Tax credits and sickness

twirlytwig

Can anyone shed some light please.
i work 16hrs and get work and child tax credits. i had a prolaps at work and am now off sick i cant get ssp as i dont earn enough and i applied for esa and have been told i cant get that either as i dont have enough stamps and my income exceeds the threashold of £71 per week. i thought that was what working tax creadits were for to top up your working pay if low? does this mean i just have to live on my tax credits now or is there something else i can claim till i return to work as my job is still there for me when im fit and well?

nannytone_2

how much do you get in working tax credits.... dont invlude child tax credits

Robbie64

As far as I am aware, if you are absent from work (for more than 4 weeks? - I'm not sure if it applies straight away or after 4 weeks) because of sickness and you don't get either SSP or ESA while being classed as an employee or NI credits then your Working Tax Credit will stop.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/keep-up-to-date/changes-affect/work-changes/no-work-illness.htm

see the part about being off work for less than 28 weeks.

You will need to contact the Tax Credits people to inform them that you are off work but receiving no benefit.

It may be a bit convoluted though if the reason you can't get ESA is because you get WTC. Because if your WTC does stop then you may be able to get ESA. Which would then enable you to get WTC which would then stop your ESA...

twirlytwig

i get £74 wtc and i have informed the tax credits they said i will still get my tax credits up till 28/8/ i went sick from 13/3/. My point is now im not getting any wages do i just live on the tax credits? i cant understand why wtc are there to bump up your low wages but when your wages stop because of sickness theres nothing there to bring your income back up to what it was or just under when you were working and getting wtc.

nannytone_2

thats all you will get.
they are to bump up your wage. but you arent getting a wage at the moment.
people that dont get wtc wukk only get SSP of £85 a week,amd dpmt get their wages 'made up' so it isnt that much difference.

twirlytwig

thank you for your help but dont you think its wrong that when your on a low wage your assesed as to what the gov thinks you need to live on to get working tax credit and its much more then when you are sick. i can understand its to stop those that abuse the system but when like myself i have no choice and am not able to work at the moment that i hve to live on such a low amount!

twirlytwig

also if you get ssp you still get your wtc but now im not getting wages so im down £90 a week.

nannytone_2

tax credits arent assessed as being the least you need to live on.
that is JSA rate, which is £71 a week.

wtc are an 'in work' benefit and are to top up your wage. they arent paid to top up other benefits

nannytone_2

there are many people that CAN@T work at all through disability or illness that are having their benefits cut at the moment. i myself am losing £80 a month. and that isnt temporary until i get better,,, vecause i will never get better.

uf you worked more hours you would be entitled to SSP as well.
you cant choose to work 16 hours and then complain that you dont get the same sickness benefits as someone that works 30* and pays tax and NI in order to receive SSP.

its no different from having home insurance.
if tou dont have it and get birgled, you cant them say that you should be compensated anyway

twirlytwig

i dont choose to work 16hrs that is all i can get in the area with which i live, at least im trying to work and not just sponging and yes i can appreciate that there are people that will always be disabled and have their money cut. i have been working many years and have paid tax and insurance up till 3yrs ago when i then became the main carer of my mother who then passed away. i then went back to work but unfortunatly as you get older choices of work are limited so i trained without pay for 3months in the job i now have. so please do not assume that i was complaining i was asking for clarity also pointing out a fact.

nannytone_2

im not assuming anything.
you said that you think its unfair that you dont get other benefits as well as wtc whilst you are sick.
i said that people that get SSP on top of wtc, get it because they work more hours.
u also worked and paid taxes for 30 years intil i was no longer able to.
unfortunately the system doesnt recognise how many contributions you have paid when looking at most benefits ... it just looks at your need and decides to pay you sod all!