Now tax credits have really surpassed themselves this time!

sparkletots

After months and months of trying to sort tax credits out they finally told my legal advisor and my mp that I would be paid today including all the backdated money.

I checked the online banking and see that they have recalled one of the payments (backdated amount) the problem is the took it out of my bank account without it actually going in, I asked the bank how on earth they were allowed to let someone take money out before they had even put it in, they said as its a government agency they have to.

This meant yesterday I was overdrawn and were not talking hundreds either, more! so for one day I was actually overdrawn with the bank

My mp rang them and was told its just a security thing when large amounts are paid, so I rang the helpline to have this confirmed, I was told its not a security thing and they have changed my partners income from last year which now means the claim has to be recalculated again! How on earth can that be right if they allowed my normal weekly money to go into my bank and that one not be recalaimed? Surely if it needs recalculating then they shouldnt allow me to have any, whats the difference?

They dont know now if I will get paid next week either, should be used to it after months with none from them!!

She did say we can see you have put a written complaint in, now im wondering if by doing that Ive made things worse for myself

Has anyone ever had anything like this before as I thought we had it all sorted after 250 phone calls to them, massive phone bill and every organisation under the sun trying to help as well.

Im really struggling now to keep myself ok about all this and really not sure I can take much more, can anyone help?

dmg24

Maybe you are over complicating the situation? Involving every organisation under the sun is likely to make things much more difficult than it needs to be.

System

Does this mean you are still massively overdrawn at the bank or did they replace the funds they withdrew?

sparkletots

dmg

Nope, they admitted last week to the mp etc that what had been done previously to my claim was wrong and they would put it right, within 3 days they sorted my claim out after months of wrangling, even asking me what to work out my income for this year, like I said I cant even do that until April!! So how over a matter of days it has all changed again due to a discrepency to my partners income for '09 to '10 and they now have a new amount and will have to confirm when I get my award notice, which is being sent out tomorrow but the lady I spoke to wasnt sure if this was my last award notice so in fact could be wrong, well dont send it then!! fgs!! How on earth can I be over complicating things when they dont know what there doing themselves! system error system error, not processed properly, verification failure, compliance, mismatch, even putting me with a different man on his claim, how on earth can they do that all that and get away with it. I only know half of this including the other gentlemans name and N.i number as the enquiry centre told me otherwise I would still be sat waiting, oh wait, I still am! Argghhhhh

Pam

I think looking at it they replaced what they took today, had some arrogant man on telephone banking telling me did I know what my overdraft was! Yes I do, it wasnt me that took it out! x

sparkletots

And how on earth they can supposedly have a different income that they are going to use from paye when were all told umpteen times that we are supposed to tell them not the other way round! No idea until I get the award notice how much they are saying hes earnt as they wont tell me over the phone! Not allowed!!????

DanE2010

If there was a compliance issue on the claim then that can cause delays as they have to check all the relevent info before they put it into payment, it sounds like there was a discrepancy in the income figure you gave them so they went and checked PAYE and that revealed the figure given was different to the figure shown on the paye system.
Because of the data protection act they arent allowed to tell you what information they hold on you over the telephone, they will send you an award notice for you to check they have got all the correct details.

sparkletots

As far as they told everyone last week all comliance issues had been resolved, thats why the system let it go into payment, the problem is I originally made a mistake on the original claim form by even putting income figures down, you arent supposed to fill in that question if you have ticked the box on question 5.2 stating your on income support, how many times do I have to tell them and for them to tell me its all sorted when it obviously so isnt!!

How can it be data protection when its my claim and they already know there talking to me, Im going to be sent the information so how can that be, theyve discussed all the income issues and amounts with me before and even changed my mistake and also their mistake before, weeks ago, I still think its because Ive complained.....and why would they tell the mp this afternoon that its just a security thing and will pay it back in within a week to 10 days yet tell me its all this other stuff, how on earth can they tell us different things, ive finally lost the plot with them, may sound dramatic but after 15 weeks DAILY of all this all I can be is disgusted.

sparkletots

Dan

Just reread your post, the thing is on friday it HAD already gone into payment, so how come that was allowed on friday but then changed again by the monday, really lost now......compliance issues can still be bought up after payment then?

sparkletots

Dan

Sorry just one more thing, if there was a compliance issue then why didnt they recall my weekly amount that they sent at the same time, why only the large amount, surely if theres a issue then they would want it all back? How can they sort out my weekly figure and pay that but then say well for the other 15 weeks we owe you were going to take it back as theres a income discrepency, next payment is monday and as of yet according to the helpline that hasnt been cancelled, yet!!!

DanE2010

I can see how your at your wits end with it all after 15 weeks, obviously I dont know the specifics of your case but speaking generally the points I mentioned would be the reason for the income discrepancy, what might of happend is that your orignal claim was stuck in a processing que on the system - basically jammed in the system or something and then whoever was working on your case amended your income to the figure off PAYE which would of forced the system to push through the first award (basically un jam it) so the two awards processed through on the system one after another, the system sent the payment out based on the first award and when the amended version went through with the recalculated amount because of the change of income figures its realised you werent due that large payment amount and it got recalled instantly? That could be one suggestion? I dont know, now when you filled out the form you said you ticked the box to say you were on Income Support? someonetimes what can happen is people can ticked that box by accident because the form asks you to tick that box if you are currently recieving income support and then the following questions ask for your taxable income for the previous year, that can confuse people and some tick the income support box because they had recieved it at some point last year but no longer are, that can raise suspicion with compliance and they will check if any income details are held on PAYE.


The data protection act is out of their hands, its the law, there is a difference between disclosure and confirming, they arent allowed to disclose your income but they can confirm if you offer the information like...........

"I cannot disclosure what income figure we hold for you but if you tell me what it should be down as I can make sure that is the correct figure we hold" Therefore you are providing the information instead of them disclosing the figure.

"I work 16 hours a week, have you got the correct hours for me?" the advisor would confirm yes we hold the correct information.

if the advisor was to say "you told us your income was £10,000 is that correct?" the advisor has disclosed the information which is not allowed.

Hope this might offer a few suggestions, not saying all this has happend in your individual case but some of it may sound familiar to you.

sparkletots

Dan

I think you might be spot on, she did mention something about the paye and also said a award notice is being sent but isnt sure if another one will follow, so am I right in thinking that whatever the award says when it comes through that I then have to ring them yet again and tell them we are on income support and that will change it yet again, Ive told them umpteen times that we are on income support so technically it doesnt matter what he earnt last year as I wasnt supposed to of put any income in the box anyway (your supposed to leave those questions if youve ticked the income support box which I had)

Not sure why they would tell a mp its just a security thing though when it isnt, im not sure why they let me have the weekly amount though if thats the case, why wouldnt they of recalled that payment as well? It cant possibly be a identical amount if there using a different income, that would just be a pure fluke, if the system recalls it then it would of done both payments surely