would not be checked?? Seems rather bizarre, afterall tax credit is a form of benefit and is means tested, surely no matter which avenue you would renew ALL details would be checked and double checked. Thanks.

I don't work on the helpline so I'm unable to comment on their exact process. They may very well check every detail but from processing experience, I don't believe they do. Certainly if you complete your renewal by return mail, not every detail will be checked before processing. If there is an issue with it then the case would drop onto a processing worklist to be reviewed and corrected at that point.

TaxCreditHelp

happymother wrote: »

This is just bizarre, I received the specialist letter but like so many others I just called the main helpline to renew. In fact I rang to renew this morning, after reading that it would be stored on the system until specialist team looked at it I thought I'd best ring them. I told the woman who answered the specialist line that I had renewed this morning but had just received her letter and she said that it was fine, I will just make a note on screen that you have already renewed, thanks for calling.

Because this is a new process there has been some conflicting information passed out to advisers but I can assure this won't have any negative affect on your Tax Credit payments or overall award. These cases have been inhibited from finalisation which means even if the helpline process your renewal, they may believe it has processed as usual but it won't have and it will be added to a worklist to be reviewed. I'll make sure I add this to an 'issues log' so that those on the Specialist Renewals team are aware of the correct process to follow in this situation.

TaxCreditHelp

mad_bad_spender wrote: »

I have received this letter today but havent received the renewal pack yet. It does say to wait for the pack but has anyone renewed before receiving this as i know there has been an overpayment and i am trying to get this sorted asap?

Also has anyone been able to get through on the 0845 600 5044 number as this has been engaged all morning, no queue or answering service, seems a bit shoddy to say the least?

Hi there! The Specialist Renewals Team are unable to deal with your renewal until you have received your renewals pack. This is because we need the renewals screen to be available to us and it won't be until a renewal pack has been issued. I'm sorry if you've had problems contacting the Specialist Renewals line but we were rather busy today so please keep trying until you get through and if you're concerned about the costs of calling us you can ask the adviser to call you back. As these calls are coming through to offices who do not normally deal with inbound calls, not all sites have a queuing system or answering service. Hope this helps.

TaxCreditHelp

WWitch wrote: »

I got one of these letters this morning and straight away thought it was really odd so thank goodness for this thread. :T

My letter comes from Tax Credit Office, Preston PRS OSB and the name I have is Steve Lamey who is apparently a director. It's addressed only to me even though I always claim with my husband and we usually receive duplicate letters. It has only my NI number on it. It's not dated. It's not signed. Little wonder really....I certainly wouldn't put my signature to a letter like that! The phone number is 0845 600 5044.

Is the conclusion here at MSE that these letters are laughable but genuine? Doesn't give you much faith does it when such a letter is sent to thousands of people in need of financial help. What are they trying to do to people at a time when stress levels are surely higher than ever. For us, it's made something that we do without fail, simply and easily every year into something worrying and disturbing. We are not a difficult case - my husband works, I am a SAHM to 4 children and that's how it's been for several years. Nothing has changed for us.

My husband usually just rings the main number to renew when we receive the renewal pack each year. Not this year it seems as the letter insists that I must speak to a specialist adviser and they will help me to get it right! We have never got it wrong before I hasten to add...but hey...there's always a chance that we might have both gone completely barmy over the last year!

My renewal pack came yesterday....the letter arrived this morning. I am still undecided as to which number to ring but either way it's hard to believe that something so important to so many people has been handled so very badly.

I wonder how much this little farce has cost?

The address on the letter is the return address for the one of the Tax Credit 'head offices'. The letters weren't issued from Preston however and this address is on all letters for this exercise, no matter which 0845 number you have been asked to call. Steve Lamey is the director general of Benefits and Credits, the sub-department within HMRC who administer Tax Credits, but sometimes this name may be replaced with the name of Paul Gerrard who is also a director within Benefits and Credits. The addressee on the letters vary and sometimes both applicants will have been printed and on others only applicant 1 from the tax credit award. As I said, the letters were admittedly a bit of a 'rush job' but they are genuine and I would recommend you do call the 0845 number on your letter. Thanks.

jonnyboy82

Hi,taxcredithelp can you have a look at my latest post this afernoon and reply if poss, thanks alot....

chocolatebum

i received my renewals pack yesterday and phoned to renew, this morning i then received the letter about the specialst renewal team telling me to phone them, which i did going through to i assume the cumbernauld office as thats the area the letter mentioned, after explaining to the woman on the phone she checked that it had all gone through properly the day before which it had and then said i would be taken of the specialist renewals list as it had been done. she did also explain how it was a new set up they were piloting and apologised for any confusion, the phone was answered pretty much on the first ring when i phoned them, unlike hte main line which took me 15 mins to get through on yesterday.

chocolatebum

jonnyboy82 wrote: »

hi, i recieved my renewal pack on tuesday si rang to renew then and i got told it all went through fine no probs,this morning i recieved a specialist review team letter for when i renew,si i thought i have already renewed yesterday so i called this department and was told hang on a minute it looks like you have already renewed,i then said yes i got my pack yesterday and did it then and i only recieved this letter this morning sorry... he then said let me double check its not on a list? and he came back and said yes its all done and gone through,i am so confused but he did mention that he thinks that if the pack gets sent before a specialist team letter it can be done on main helpline but if its the other way round and the letter gets sent before the pack it triggers something and it can only be done at the specialsit team??... i hope it has gone through but like i said i did call the specialist team and he said it had so no doubt to doubt that:)

exactly the same situation as me and the same information that i was given as well so hopefully they have gone through alright