Tax credits wanting A LOT of documents/proof

looby75

My best friend split up with her husband 5 weeks ago and has sent a change of circumstances form in to tax credits, she currently doesn't get any TC because of an overpayment years ago.

Anyway today she got a letter asking her to provide loads of documentation, they want;

A copy of her job contract
payslips (they don't say how many though)
a copy of her rent agreement
a copy of phone, gas, electric and water rates bill.
a recent child-benefit awards letter
a letter from her boss confirming her work hours (surely her contract should be enough for this)

She's beside herself with worry because she can't provide the gas electricity and water bills as she's on pre payment meters so doesn't get bills and the water rates are included in her rent so doesn't get a separate bill. She's tried phoning the number on the letter (it's different to the normal tc number) but can't get through.....has anyone had a similar letter or problem.

She's struggling on £500 a month at the moment and her rent is £400 alone but HB etc won't do anything to help until she has her tc award.

Has anyone else had to provide all this info to tax credits or have the problem of not having bills because of pre payment?

looby75

Anyone with any advice? She can't get in touch with anyone on the number on the letter and she's really upset and worried.

Amistoso_2

Can she not try phoning the regular number just to see if they know anything? maybe they could put her through to the relevant department if they can't help, they maybe want all that stuff to prove she is paying all the bills herself and that her and her partner have indeed seperated?

looby75

Amistoso wrote: »

Can she not try phoning the regular number just to see if they know anything? maybe they could put her through to the relevant department if they can't help, they maybe want all that stuff to prove she is paying all the bills herself and that her and her partner have indeed seperated?

the normal phone line just tells her to call the one on the letter

Theres another problem, because they have only been split up for a few weeks the rent agreement is in joint names and the all the phone bills are in her husbands name so that won't prove anything. I've never heard of anyone being asked to provide so much documentation for tax credits, when my ex left us I didn't have to provide anything like that.

TaxCreditHelp

Your friend may be able to provide receipts for evidence of purchases made for prepayment cards. Some of the information they are asking for isn't held on the Tax Credit system so it looks like her problem is her overpayment from her previous joint award. They may be attempting to calculate her outgoings against her income to see how much they think she could repay in a month... although she would only be liable for 50% of the overpayment from her joint award. I would recommend she go along to her local enquiry centre and get help from an adviser face to face rather than endless rounds of letters and phone calls. If she gathers as much detail as she can and goes along to her local office they should be able to help. There is a Tax Office locator on the HMRC website.

MickBee

looby75 wrote: »

My best friend split up with her husband 5 weeks ago and has sent a change of circumstances form in to tax credits, she currently doesn't get any TC because of an overpayment years ago.

Anyway today she got a letter asking her to provide loads of documentation, they want;

A copy of her job contract
payslips (they don't say how many though)
a copy of her rent agreement
a copy of phone, gas, electric and water rates bill.
a recent child-benefit awards letter
a letter from her boss confirming her work hours (surely her contract should be enough for this)

She's beside herself with worry because she can't provide the gas electricity and water bills as she's on pre payment meters so doesn't get bills and the water rates are included in her rent so doesn't get a separate bill. She's tried phoning the number on the letter (it's different to the normal tc number) but can't get through.....has anyone had a similar letter or problem.

She's struggling on £500 a month at the moment and her rent is £400 alone but HB etc won't do anything to help until she has her tc award.

Has anyone else had to provide all this info to tax credits or have the problem of not having bills because of pre payment?

For many benefits, utility bills are asked for in order to verify the address of a claimant. Does she have recent (< 3 months) bills for a landline phone (mobile phone bills won't do) and/or for another utility (Sky, cable etc.), or bank statements in her name which will verify her address? Usually 2 different forms of proof are needed.

looby75

TaxCreditHelp wrote: »

Your friend may be able to provide receipts for evidence of purchases made for prepayment cards. Some of the information they are asking for isn't held on the Tax Credit system so it looks like her problem is her overpayment from her previous joint award. They may be attempting to calculate her outgoings against her income to see how much they think she could repay in a month... although she would only be liable for 50% of the overpayment from her joint award. I would recommend she go along to her local enquiry centre and get help from an adviser face to face rather than endless rounds of letters and phone calls. If she gathers as much detail as she can and goes along to her local office they should be able to help. There is a Tax Office locator on the HMRC website.

Thank you, I'll pass that information on to her, I know where our local enquiry centre is from when I was having problems a few years ago so I'll tell her to make an appointment there. :beer:

MickBee wrote: »

For many benefits, utility bills are asked for in order to verify the address of a claimant. Does she have recent (< 3 months) bills for a landline phone (mobile phone bills won't do) and/or for another utility (Sky, cable etc.), or bank statements in her name which will verify her address? Usually 2 different forms of proof are needed.

Unfortunately the phone bill and sky are both in her husbands name, she's had to cancel sky as she can't afford it anymore (well her ex has) and BT want to charge her £124 to change the phone to her name as they say its classed as a new account if she does that :eek: The letter was very specific about wanting Gas, Electric, water and telephone bills, not one or two out of the list but one for each utility!

nottslass_2

looby75 wrote: »

My best friend split up with her husband 5 weeks ago and has sent a change of circumstances form in to tax credits, she currently doesn't get any TC because of an overpayment years ago.

Anyway today she got a letter asking her to provide loads of documentation, they want;

A copy of her job contract
payslips (they don't say how many though)
a copy of her rent agreement
a copy of phone, gas, electric and water rates bill.
a recent child-benefit awards letter
a letter from her boss confirming her work hours (surely her contract should be enough for this)

She's beside herself with worry because she can't provide the gas electricity and water bills as she's on pre payment meters so doesn't get bills and the water rates are included in her rent so doesn't get a separate bill. She's tried phoning the number on the letter (it's different to the normal tc number) but can't get through.....has anyone had a similar letter or problem.

She's struggling on £500 a month at the moment and her rent is £400 alone but HB etc won't do anything to help until she has her tc award.

Has anyone else had to provide all this info to tax credits or have the problem of not having bills because of pre payment?

Housing Benefit should still asses her claim on her current income and then adjust it when her Tax credits award is sorted (any back dated tax credits paid as a lump sum should then be treated as capital)

DaisyFlower

Sounds like an audit check, my friend had one when amended her claim from joint to single.

I think its to check that all the bills etc are in one name only to show that the new claim is genuine and that everything financial is in a single name.

From memory it all had to be provided and approved before the new claim went ahead.

looby75

DaisyFlower wrote: »

Sounds like an audit check, my friend had one when amended her claim from joint to single.

I think its to check that all the bills etc are in one name only to show that the new claim is genuine and that everything financial is in a single name.

From memory it all had to be provided and approved before the new claim went ahead.

she's going to have a real problem then because they were married for 8 years (lived together for 10) so a lot of the bills etc are in either his name or joint names....surely so soon after a break up that will be the case for most people.

I mean my ex left me 6 years ago but the phone line is still in his name and he's still on my tenancy agreement because the council won't take him off unless he agrees and he never has

AsknAnswer2

looby75 wrote: »

Has anyone else had to provide all this info to tax credits or have the problem of not having bills because of pre payment?

Yes. When I was asked to provide all of that information it was from compliance, which was after I went from joint claim to single.

I couldn't provide any bills because I had changed utility companies for gas and electric and had set up online accounts with paperless billing; as I had just changed suppliers, and had previously had a card meter, I didn't have any bills to give them, and although D/D had been set up for my new suppliers, no payment had yet been taken from my bank account. I sent them verification of my online account and wrote a letter giving authority for them to receive information from my utility suppliers in relation to my account. They were absolutely fine with that