Tax Credit Appeal - No Response

letthemeatcake

I would have thought that the most important thing is that you told them and made them aware that Daughter's DLA had restarted. Have they found a record of that conversation?

I also missed out on about 4 months DLA when my Son went from mid rate care to high rate care. I hadn't realised that Tax credit payments increased with the higher rate care. My fault so I never appealed.

Edit; I see you needed to do a SAR in order to get that information, which you did and there was no record of you mentioning the DLA restarting, even in the notes.

worriednoob

Hi Letthemeatcake. My argument has always been that I informed them of the DLA change, which they denied. So yes I did a SAR and they came back with no proof of a recorded conversation. The only thing they had were the notes that their staff had typed. So I guess it's my word against theirs.

worriednoob

thank you for clarifying that blondebubbles.

Icequeen99

worriednoob wrote: »

Hi Letthemeatcake. My argument has always been that I informed them of the DLA change, which they denied. So yes I did a SAR and they came back with no proof of a recorded conversation. The only thing they had were the notes that their staff had typed. So I guess it's my word against theirs.

Can you clarify exactly what the SAR request showed?

Is there a note of a phone call but not the actual recording? If that is the case, then that will help your case because it shows there was a phone call but it can't be retrieved for whatever reason.

If there is no note/no phone call then it will be much more difficult to prove unless you can find other evidence. Your phone bill perhaps as they often record 0845 (as it was then).

IQ

worriednoob

The SAR request showed notes from staff that I called, but they only wrote that I stopped working, yet this is untrue as I also reported the DLA restarting again. This is my exact argument that I called and gave 2 pieces of information, yet their staff only noted one, hence in my opinion it is human error.

Here's a snippet of the appeal letter (full copy of letter can be found in post #3) I wrote:-

a. On receipt of XX’s DLA award letter, I notified you that XX’s DLA had been awarded and restarted.
b. Also at the same time I informed you that I had stopped working at XX.

Unfortunately, I believe your staff member who took the call on XX of December 2012 did not add the DLA update information into the notes on the system. This as you can understand is beyond my control as I cannot see what notes are being typed and have to put my full trust in the person I speak to that they would write the notes correctly. I appreciate that it must have been a Human Error, but my daughter should not have to lose out on this mistake.

diymonkey

Yes that was part of my sar request, but they confirmed that they have no recordings or transcripts... Only notes typed by their staff

Icequeen99

diymonkey wrote: »

Yes that was part of my sar request, but they confirmed that they have no recordings or transcripts... Only notes typed by their staff

That will strengthen your case. HMRC will have to explain why they cannot retrieve the call since there is definite evidence that you made the call.

You need to make this point very clear in your appeal submission (a one page summary is helpful to submit for the Judge ahead of the hearing) that there is no question that you made a call on 'X' date, what is at dispute is what was said on the call and as HMRC cannot produce the transcript it will be up to the Judge to decide.

IQ

antonic

Icequeen99 wrote: »

That will strengthen your case. HMRC will have to explain why they cannot retrieve the call since there is definite evidence that you made the call.

You need to make this point very clear in your appeal submission (a one page summary is helpful to submit for the Judge ahead of the hearing) that there is no question that you made a call on 'X' date, what is at dispute is what was said on the call and as HMRC cannot produce the transcript it will be up to the Judge to decide.

IQ

Not all HMRC offices that deal with Tax Credits telephone calls have the facility to record phone calls - this could be a reason why they are unable to retrieve the call and there are notes on the system only.

I would ask HMRC which office dealt with the phone call and does that office have the facility to record phone calls - if the answer is no they cant , thats the answer.

Icequeen99

antonic wrote: »

Not all HMRC offices that deal with Tax Credits telephone calls have the facility to record phone calls - this could be a reason why they are unable to retrieve the call and there are notes on the system only.

I would ask HMRC which office dealt with the phone call and does that office have the facility to record phone calls - if the answer is no they cant , thats the answer.

Yes, that is true. But I don't think it materially changes anything. If there is evidence a call was made and no recording of it, it will be up to the Judge to weigh up on the balance of probabilities whether he believed the OP notified on the phone call.

IQ

When_the_going_gets_tough

Op depending on where you live welfare rights organisations, larger CABs and some law centres are happy to take on appeals such as this. Worth doing a bit of ringing around and see if you can get some help. Have a good internet search - most welfare rights organisations have certain criteria - postcode etc to decide whether they can help you and coverage does vary across the country.