specialist team for tax credits renewal (merged)

harveymail

Apologies, forgot to mention, she was actually invesigated the year before and asked to provide details of her income, benefits, that she lived with just her children and so on and even though my son was listed on the mortgage, everything turned out fine and her award continued as normal. It does seem that the TC's people seem to think that every couple who have seperated have done so with bad blood between them, which was not the case with my son and DIL. They have a better relationship now than they did when they are together and he regulary pays bills for her and as said before contributes half toward the mortgage.

kerry13238

mumtothreegirls wrote: »

It's so frustrating I too renewed through the main line but got a specialist letter have been phoning both numbers daily to find out what is happening and when I'll get me finalised award and can't get through!!!! I've also got a change to report and want to get it reported ASAP. I'm getting married on Friday and then going on holiday and obviously my partner will be moving in with me after our holiday but want to report the change now as I'm worried about getting overpaid since we go on holiday and I'll not have time to phone. Do you think I should put it in writing I'd just feel better speaking to someone.

you cant report your partner moving in until the day he does i tried to do it 4 days before my partner moved in and they said i couldnt and had to call back

TaxCreditHelp

shammy123 wrote: »

hey guys this new thing is defo an investigation line. just got off phone with them and we have been picked randomly to be investigated. taxcredithelp is giving out wrong information. If any of you have anything to hide then get it fixed before you call them. make sure you can substantiate evry bit of information. otherwise the inevitable will happen.
this part is directed at taxcredithelp, if you are who you claim to be, why did you not just be truthfull and inform people on here to the fact that this is just the new name for the investigation team?
eventually the truth will out, just a shame that some gov wrkers try to hide it and hope all will be well, another classic example of old labor waste of money and excuses for kepping civil servants on the payroll

This is incorrect. The Specialist Renewals Team are not completing investigation work and this is not a new name for the Investigation Team.

The Specialist Renewals Team is actually comprised of Tax Credit processing staff from St. Helen's, Cumbernauld and Blackpool. The processing staff from Blackpool used to work on the Complaince work stream which dealt with an element of investigations but they have been removed from that task to assist with the Specialist Renewals project.

If you look through my previous posts you should see consistent responses and delivery of information. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have, as long as I know the answers... If I don't know then I'll tell you just that.

Kyresa

TaxCreditHelp wrote: »

If you look through my previous posts you should see consistent responses and delivery of information. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have, as long as I know the answers... If I don't know then I'll tell you just that.

Why do you keep saying it's for those with awards over £8500 when it's clearly not?

(My award is not, nor has ever been, near £8500 yet I had "the letter" and others have said the same).

mumtothreegirls

Thought that but was just going to say he's moved in as it's only a couple of days anyway.

Numptytoes

TaxCreditHelp wrote: »

This is incorrect. The Specialist Renewals Team are not completing investigation work and this is not a new name for the Investigation Team.

The Specialist Renewals Team is actually comprised of Tax Credit processing staff from St. Helen's, Cumbernauld and Blackpool. The processing staff from Blackpool used to work on the Complaince work stream which dealt with an element of investigations but they have been removed from that task to assist with the Specialist Renewals project.

If you look through my previous posts you should see consistent responses and delivery of information. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have, as long as I know the answers... If I don't know then I'll tell you just that.

Hi, can you tell me, has this team been set up to do a more thorough check with renewals than the old team? I.e. they check out all details of every claim? Is that why they are taking so long? Many thanks.

shammy123

TaxCreditHelp wrote: »

This is incorrect. The Specialist Renewals Team are not completing investigation work and this is not a new name for the Investigation Team.

The Specialist Renewals Team is actually comprised of Tax Credit processing staff from St. Helen's, Cumbernauld and Blackpool. The processing staff from Blackpool used to work on the Complaince work stream which dealt with an element of investigations but they have been removed from that task to assist with the Specialist Renewals project.

If you look through my previous posts you should see consistent responses and delivery of information. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have, as long as I know the answers... If I don't know then I'll tell you just that.

sorry to dissapoint you mate ,but the woman i spoke with told me that this is not a second line but a check, if what you say is true, why are peoples accounts placed on hold? this is just exactly what i say it is. unfortunately you seem to dodge the fact that it is a random selection and nothing to do with what level of tc you get as you earlier mentioned. also i sincerely do understand you backing up your department as at the end of the day you are all civil servants and do snub noses at the meek, the very samr meek that inadvertantly pays the govt's wages. lets not decorate the fact that the letter clearly states "we will help you get what you are entitled to, not too much or too little"
but when you call it is without a doubt an investigation line as the case workers at no time try to help if you are getting the right ammount or not. more to the fact that they sell /give your info to equifax, im hedging my bets on selling info, on to a third party.
now realistically equifax can not possibly hold more info on a person than the government. its an impossibility. so why equifax? simple answer really, if you owe monies to anyone than the govt will make sure that they find you.so if you dont want to be found ,eg by a debt to a credit card company, than you wont apply for tc. simple as that. if you can explain why equifax are involved, then please enlighten all on this forum. i am pretty sure there are thousands on this forum whose ears will !!!!! up and see the association.
as i stated i am surprised that the media have not picked up on this witch hunt that thses civil servants have embarked on

shammy123

The processing staff from Blackpool used to work on the Complaince work stream which dealt with an element of investigations but they have been removed from that task to assist with the Specialist Renewals project.


sorry taxcredithelp, but couldnt resist the above. compliance if im correct were/are the investigation team. therein lays the dilema. if you catch my drift. it would do that department more justice if you or your fellow representatives would just call it as it is. no one would judge your department with distain. people can always vote and change policies. the fact remains that the normal helpline always worked, but your department have decided to justify the payroll and the public as usual are made to suffer. pure and simple. As i Have stated earlier these lifelines should only be made available to those in need. so yes that dept has to be vigilant, but then not have carte blanche to pick on a random selection of the populace with no regard to the consequences to thier lives, nor the worry or distress it might cause some to be picked as such under investigation, because no matter how you disguise it , it is just that. there is no other sugestion nor direction towards any other help that might be available to the public as the letter suggests. I can only re-iterate my earlier posts for people to be prepared to reaveal all and sundry about themselves and to get their finances in order, otherwise they will be cut off.

shammy123

Kyresa wrote: »

Why do you keep saying it's for those with awards over £8500 when it's clearly not?

(My award is not, nor has ever been, near £8500 yet I had "the letter" and others have said the same).

im glad im not the only one seeing the dodge on that

TaxCreditHelp

shammy123 wrote: »

sorry to dissapoint you mate ,but the woman i spoke with told me that this is not a second line but a check, It is indeed a check and I've never said it's not if what you say is true, why are peoples accounts placed on hold? Accounts are not placed on hold. People continue to get paid their Tax Credits in the usual way. this is just exactly what i say it is. unfortunately you seem to dodge the fact that it is a random selection and nothing to do with what level of tc you get as you earlier mentioned. I have never dodged this point either. The information I have been given is that those Tax Credit awards totalling over £8500 (Working Tax Credit + Child Tax Credit + ChildCare combined) are being asked to renew via the Specialist Renewals line. Those who also receive the Adult Disability Element of Tax Credits are being asked to renew in the same way. This is to ensure that the details we have on the Tax Credit system are correct and the Tax Credit Office is aiming to assist the most vulnerable customers through a process which many find difficult. also i sincerely do understand you backing up your department as at the end of the day you are all civil servants and do snub noses at the meek, the very samr meek that inadvertantly pays the govt's wages. Let's not resort to making incorrect assumptions, especially as personally all I've ever done on this is help people with questions they may have, and you'll find everyone in Tax Credit Office really do try their best to help every customer to receive the money they are entitled to while trying out best to ensure we do our job correctly within the tight parameters we are given. and the wider lets not decorate the fact that the letter clearly states "we will help you get what you are entitled to, not too much or too little"
but when you call it is without a doubt an investigation line as the case workers at no time try to help if you are getting the right ammount or not. I don't agree with this either but feel free to give examples more to the fact that they sell /give your info to equifax, This is also incorrect. The (as far as I'm aware) entirely one way arrangement from Equifax to HMRC is to ensure the Tax Credit system is less vulnerable to further fraud and abuse, and also to provide customers with enhanced security, which I'm sure you'll agree is in everybody's best interest. im hedging my bets on selling info, on to a third party. Again, let's stop jumping to scaremongering accusations which are entirely unfounded now realistically equifax can not possibly hold more info on a person than the government. its an impossibility. so why equifax? simple answer really, if you owe monies to anyone than the govt will make sure that they find you.so if you dont want to be found ,eg by a debt to a credit card company, than you wont apply for tc. simple as that. if you can explain why equifax are involved, then please enlighten all on this forum. i am pretty sure there are thousands on this forum whose ears will !!!!! up and see the association. As I've said above, the arrangement with Equifax is to everyone's benefit and at no point is the information we posess shared with debt collection companies, credit card companies, or anyone else who may be looking to trace people or make financial gain. And while the Government does naturally have a lot of information, not all Government systems are made available to every civil servant and department, precisely for reasons of security and fraud prevention. I'm sure you would prefer that all of your sensitive data was not needlessly visible to almost 500,000 Civil Servants.
as i stated i am surprised that the media have not picked up on this witch hunt that thses civil servants have embarked on I would agree with you... if all 400,000 Tax Credit customers who have been asked to renew via the Specialist Renewals team were as disgruntled as yourself and all had masisve problems with the process but this is simply not true and the vast majority of these 400,000 have been able to renew in this way without any problem whatsoever. And from these checks some Tax Credit customers have even seen their award increase as a result.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you'd like to discuss anything else.