No change of circs but according to HB, our TC are going to decrease on 4th April?!

shady63

I just received my housing benefit/council tax benefit entitlement assessment sheet, showing our entitlement form 4th April to 11th April and then from 11th April onwards.

The WTC and CTC figures quoted for now until 4th April are correct but from 4th April, our Tax Credit figures are quoted as around £35 per week less. Our housing benefit award has increased inline with this so we're not actually losing any money as we'll pay £35 less rent per week due to HB paying £35 per week more, but we'll also receive £35 less TC so it evens out. The TC entitlement decreases again by a couple of pounds from 11th April, but again HB and CTC make up the difference.

I just don't see the point, and I'm confused as to whether or not HB may have made a mistake, because I see no reason why our TC entitlement would decrease. Is this happening to everyone as part of the changes from the budget or have we done something wrong :think:

[Deleted User]

If you look on this Years award notice there is usually a forecast what you may get for the next Year 2011/2012, mine is considerably lower to but I never take much notice as I get a salary Increase in April so I always ring them and get mine based on current year. Check you award notice and see if it tallys.

laurawatson28

hi, are you claiming childcare in with your tax credit?
if so from what i have heard you weekly amount is due to decrese because they are no longer paying 80% of your childcare it is decreasing to 70% from april.
hope this helps:)

shady63

Hmm, nope don't claim childcare at all. Just WTC and CTC, as far as I know we're on the highest rate. From what I gather from the rates on the Tax Credit site, our payments may increase by around £10 per week in Apr but definitely can't see how we could be having a decrease. It's so confusing!

mrsspendalot

My forecast for next tax year is higher CTC but lower WTC than I currently get. Is it something to do with the % withdrawal rates for WTC changing possibly? Isn't it changing from 39% to 41% or something?

The_Dragon_Adopter

Are there any changes in your income between the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 tax years. That can often account for a decrease in payments at the start of the next tax year.

pandaspot

The hb dept will have access to the cis (customer information service) from there they have access to your wtc/ctc awards. Every time in hb we check the cis and amend your claim accordingly. The hb dept have just followed what's on the cis and updated your claim to mirror what's on there.

shady63

Pandaspot, yeah I guessed that's what they'd done, just don't understand why the decrease in our tax credits!

Mrsspendalot, that's what mine is like, slight increase in CTC, around £1.50 per week I think and then WTC go down to £50.80 per week from £88ish per week.

Our income for Apr 2010 to Apr 2011 is around £2800 higher than for Apr 2009 to Apr 2010. Would that create the decrease?

Have just been told this afternoon that my partner is being made redundant (works for the council) so that's put another spanner in the works. I love this government!!!

mrsspendalot

Oh no, sorry to hear about the redundancy :(

According to my notification, my CTC is going up about £10 a week but my WTC is going to go down by about £5 a week.

In reality, my changes will be bigger as my income this year will be much lower due to my hours being reduced from full to part time (public sector as well ) and I'm going on maternity in a few weeks, so I'm not taking much notice of what it states on there.

Yes, the income difference between the 2 years will probably account for some of the decrease as the following year's award is based on the previous year's earnings, so will have been adjusted to take that into account.