Tax credit review letter

sosijbrane

hello, i got a letter from the tax credit review team in june asking me to send them details of my childcare and the costs of this for 2010 - 2011 by 8th july , but my children stopped going to the childminder last year (2010) and i told them that at the time when i renewed my claim last june 2010. I also told them that i had changed my hours at work and when i got the letter saying what money i would get i have to admit that I didn't check it properly but i thought i was getting more money because i had reduced my hours at work. when i looked again at the letter from 2010 after i got the review letter saying what money i was getting i realised that they had been paying me the childcare amount as well for the whole year. Before I got the review letter I had phoned them and renewed my claim for next year and i told them nothing had changed because i thought it hadn't. obviously I should have checked the letter properly but they made a mistake as well, so I wrote back to them before 8th July and i sent it special delivery and explained all this and I haven't heard a thing back from them and I also haven't had a confirmation letter from them saying what i would be getting for 2011/2012 I have had a provisional one but nothing else since the 8th of June, i really don't know what to do now, can anyone help me? I never meant to do anything wrong but obviously they have given me too much money last year and it is my fault as well for not checking the letter properly I am very worried

sorryitsme

Hi I went through the tax credits review team too.

When they sent the letter informing you about the review, it should have been signed by your case worker with their direct line number.

Your best option is to ring the case worker to find out how your compliance check is progressing as they will be the only person to tell you the stage they are at.

I called my review case worker several times to ensure she had everything she required and she did process it quite quickly.

I know it is easy to say, but try not to worry too much, if you have an overpayment they will reduce your entitlement over a set period of time.

Good luck.

sosijbrane

thank you very much, I have read so many posts where they ask for the whole lot back at once or they stop your payments altogether, and i really rely on the money i get from them to live on ( i am a single mum of 3) if they stop the payments altogether i won't be able to pay my rent. I am so worried about it and i am terrified to phone them to be honest

sorryitsme

Just call them as the worrying will do you no good at all, and children can pick it up.

At first I was too scared to ring, I don't know why as I had all the paperwork they needed.

I think once you get the overpayment bill you can make an affordable payment plan.

marywooyeah

hi I got one aswell, apparently they are sent out at random. all you can be is honest, and if you have been overpaid then you can negoiate a payment plan with them for the arrears. they can't do anything that will leave you in financial hardship x

Kalia

sosijbrane wrote: »

thank you very much, I have read so many posts where they ask for the whole lot back at once or they stop your payments altogether, and i really rely on the money i get from them to live on ( i am a single mum of 3) if they stop the payments altogether i won't be able to pay my rent. I am so worried about it and i am terrified to phone them to be honest

There are rules about how much they claim back in one go. If you stop claiming (which in happens if you change from a single to joint claim and vice versa as well if you are no longer eligible) then you have to pay back in one go. If you only receive the family element (£545 a year) then they will take all of that over the year so you won't get anything. I can't properly remember the figures but if you google they are easy to find on the government pages - I think the maximum they can take it you get the full award is 10% of what you receive each year and if you get more than the family element but less than the full amount it's 25%. I hope that helps.