Tax Credits & UC

scousemanmark

Hi, My wife left me in July and I informed DWP of my change in circumstances, at the time they told me that they would inform the other relevant government agencies of my change in circumstances, this was a relief to me to my mental and physical health issues and the stressed which contacting multiple agencies would have caused me.
Today I have heard from HMRC saying that I may receive a fine of £300 for not informing them of my change of circumstances. I was also informed that in September my area became full UC so I will be forced onto this benefit without any migration protection, is this true? is there anything I can do?

Thanks

pmlindyloo

Please could you tell us about the benefits you were receiving before you separated from your wife. Plus the benefits you wish to claim now.

Have you now got a tax credits overpayment? Was it a joint claim?

calcotti

If you previously claimed Tax Credits as a couple your entitlement ended when you separated. To continue receiving Tax Credits you would have needed to make a claim as a single person. Now that you are in a UC area you cannot do this.

Tax Credits are administered by HMRC, not DWP, and DWP may not have told HMRC (or may have told them but they have taken a while to respond). You could try appealing the fine on the basis that you understood, from what you were told, that DWP were going to advise HMRC however legally it is your responsibility to tell HMRC (although it is obvious why that would not be uppermost in your mind in the circumstances).

As poppy says, if you can provide more information about what you were previously getting people will be in a better position to advise on the implications of your changed situation.

scousemanmark

Hi, I was receiving ESA, DLA, CB & Tax Credits and my wife got CA, yes it was a joint claim.
Yes, I was told there would be an overpayment of Tax Credits.
I am now on my own and in receipt of ESA (support group), DLA, and disability premium, LHA and Tax Credits.
I am guessing DWP have now told HMRC otherwise they would not have contacted me, as they would not have known about my changes.

Thanks

calcotti

scousemanmark wrote: »

Hi, I was receiving ESA, DLA, CB & Tax Credits and my wife got CA, yes it was a joint claim.
Yes, I was told there would be an overpayment of Tax Credits.
I am now on my own and in receipt of ESA (support group), DLA, and disability premium, LHA and Tax Credits.
I am guessing DWP have now told HMRC otherwise they would not have contacted me, as they would not have known about my changes.

Thanks

You should not be receiving Tax Credits unless you claimed as a single person prior to your area becoming UC. Your separation ended the couple Tax Credit claim.

You refer to disability premium. If you are getting at least middle rate care component of DLA you are entitled to the Severe Disability premium in your ESA. Are you getting this?

In your circumstances you are almost certainly better off staying on your existing benefits (even without tax Credits) and not applying for UC.

scousemanmark

Hi, thanks for your prompt reply, yes I am getting Severe Disability premium. Sorry I need to repay the tax credits.
From what I have now discovered, I separated from my wife on 20th July and my area changed to UC on the 19th Septembers so that is why they are trying to force me over to UC.

calcotti

scousemanmark wrote: »

Hi, thanks for your prompt reply, yes I am getting Severe Disability premium.
From what I have now discovered, I separated from my wife on 20th July and my area changed to UC on the 19th Septembers so that is why they are trying to force me over to UC.

You can stay on your existing benefits except Tax Credits. Your Tax Credit claim has ended and you cannot make a new one because you are in a UC area. In any case if you are not working or looking after children you would not have a basis for making a Tax Credit claim anyway.

When you say "they are trying to force me over to UC" who is they?

If you were to claim UC your DLA would continue but your housing benefit and ESA would end and be replaced by UC and would not get the SDP be cause it doesn't exist in UC. Typically you would be worse off (about £50/week I think).

If you have been paid Tax Credits since the separation these will be an overpayment and you will have to make arrangements to pay them back.

scousemanmark

Thanks for your reply. By 'they' I meant HMRC, yes I understand the overpayment would need to be paid back. £50 a week, that's a big cut, worse than I thought it would be.
Thanks again.

calcotti

scousemanmark wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. By 'they' I meant HMRC, yes I understand the overpayment would need to be paid back. £50 a week, that's a big cut, worse than I thought it would be.
Thanks again.

HMRC cannot make you claim UC. They are however correct to tell you that you cannot make a new claim for Tax Credits. As per my previous post it doesn't't look as if you would have a basis for claiming even if you were allowed to.

If you can demonstrate that £50/week will cause you hardship you can request a longer period of time to pay back but you would need to tell them all your income and expenditure.

https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/tax-credits/guidance/how-to-deal-with-hmrc/dealing-with-debt/#Couples%20and%20overpayment%20recovery

Scroll down to Financial hardship in direct recovery cases

pmlindyloo

Since you are already on ESA and HB then you have live claims and you do not have to transfer to Universal Credit but can continue to claim your current legacy benefits - ESA and HB until you are part of the managed migration.

When the new legislation goes through then all claimants with the SDP with their ESA will only move over when they are part of managed migration and will receive some compensation for their loss of the SDP.

As regards the tax credits if this was a joint claim (which I presume it was) then you should only be responsible for 50% of the overpayment and your estranged wife should be responsible for the other 50%.

https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Tax-Credits-Overpayments/How-are-tax-credit-overpayments-recovered

scousemanmark

Hi, I am a bit confused here, won't I need to make a new tax credits claims to get child benefit as I thought CB was part of tax credits?