Child Tax Credits In Final Year of A Levels

Jane_The_Saver

My daughter finished her A levels this year (2020). I have been receiving Tax Credits. This years award gave payments until the end of August so I presumed this was the standard entitlement for anyone completing their course this year, giving a short transitional period before hopefully entering the world of work. The form states that the payment will stop automatically unless I inform them she is continuing in education. However, after phoning to clarify this I've just been told by a very terse HMRC advisor that this is not the case & I should have informed them if my daughter left education. So I've now been overpaid. I've also been told that my earnings for the entire year will affect the amount I was entitled to for the short period at the start of this financial year. I remember filling in a form with details of the course she was starting 2 years ago & was asked for a leaving date at this time so I thought I'd done everything correctly. The advisor tells me that they would never have asked for this information but I would have had to give that to the Child Benefit people so I'm obviously mistaken. It would benefit everyone if these Government agencies shared this information. The 'Tell Us Once' scheme does this when someone dies so its obviously possible! What a total mess.

strawb_shortcake

I've completed the form to say my Son was staying on in school and I had to say how long the course lasted. 
They do try to communicate with each other but I was advised to speak to both CB and CTC to advise them.

spanishtiger

Do you have a question or just a complaint Jane?

Jane_The_Saver

spanishtiger said:

Do you have a question or just a complaint Jane?

Both.
My complaint is that the text on the annual award notice is unclear & the correct information cannot be found on HMRC website.
My question is: Does anyone know the actual entitlement end date for the year in which your child finishes A levels in full time education & can you direct me to the source of that knowledge online so I have something official to refer to?

calcotti

https://www.gov.uk/child-tax-credit-when-child-reaches-16

You must tell HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) if your child:

• turns 16 and stays in approved education or training

• starts or leaves approved education or training

• joins or leaves a careers service

• starts getting benefits themselves, for example Universal Credit

• gets married, forms a civil partnership or starts to live with a partner

• leaves approved education or training and starts working in a job where they’re paid 24 or more hours a week

calcotti

https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/tax-credits-and-benefits/tax-credits/can-i-claim-my-child-aged-16-or-over#toc-what-if-they-leave-college-after-age-16-

What if they leave college after age 16?
Until their 18th birthday, if the young person leaves a course or training programme, CTC will normally stop when they leave. You must notify HMRC within one month that they have left full time education or approved training otherwise you may face a penalty.

Jane_The_Saver

calcotti said:

https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/tax-credits-and-benefits/tax-credits/can-i-claim-my-child-aged-16-or-over#toc-what-if-they-leave-college-after-age-16-

What if they leave college after age 16?
Until their 18th birthday, if the young person leaves a course or training programme, CTC will normally stop when they leave. You must notify HMRC within one month that they have left full time education or approved training otherwise you may face a penalty.

Thank you for looking into this. However, my daughter is over 18 so the above information may not be correct.

calcotti said:

https://www.gov.uk/child-tax-credit-when-child-reaches-16

You must tell HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) if your child:

• turns 16 and stays in approved education or training

• starts or leaves approved education or training

• joins or leaves a careers service

• starts getting benefits themselves, for example Universal Credit

• gets married, forms a civil partnership or starts to live with a partner

• leaves approved education or training and starts working in a job where they’re paid 24 or more hours a week

I took 'leaves approved education' to mean that the young person had left the education earlier than planned - ie at an earlier date than usual and before completing the course. I can see that leaving a course early would need some action on my part as it is an unexpected event. But continuing to the planned end date of the course is different.
The guidelines are very clear that Tax Credits continue until the 31st August at age 16 after finishing GCSE's, so I thought the same would apply at age 18 after finishing A levels. I just find it all very unclear. The guidelines state that Tax Credits stop automatically unless you inform them that the young person is continuing in non-advanced education, so I didn't think I had to do anything.
I'm sure I'm not the only person that finds this confusing. Obviously it's my fault, but I do feel that the guidelines give conflicting information. 

 

Frogling

I am currently in a similar situation to you OP, although you seem to indicate that your daughter is going to start work now that her A-levels are finished? If that is the case, then that may well be why the information I was given differs.

My daughter is off to Uni next month, and I was told by an HMRC advisor that as she plans to continue to advanced level education that tax credits can be paid to 31 August, which is considered to be the last day of the academic year apparently. My online account has the following message on the tax credits page: "We are currently working out your tax credits payments as your child is about to change their education or training."

I agree with you that finding information about this can be difficult. Some of it is as clear as mud!

strawb_shortcake

My thinking was with the above post. Again my Son is about to start yr 12 and I have the same message on my gateway account. 
My claim ran to the end August and will start again in September. If school finished early for yr 11 or 13 pupils due to covid I'd assume claims run until 31st August. 
If a child left earlier for other reasons then the claim would need to be closed.

sheramber

 https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/tax-credits-technical-manual/tctm02230
A person continues to be treated as being in full-time education during the period between the ending of one course and the commencement of another, where that person has enrolled on and commences the latter course.

 As  

Jane_The_Saver

Frogling said:

I am currently in a similar situation to you OP, although you seem to indicate that your daughter is going to start work now that her A-levels are finished? If that is the case, then that may well be why the information I was given differs.

My daughter is off to Uni next month, and I was told by an HMRC advisor that as she plans to continue to advanced level education that tax credits can be paid to 31 August, which is considered to be the last day of the academic year apparently. My online account has the following message on the tax credits page: "We are currently working out your tax credits payments as your child is about to change their education or training."

I agree with you that finding information about this can be difficult. Some of it is as clear as mud!

Yes, I have heard that from someone else. You wont be entitled to Tax Credits when your daughter starts Uni as you know, so it doesn't make sense to me that you should be entitled to payments until the end of August but I'm not. In other words, the state cuts off all support to me and my daughter because she has made the decision to start work (but unfortunately hasn't found a job yet) but will support your daughter to have the summer off before starting advanced education which is not covered by Tax Credits anyway! Sorry, doesn't make sense to me at all. Additionally, I have found confirmation that Child Benefit is payable until the end of August after finishing college so why are Tax Credits any different? To confuse things even more, it seems that my daughter is disregarded for Council Tax purposes until 1st November!! How is anyone supposed to make sense of all this! Thanks for your contribution.