New rules tax credits and carers allowance

Beki88

Well I have had yet another argument with Tax credits. The advisor on the phone told me there was no such exception for those receiving carers allowance so I sat there and read the full article and he had to go and double check!
It's ridiculous how can people be expected to understand what they can claim when even the official people don't know themselves?! :mad:

HB58

I agree, I wonder how many people will believe what they are told by the 'adviser' and go without the benefits to which they are entitled - and, more importantly perhaps, which they are in need of?!

mucklebones

4 times over the last 2 weeks I have called tax credits, firstly to say about the new ruling and how it shouldnt effect our claim yet they had no knowledge of this despite what I read to them, I called again and got told my claim wasnt going to end. I knew that wasnt the end of it, our wtc stopped last week so I called again and they said I wasnt in receipt of carers allowance on thier system (I must of been because I got new award through in the december when I was awarded it and informed them and it states on there.)
They said they had updated their systems and there is a note on my account to start the wtc soon. I called again just to make sure. Now Im waiting to see if I get wtc by next week, Im doubtful so I guess Ill be calling again lol.

shedboy94

mucklebones wrote: »

4 times over the last 2 weeks I have called tax credits, firstly to say about the new ruling and how it shouldnt effect our claim yet they had no knowledge of this despite what I read to them, I called again and got told my claim wasnt going to end. I knew that wasnt the end of it, our wtc stopped last week so I called again and they said I wasnt in receipt of carers allowance on thier system (I must of been because I got new award through in the december when I was awarded it and informed them and it states on there.)
They said they had updated their systems and there is a note on my account to start the wtc soon. I called again just to make sure. Now Im waiting to see if I get wtc by next week, Im doubtful so I guess Ill be calling again lol.

If you check your award notice it won't actually say anything about carers allowance. CA has always been a taxable income, so the income should show on the award, however prior to 06-04-12, CA itself isn't something that was possible to record, unlike employment. The only things award notices would have shown was employment, JSA/IB/PC/IS and DLA. The new system, released to staff on 10-04-12, now has the function to record CA, so award notices should now show this.
The new guidance wasn't officially revealed to all staff straight away, and as the lines are busy, there are staff from other lines of business answering the phones who can deal with certain queries, but don't have all the knoweldge required - not the fault of junior staff, but more the fault of senior management and more so the government who keep deciding to reduce the staffing levels making it harder and harder to contact HMRC in general.

mucklebones

shedboy94 wrote: »

If you check your award notice it won't actually say anything about carers allowance. CA has always been a taxable income, so the income should show on the award, however prior to 06-04-12, CA itself isn't something that was possible to record, unlike employment. The only things award notices would have shown was employment, JSA/IB/PC/IS and DLA. The new system, released to staff on 10-04-12, now has the function to record CA, so award notices should now show this.
The new guidance wasn't officially revealed to all staff straight away, and as the lines are busy, there are staff from other lines of business answering the phones who can deal with certain queries, but don't have all the knoweldge required - not the fault of junior staff, but more the fault of senior management and more so the government who keep deciding to reduce the staffing levels making it harder and harder to contact HMRC in general.

No your right it did not not say carers allowance on the award notice just social security benefits. Im glad to hear that they now have the funcion to record it as CA, I might not need to call again. Hooorah!

speedyturtle

SuziQ wrote: »

Soapn, as the parent of a child on the Autism spectrum who is entitled to HRC DLA, I do find your remark rather offensive. I would much rather have my son able to do everything himself, believe me!

As a father of my son who got autism, i can totally understand where you are coming from. I claim carers allowance for my son and but people who are living a normal life with kids who havent got any learning difficulties might not understand our position. I would give up everything for my son to be able to do normal things like other kids do and not having to look after him 24/7 and hold his hand even if i am standing outside the front of my house incase he would run out on the street but people like Soapn might never understand and should be ignored.

Anubis_2

Can someone please clarify?

the partner who is working at least 16 hours per week is eligible for the disability element of WTC, or is aged 60 or over; or
one partner works at least 16 hours a week and the other partner is ‘incapacitated’, an in-patient in hospital, or in prison.
It has now been confirmed that a couple in which one of the partners is a full-time carer and entitled to carer’s allowance will also be exempt from the 24 hour rule – that is, they can carry on receiving WTC so long as the other partner works at least 16 hours a week.

So this means the person who receives CA, it is the partner of that person (in some cases the disabled person) who has to be working 16 hours a week?

What happens in th case of a couple - one receives carers and works 16 hours a week, the other is incapacitated so can't work?

Does the 16 hour rule not apply in such cases? When I put that scenario in WTC calculators - carer working 16 hours a week, partner incapacitated - it shows zero entitlement, yet when I put that the incapacitated person is working 16 hours, carer not working but claiming CA - WTC is awarded.

Is this correct?

Icequeen99

Anubis wrote: »

Can someone please clarify?



So this means the person who receives CA, it is the partner of that person (in some cases the disabled person) who has to be working 16 hours a week?

What happens in th case of a couple - one receives carers and works 16 hours a week, the other is incapacitated so can't work?

Does the 16 hour rule not apply in such cases? When I put that scenario in WTC calculators - carer working 16 hours a week, partner incapacitated - it shows zero entitlement, yet when I put that the incapacitated person is working 16 hours, carer not working but claiming CA - WTC is awarded.

Is this correct?

If one person is working 16 hours and the other is incapacitated, they will get WTC. It is irrelevant that the person doing the 16 hours is also a carer (although it probably doesn't happen a lot as you can only earn £100 p.w when claiming carer's allowance).

Which calculator are you using?

It is possible that the calculator hasn't been programmed for the exceptions at all and the reason it allows it when you put the incapacitated person working 16 hours, is because it will presume the incapacitated person qualifies for the disability element of tax credits and therefore needs to only work 16 hours (i.e. it isn't using one of the exceptions, just the normal rules for the disability element).

IQ

Anubis_2

Icequeen99 wrote: »

If one person is working 16 hours and the other is incapacitated, they will get WTC. It is irrelevant that the person doing the 16 hours is also a carer (although it probably doesn't happen a lot as you can only earn £100 p.w when claiming carer's allowance).

Which calculator are you using?

It is possible that the calculator hasn't been programmed for the exceptions at all and the reason it allows it when you put the incapacitated person working 16 hours, is because it will presume the incapacitated person qualifies for the disability element of tax credits and therefore needs to only work 16 hours (i.e. it isn't using one of the exceptions, just the normal rules for the disability element).

IQ

Hi IQ - thanks for the clarification. I thought that might be the case too but wasn't sure.

I used the MSE one and the entitled.to and another (I think HMRC one)

Each one shows a carer working 16 hours, other incapacitated - 0 WTC apart from CTC. Put in the other way around and it comes up as it should.