Suspect I may be panicking unnecessarily but.. 30 April 2012 at 11:10PM in Benefits & tax credits 5 replies 1.1K views

NIKKID

I noticed today that my tax credits for this month were £200 less than I had expected. As I am claiming this due to a disability I had thought I was safe from the draconian changes afflicting tax credits. I have tried and tried to get through to them to check the whys and wherefores but of course failed dismally. Unfortunately I have been sorting my financial papers into order lately and everything is all in disarray so I haven't been able to locate my award notice as it is possible that this is simply and end of tax year payment to round off the award. I haven't received anything to say that the award is to stop or change nor have I had the dreaded review/renewal pack through as yet. Has anyone else had a reduced payment for April?

I'd be grateful for any consoling words at this stage while I try and reach the Tax Credit Office

Anubis_2

Not sure what to say. Have you managed to successfully contact them yet?

Icequeen99

Dropping of payments is normally down to 3 things - recovery of an overpayment, loss of entitlement (due to rule changes) or income changes across years.

A few people have posted similar situations recently on here, and it was all down to income.

What was your income in 10/11 and 11/12? What is your 12/13 expected income?

IQ

NIKKID

Thanks for your responses. I finally managed to get through [why aren't there more people manning the phones???] and apparently the reduction is because in the tax year 2010-11 I didn't work the full year due to illness but I did work a full year 2011-12, I will never get my head round this Tax Credit system. So it looks as though I've got to try and work round a £200 per month drop in income and possibly the loss of assistance with prescription charges which is worrying.

shop-to-drop

NIKKID wrote: »

Thanks for your responses. I finally managed to get through [why aren't there more people manning the phones???] and apparently the reduction is because in the tax year 2010-11 I didn't work the full year due to illness but I did work a full year 2011-12, I will never get my head round this Tax Credit system. So it looks as though I've got to try and work round a £200 per month drop in income and possibly the loss of assistance with prescription charges which is worrying.

If you do have to pay for prescriptions from now on, don't forget you can pay an annual set amount to cover all your prescriptions and this is significantly cheaper if you need regular meds.

Just looked it up and prepayment certificates are £29 for 3 months or £104 for 12 months.

Broke_n_Broken

There is a way to apply for free prescriptions based on income if you don't automatically qualify due to benefits. Sry, can't remember the link but if you check the NHS website you should find it. HTH