22.5 Hours Working tax credit....

Icequeen99

ZYMAN wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice & tuff love.
I'll take on board all you're saying - I'm sure things will sort themselves out in the end.
Merry christmas everyone.

Your partner might be able to claim Jobseeker's Allowance or Income support (their rules allow a partner to work up to 24 hours, hence how the threshold was set). Its a long shot but possible.

IQ

miduck

Icequeen99 wrote: »

Your partner might be able to claim Jobseeker's Allowance or Income support (their rules allow a partner to work up to 24 hours, hence how the threshold was set). Its a long shot but possible.

IQ

Even at NMW the OP will earn too much for a joint JSA claim.

Icequeen99

miduck wrote: »

Even at NMW the OP will earn too much for a joint JSA claim.

If there were substantial housing costs/extra elements in the JSA/IS claim they might scrape in to the fold.

IQ

BigAunty

The OP should look into the Universal Credit system which has much higher conditionality in terms of the hours that parents are expected to work, according to the age of their youngest child.

The days when the state expected a 2 parent family of children of all ages to work just 2 days a week between them, now increased to 3 days with the move from 16 to 24 hours to qualify for WTC, are going to be well and truly over.

dundeediva

ZYMAN wrote: »

Afternoon everyone.....
I've been working the same job for the last 3 years 22.5hrs a week and always had my working tax credits until they changed the minimum qualifying working hours to 24 a week. We rely on that money to pay for the gas, electric and food shopping so when they stopped paying I had no choice but to tell them I was doing 24hrs a week....now they've sent a letter requesting all my wageslips from April which obviously show 22.5hrs.
I've tried my hardest to find an extra job but as many people know - it's hard out there....My work will NOT up my hours at all, I've been asking since April but all I get is excuses - just winds me up so much.
I don't know what to do now, I'm applying for every single job I can but getting no reply from any of them - I'm even applying to be a cleaner from 5am.
Is there any advice anyone can give me? Stress in the house is so bad I'm even dreaming about this at nights....

I'm not surprised you're stressed. You have deliberatly defrauded the system for your own gain. You will have been overpayed and you may also get a penalty for lying about your hours. A two parent family should be working more than a measly 3 days a week between the two of them.

Sorry to be so blunt but its your fault. You are going to have to deal with the concequences. I would highly recommend admitting what you have done now.

princessdon

Oh how very sensible of the govt to check that someone is working the hours they stated!

Why on earth did they not do this back then, not defending OP but it would have saved a lot of OverPayment. Surely with a change as major as this one Re hours ALL claimants who mysteriously jumped from 16 to 24 should have been made to prove it.

ditzyat50

Have you a friend who would employ you as a cleaner or home help once a week for the difference in hours?

wayne0

bear in mind, that working hours on self employed include looking for business...

if your a gardener who "works 0 hours" but still spends 10 hours posting flyers through doors... despite not being paid, your still working 10 hours...

you have to be registered with HMRC to say you work, and pay the 2.40 or so class2 ni contributions ...

but i believe you have to also state from the begining that its XXX hours employed and XXX hours self employed...

my self employed hours were always about 10 hours before my current job meant i needed a more flexible schedule so stoped self employed... (new job was better hours)

also bear in mind that you have to fill in a self assesment tax return if self employed...

Charityworker

I think you should just come clean and be honest. You'll have to pay it back but you never know you might get to deal with a human instead of a cretin who is lenient on you.

I was in the same situation. I work 16 hours a week and decided to go self employed for 8 hours a week. The self employment has grown and now I'm working full time. Is there something you could make in the evenings and sell at craft fayres? I do nail art but I know that's not everyones cup of tea.

wayne0

ditzyat50 wrote: »

Have you a friend who would employ you as a cleaner or home help once a week for the difference in hours?

also...

you do know that you should qualify for housing benefit without working tax anyway, right? but your partner should sign on to jsa and look for more work (or apply for income support as a couple, most likely wont get it though...)

520 month is about 120 week.
so guessing that you wont get income support...