Tax credits/disabilty premium tax credit advice

Darksparkle

Tomsdottir wrote: »

Hallo Darksparkle


Where are the statistics on fraudulent claims of the disability element of CTC?

I'm sure you could probably find them on the gov site or by googling. They are likely to cover all incorrect (error and fraud) disability claims though, not just CTC but WTC as well.

Tomsdottir

Hallo Darksparkle. That's not what I'm asking. You said "Given the amount of claims that incorrectly/fraudulently claimed the disability element of CTC in the past, all claims must now be checked before being awarded. " Presumably you've seen figures somewhere or you wouldn't be saying that - I just wondered where you were getting that information.


I regularly look at HMRC's stats on fraud and error and am not aware of any on the disability element of CTC, which is why I'm asking you if you could clarify.


I'm sure you'd agree that when suggestions are made about claimant fraud it's important to be factual.

Tomsdottir

Hallo Juanita


The most significant problem with the disability element of WTC in recent years has been the actions of HMRC and the DWP, rather than any wrongdoing or error by parents. Between November 2011 and July 2014, the claim form for DLA for children did not have a tick box to indicate that the child’s parents were in receipt of tax credits - it disappeared. This affected 28,000 families. It seems that the DWP's procedure for telling the Tax Credit Office about a DLA award did not operate. If the family did not notify HMRC itself about the DLA award, then the disabled child element (and in some cases, the severely disabled child element) were not added to the award. Families of disabled children lost out on significant amounts of money.

The Chancellor subsequently agreed to set aside £100 million to make up these elements from April 2016 and the families affected are currently being sent notifications that the elements have been added from the start of the 2016/17 tax year. However, the tax credits office are refusing to consider making awards of the elements from earlier years (that is, when they should have been added had the DWP error not occurred). The TCO says that it does not have the legal power to do so. Currently, the Child Poverty Action Group is bringing a test case about this.

In terms of any delay in dealing with what is after all, a straightforward notification of a change of circumstance, HMRC's tax credit's charter says "We’ll deal with the information you give us quickly, efficiently, and keep any costs to you at a minimum. " There are no specific time limits within which they have to carry out the change to your tax credit award. Relevant factors include not only HMRCs staff levels and the number of claims they are dealing with, but also your own personal circumstances. Case law says it's not OK for them simply to say "We have to deal with claims/notifications in the order in which they receive them. So if you feel that they are taking too long, you can complain and request compensation for out of pocket expenses and any distress and inconvenience caused. I think most people have no idea of how expensive it is to look after a disabled child.


You could also ring Contact A Family, a national charity who provide free advice and support to families of disabled children and ask for a benefit check 0808 808 3555 9.30am-5pm, Monday-Friday; free from UK landlines and UK mobiles - they aim to answer within five rings) What they don't know about the disabled element of CTC could be written on an eyelash!

It's fine to ring HMRC and ask what's going on, or to ask your MP to intervene on your behalf. It's a good idea to keep a note of the details of all phone calls (dates, times etc) as you can later ask for a recording of the call.

As to HB, when you claim, you can request up to 3 months backdating. So if you claimed DLA for your child 3 months ago (or up to 3 months ago) ask for it to be backdated. The same with your carer's allowance - you don't need a special reason for the backdating. The carers allowance will also increase the amount of HB/council tax reduction you qualify for, so don't forget to let the council know you are claiming this. If you still don't qualify for full council tax reduction, you can ask for discretionary housing payments to make up any shortfall,


Hope this helps!

Darksparkle

Tomsdottir wrote: »

Hallo Darksparkle. That's not what I'm asking. You said "Given the amount of claims that incorrectly/fraudulently claimed the disability element of CTC in the past, all claims must now be checked before being awarded. " Presumably you've seen figures somewhere or you wouldn't be saying that - I just wondered where you were getting that information.


I regularly look at HMRC's stats on fraud and error and am not aware of any on the disability element of CTC, which is why I'm asking you if you could clarify.


I'm sure you'd agree that when suggestions are made about claimant fraud it's important to be factual.

I don't need figures, I have experience. If you want figures you can obtain them from HMRC. If you've seen the error and fraud statistics published each year you will see mention of disability. But statistics aren't relevant to the OP, they asked if it was a quick change. It's not because it needs to be checked before awarded. The OP has been given the relevant timescale for the change to be processed. It could be sooner or if could be later. If later, the OP can call the number provided to progress chase.

Juanita37

Thank u so much for all ur advice Tom I appreciate it ☺