Will it bring a penalty with tax credits?

bubble2424

A couple weeks ago my ex told me he earnt 8000 the year just gone, we are both students (& have 3 children) and were living together during that year. He started off doing the odd day here and there in summer and I thought it was maybe 8 days total, then the start of this year he was away from the house alot going to see his dad(apparently) for uni help (apparently not) turns out hes been fulltime working, keeping the money for himself, not a penny of it came into the household. I told tax credits he moved out they want an exact figure for this year and it wasnt easy getting a figure out ofhim and my head is blown that it's that much, as it now looks like I didnt declare him working-but I didnt know the extent! I'm worried because I thought he'd earnt less than a thousand total and I was happy to declare it, but now I'm stumped. I had no idea- It's hard to talk about money with him as he conceals things, my own fault cos I knew he was like this when we first met but I never thought it would be like this. So I asked him to leave because i feel like the trust is broken, it's such a mess I didnt want -and our child (the youngest of the three) is confused- its heartbreaking. Am I going to get a penalty? Can I just tell them what's happened? Does anyone have advice?

MovingForwards

You're better off posting on the benefits board, a bit further up the forum. The members are knowledgeable in that section.

SameOldRoundabout

I doubt you’ll get a penalty as such, but you will be asked to repay overpayment. It’s not always fair, in my case many years ago my ex moved out in June and the following year for renewal they used his entire years income and charged us both many hundreds of pounds in overpayment (despite them being told within days he had moved out and his income was no longer “ours”), split down the middle. They are quite flexible in repayment arrangements so honestly I’d just speak to them and explain, and go from there.