Concentrix say I'm not single

Icequeen99

Jayneair wrote: »

Thank you . I was advised by concentrix this morning that if I put in an appeal they will look at all previous years tax credits so maybe I should just agree to pay £1000 a month. I'm waiting on contact from hmrc regarding the overpayment. I could pay maybe £1000 upfront but the rest would have to be monthly, although they are saying if you don't pay in 30 days the maximum time you have is 12 months, plus they may yet add a penalty.

Then I'm going to have to pay back a years jsa and council tax reduction.

Please, please do not listen to Concentrix.

Whether you put in an appeal or not they can look at other years. If you agree to pay it back, you are effectively agreeing that you made an incorrect claim. You could open yourself up to a penalty. They should not be threatening this and I would suggest you make a complaint. It also means you can't claim tax credits as a single person again - so that leaves you without income.

Read my previous post - put in the mandatory reconsideration and they cannot continue recovery until that is dealt with and if that doesn't go in your favour you appeal to the Tribunal and they have to suspend recovery.

Get some advice - speak to CAB or contact one of the tax charities like https://www.litrg.org.uk or https://www.taxaid.org.uk

Edited to add: They can go back and look at a the last closed tax year using their enquiry powers, but to go back further they have to show fraud or neglect and I have never seen them use that specific power before.

IQ

Jayneair

Thank you for the information IQ.
If my mandatory reconsideration fails and my appeal surely that will show fraud anyway? Do you think I should contact the dwp to inform them? Should I sign off jsa ? I am going to make a claim for carers allowance for my daughter (if I'm entitled)
I have severe mental health difficulties and this has drove me to the crisis team on more than one occassion

densol_2

You need to stop acting guilty and start asserting your innocence properly by completing the actions Icequeen is suggesting. By the mere fact you are wanting to contact the DWP and CT wanting to "confess" to something you havent even done is bizarre !

You need help from the CAB to properly word the MR and to collect proper evidence to present to them ( again what ICequeen has listed ).

Of course if its the fact that you were in fact living together and you need advice as how to do a damage limitation exercise and work out a payment schedule etc is different and if so you should ask the forum without the above red herring.

Edited to add - I dont mean to sound brutal above as im a fellow mental health sufferer. Its just you need a friend to " shake " you and tell you to fight this thing !

Icequeen99

Jayneair wrote: »

Thank you for the information IQ.
If my mandatory reconsideration fails and my appeal surely that will show fraud anyway? Do you think I should contact the dwp to inform them? Should I sign off jsa ? I am going to make a claim for carers allowance for my daughter (if I'm entitled)
I have severe mental health difficulties and this has drove me to the crisis team on more than one occassion

The appeal will be looked at by an independent tribunal. If the situation is as you have outlined and you can collect the evidence then I think you have a very good chance of success if the only evidence that HMRC have is a mobile phone contract at your address and a lack of maintenance arrangement.

Losing an appeal does not at all show fraud - appealing does not have any impact on the powers HMRC have to look back at other years or to impose penalties - Concentrix have misled you.

I can't advise you on the DWP side of things. As Densol says if you believe you are single then you should act as such and therefore there is nothing wrong with your claims. They may contact you if HMRC pass on the information - but they would look at it independently.

I understand this can be stressful, especially if you have mental health problems, but the best way to approach it is to take it step by step and not worry about the wider issues. Speak to your crisis team and they may be able to support you, along with CAB.

So step 1 is to gather the evidence as I suggested above. Step 2 is to send in the Mandatory reconsideration. Get someone to help you with the letter - you need to address the 'living together as husband and wife test' - I assume you are not married (if you are let me know because it is a different test).



IQ

Jayneair

I don't mean to act guilty. I suffer from bi polar and severe anxiety. After speaking with concentrix on one occassion and being told I could go to prison I suffer a huge mental health crisis and had to go to hospital.
With regards the dwp council tax issue what I don't want is tax credits to write to them, then them to start a whole new investigation. My mental health couldn't cope tbh. and I always feel like I'm using that as an excuse but I have been sectioned several times and the stress of all this has pushed me back there.
I have all the information they need, I have called tax credits for a mr form and they are going to send one out but noted I wanted a reconsideration (I'm within timescales)

Sorry, obviously I have made it look like I'm hiding something. I'm just not great at dealing with any kind of stress.

Thanks for all the advice

Icequeen99

Jayneair wrote: »

I don't mean to act guilty. I suffer from bi polar and severe anxiety. After speaking with concentrix on one occassion and being told I could go to prison I suffer a huge mental health crisis and had to go to hospital.
With regards the dwp council tax issue what I don't want is tax credits to write to them, then them to start a whole new investigation. My mental health couldn't cope tbh. and I always feel like I'm using that as an excuse but I have been sectioned several times and the stress of all this has pushed me back there.
I have all the information they need, I have called tax credits for a mr form and they are going to send one out but noted I wanted a reconsideration (I'm within timescales)

Sorry, obviously I have made it look like I'm hiding something. I'm just not great at dealing with any kind of stress.

Thanks for all the advice

That all sounds really tough.

At the very least you should be filing a complaint about concentrix - they should not be threatening prison nor trying to stop you appealing.

You might want to contact one of the tax charities to let them know about the concentrix issues.

Also, let your crisis team/mental health support workers know about the situation hopefully they can support you through it.

At the end of the day, I don't think you really have much choice because if you don't appeal it then you lose tax credits going forward and potentially your DWP benefits.

Someone should also be flagging up your mental health issues to HMRC in the MR - perhaps get someone to write a letter stating the impact this had had on you. They have special procedures in place to deal with mental health situations.

IQ

Jayneair

I have told them about my mental health issues, I spoke with someone at the enhanced needs team?(I think this is there name) but they couldn't help as I need to deal with concnetrix. Who advised me that mental health issues don't get you special treatment (exact wording)
My crisis team now and are willing to write a letter to put in with the appeal.
I'm going to ring carers allowance in a mo and enquire whether I'm eligible. But then I get anxious it's going to look bad if I sign off jsa.

Thankfully I have an appointment with my gp today as again my mental health has taken a turn for the worst.

Again thank you all for your advice. It's much appreciated (even if I do ramble on a bit)

Icequeen99

Jayneair wrote: »

I have told them about my mental health issues, I spoke with someone at the enhanced needs team?(I think this is there name) but they couldn't help as I need to deal with concnetrix. Who advised me that mental health issues don't get you special treatment (exact wording)
My crisis team now and are willing to write a letter to put in with the appeal.
I'm going to ring carers allowance in a mo and enquire whether I'm eligible. But then I get anxious it's going to look bad if I sign off jsa.

Thankfully I have an appointment with my gp today as again my mental health has taken a turn for the worst.

Again thank you all for your advice. It's much appreciated (even if I do ramble on a bit)

Yes, the Needs Enhanced Support team. I am sorry they were not more helpful.

I would correspond only in writing now on and I would strongly suggest you put in a complaint about the treatment from Concentrix. I would also flag up your experience to the tax charities and request copies of the phone calls because this sounds horrendous actually the way they have treated you.

IQ

FBaby

So your ex got your daughter who is not his a mobile phone but he can't pay anything to support is biological child? That won't help your case. However surely all you need to do is provide his mobile number showing that it is different number then on the bill and then a breakdown of the numbers called?

To be honest if it was me I would provide snapshots of texts to show that it wasn't that of a grown up man. DD might not be hait about it but better then having to pay a massive bill.

Jayneair

As I said he does provide for his child, he buys her clothes school stuff anything she needs.
They wouldn't accept the phone bill as apparently it doesn't matter what calls or texts are made, his name is on it and that's that.