Child Tax Credits nightmare

gentleorange

To my utter shock I found out yesterday that I was entitled to child tax credits for my 14 year old son.

In 2003 there was all the publicity about CTT so I recall going to the local council drop-in office and asking whether I was eligible. The advisor I spoke to said no, CTT are actually the new name for Child Benefits, and it simply means that any children born after a certain date get CTT instead of CB but it's all the same thing. I accepted this, assuming she knew what she was talking about.

Over the years I've heard people mention CTT but again just assumed it was a new form of CB because that's what I had been told.

A few years ago I got into a mess with credit cards and went to the CAB for help. The advisor who was supposed to be helping me sort my finances out made no mention of the fact that I was not receiving CTT. I have also had renewal forms for benefits, household spending forms to fill in for credit card repayments - no-one has ever asked me about CTT.

I actually found out in a random conversation yesterday, then called the helpline and they confirmed I am entitled to claim CTTs for my son. The person I spoke to was shocked I've never applied before. He mentioned the 93 days backdated part but said I could try and ask for it to be backdated further, though he'd never heard of it being granted.

On another forum one poster said that she'd received 18 months of backdated payments after she forgot to inform them her daughter was staying on in full time education.

Obviously I'm not trying to get the full amount backdated, I know that's unrealistic. But I feel gutted that we've missed out on this money when it would have come in very useful.

Has anyone heard of any new claims being backdated further than three months? If you have any advice for how to word the letter, who I should speak to or anything else I would really appreciate it. I feel rather shaken by this:(

QuackQuackOops

No, they wont backdate it more than 3 months.
It is not anyone elses 'fault' that you have missed out. It is up to the individual to keep themselves informed of these kinds of things and a simple request at CAB etc will not be a sufficient to merit a major backdate.
If it was done any other way, people could claim years of backdated payments because "I was not told by the DWP......" everyone would say that.

The only way you could claim back further is if you have previously applied and was turned down the payment by mistake.
You are talking about 8 years of assumptions which is a very long time to go without researching it for yourself any further.

sleepless_saver

Try for the backdating. It will do no harm. Claims can be backdated where people were given wrong advice by an official organisation.

If you were given wrong advice by CAB or the council office and can provide (or get them to provide) evidence of the advice you were given and when, you would have a case for backdating.

Best to get specialist welfare rights advice (maybe not from CAB in the circumstances) .

gentleorange

QuackQuackOops wrote: »

No, they wont backdate it more than 3 months.
It is not anyone elses 'fault' that you have missed out. It is up to the individual to keep themselves informed of these kinds of things and a simple request at CAB etc will not be a sufficient to merit a major backdate.
If it was done any other way, people could claim years of backdated payments because "I was not told by the DWP......" everyone would say that.

The only way you could claim back further is if you have previously applied and was turned down the payment by mistake.
You are talking about 8 years of assumptions which is a very long time to go without researching it for yourself any further.

I know, I'm really surprised at myself too. I even did one of those 'waht are you entitled to' questionnaires and it listed child benefit and CTT, but because I'd been advised you only get one or the other I assumed that was the case.

The fact is that if I had not been given the wrong information I would have claimed CTT at the time I asked about it, and that is what is annoying me. It's not that I just didn't bother or even that I was ignorant of it. I was told by an 'expert' that I was not eligible.

gentleorange

sleepless_saver wrote: »

Try for the backdating. It will do no harm. Claims can be backdated where people were given wrong advice by an official organisation.

If you were given wrong advice by CAB or the council office and can provide (or get them to provide) evidence of the advice you were given and when, you would have a case for backdating.

Best to get specialist welfare rights advice (maybe not from CAB in the circumstances) .

Thank you:) I'm not sure who else to speak to aside from the CAB, but I'll try and find out.

My conversation with the council worker was just verbal. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to ask for confirmation in writing, but I wasn't suspicious at all - and I was pretty gullible back then - clearly!

sleepless_saver

gentleorange wrote: »

Thank you:) I'm not sure who else to speak to aside from the CAB, but I'll try and find out.

My conversation with the council worker was just verbal. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to ask for confirmation in writing, but I wasn't suspicious at all - and I was pretty gullible back then - clearly!

A lot of local councils have a welfare rights service, just use google. Nothing to stop you using CAB now I come to think about it, you may get a better result this time.

ETA: the point about wrong advice and backdating in my previous post applies to DWP benefits, and council tax and housing benefits. But tax credits are HMRC so it's possible it might not be the same. Still worth checking out though.

jetplane

Tax credits can not be backdated more than the 3 month on a standard new claim as that is all that the regulations will allow. Backdating for more than this is usually only where there are certain circumstances and failure to apply is not one of them.

With all of the publicity it should have been the IRS that you were asking for advice not the housing office, unfortunately with benefits/tax credit you can't assume and you are expected to make the relevant enquiries. Ignorance is not a reason not to claim benefits (unless you are mentally incapable of seeking advice). And you have had many years to make those enquiries.

Please don't take this as criticism I am only referring to their rules.

There are circumstances where you can request compensation but this would be because tax credits have made an error, not acted on information etc. The fact is the IRS have only just received your claim therefore they could not have paid you earlier.

The person you refer to who received 18 months backdate would have already had a claim for tax credits while her child was at school and therefore the IRS could review this and pay what was owed.

However if you were seen at the CAB for assistance with your debt I would have expected that a benefit check would be needed in order to maximise your income in order to negotiate with your creditors. Do you have a casefile with them?

This may be where your compensation claim lies if you were given proffesional advice by an agency and they misadvised you on your entitlement to benefits.

no-oneknowsme

If it were me I would chance my arm and ask for a longer period of back payment! You never know until you try.

Everyone (including people on this very site) told me that when I received a new award of DLA for my Daughter that the disability premium of tax credits could only be back dated 90 days....I informed tco of my Daughter being awarded DLA and they DID only backdate 90 HOWEVER I then appealed their decision and explained my reasons (it took 9 months for my Daughters DLA to be awarded) and they subsequently backdated the disability premium right back to the time I applied so meaning I managed to get the full 9 months of money paid back to me!

Try it OP but be prepared to get the bog standard reply from HMRC when you first apply but APPEAL their decision and see if you get any further.

gentleorange

I have Asperger's but I wouldn't use that as an excuse. I am a bit dippy sometimes and I have a tendency to take what people say at face value - but I know that about myself, and it's not an excuse. For eight years I continued to accept the word of this first and only person I asked and never double-checked, so there was certainly blame on my part.

I'm mainly upset at the thought of our living arrangements in the past and how that money would have helped so much, but we are stable now and no amount of money is going to let me go back and change the past. I am going to mention the reason why I didn't claim for so long on the claim form, but I'm going to have have to get over it. The good side is that at least I found out about it while I can still claim and three months backdated money will be great - I can stop worrying about delaying our cats vet appointment for one thing!

(Edit - just to say the cat isn't ill or anything, I don't want to worry anyone that I'm denying her important treatment!)

Once a claim form is sent in, is the average wait time about a month?

gentleorange

no-oneknowsme wrote: »

If it were me I would chance my arm and ask for a longer period of back payment! You never know until you try.

Everyone (including people on this very site) told me that when I received a new award of DLA for my Daughter that the disability premium of tax credits could only be back dated 90 days....I informed tco of my Daughter being awarded DLA and they DID only backdate 90 HOWEVER I then appealed their decision and explained my reasons (it took 9 months for my Daughters DLA to be awarded) and they subsequently backdated the disability premium right back to the time I applied so meaning I managed to get the full 9 months of money paid back to me!

Try it OP but be prepared to get the bog standard reply from HMRC when you first apply but APPEAL their decision and see if you get any further.

Thank you! I'll certainly give it a try:)

I know the DLA process can be awful, a friend of mine has a daughter with spina bifida who can't walk without callipers and they turned her down for DLA twice. It was only thanks to her very stubborn sister that she appealed again and won. Crazy system!