Incapacity benefit - Would employer know??

grayfray

Hello everyone, I have a couple of questions that hopefully someone could answer.

I am presently receiving low rate Incapacity Benefit, currently in my 27th week of claiming. I am off work with a back strain I was/are a Self Employed It consultant and have been for 7 years ( tax paid). I have been told by the FIS dept that I will have to notify them of a change once I am off work for 28 weeks and over, and I will then be classed by them as no longer self employed and I will lose my Working Tax payments!

My Questions are:

1. What can I do once I lose the Weekly working tax payment? ( my wife works part time and we have one child under 16 living at home in a council property).
2. If I come off incapacity benefit before the 28th week and then find myself claiming again in 3-4 weeks how will this effect any claim, does it start new or continue from where I left off?
3. Finally if I got a Job but during any interview or form filling I told them I was physically fit, would it state otherwise on my p45 form,( I know this isn't honest, but it is hard enough getting a job without the added problem of previously not being physically fit ).

Thank you in advance

Valley's_girl

Hi Gray Sorry I don't have any advice for you but I am sure someone will be along shortly who will be able to advise you.
Good luck
Ally xx

grayfray

Thanks Ally, Hopefully...

grayfray

Bump for a hopefull reply!!
Thank you

Keeping_Positive

If your wife works over 16 hours you could amend your tax credits. Try ringing them to see what you would get. My OH on incapacity is very long term so I cant help with other bits but we just add his "income" to mine when claiming.

diddlydum

You won't get working tax credits after the 28th week, this is the case regardless of being self-employed or not, it's just that most people would be on Statutory Sick Pay (rather than Incap) for the first 27 weeks of the claim. SSP gives you working tax credits, but obviously you can (usually) only get them if you're working.

Depending on your wife's hours you may still be entitled to some working tax credit, if she is working over 16 hours a week, but this would be based on her income, not yours. If she doesn't work enough hours, then you may be entitled to income support, but your earnings are likely to take you over the applicable amount (currently about £90 for a couple).

Usually if you come off Incap, and then go back on it, the claim runs on, but I'd need to look up the linking rules for you. Best people to ask would be CLS Direct on 0845 345 4345.

I don't think what benefit you have been on is stated on the P45, but I haven't seen one for a very long time, so you'd be best off checking with the DWP.

grayfray

Thanks Diddly
My Wife works 17 hrs per week at the moment getting about £90 nett( though with covering for holidays she has been doing about 30 a week for the last 5 weeks - temp though)
I used to work over 30 hrs per week and therefore received the 30 hour element, If my wife claimed for the working tax obviously she wouldnt get the 30 hour element, but would the working tax be topped up elsewhere or would I lose the value of the working tax over 30 hrs element?
hope this makes sense!!
Thank you

MarkyMarkD

I don't think most payroll departments would care what it says on the P45.

diddlydum

To be honest, what you're asking sounds rather complicated, and I don't have the books at home with me to answer. My usual advice in this sort of circumstance is to apply to HMRC and see what happens, but I don't think that's appropriate now.

I think you would be worse off once you are on Incap short-term higher, but I don't know by how much. I wouldn't rush back to work, and fail, because of this, unless you have no choice.

Bung your details in entitledto.co.uk and see what comes up, it's usually fairly accurate.

grayfray

Thanks again, I will try that
One last thing, would the child tax credit be affected? or is it just going to be the Working tax credit?

diddlydum

Depending on your income, you might get more child tax credit, but I wouldn't want to be too exact on the information you've given me, tbh.