Tax Credits Compliance Interview

olgadapolga

I've been notified that I have a compliance interview in just over a week's time. They are asking about my child (age 19, almost 20) who has remained in non-advanced education (due to not getting the grades required for the uni course so changed career choices and needed different A-levels).

I have absolutely no problem about the interview, I expect them to be carried out so that the Tax Credits Office remains accountable, etc.

What I'm struggling with is the huge list of expected documentation required. They want:

• a letter from the college detailing the course info plus a lot of other information for a specific six month period;

• a letter from the college stating they attended the college including home schooling due to lockdown periods (no dates given - do I need to go right back to when they started there?) 

• a letter from the LEA confirming school attendance (I have never interacted with the LEA as my children went from home education to college at age 14 - we applied directly to the college) - again no dates;

• details of benefits and income (of my child) - none except a small amount of interest on their savings account but that's basically out of my control so do I ask my child for this information?. No job/government benefits;

• details of where they live (they live with me but how do I prove this? They are on the electoral register but I don't have a copy of this . Their provisional driving licence has the address on, is that enough?);

• receipts for hobbies and clothes (again, no time period given - I have some recent clothes receipts but they aren't specific to my child, it just says "men's xxxx"). Hobbies tend to be things that don't incur a payment - things like running, cycling, playing computer games, baking;

• details of healthcare appointments (not too much of a problem);

• payments for childcare (none and have never claimed help with childcare);

I'm going to struggle to get much of this together, even the letter from the college may be an issue, given the time constraint and the fact that as my child is an adult, the college won't deal with me directly but only my child.

The Compliance Interview letter says to ring before the interview is due if I don't have the information requested. I have tried to ring the number given a dozen times since I received the letter but the call is always disconnected as they are "too busy to deal with the call".

Am I overthinking this? I didn't get much sleep last night for worrying about how to get the information. If someone has any idea of what I need to do to satisfy their requirements, especially as some of the information they want isn't applicable to our situation, I'd be so grateful for any help.

Oh, and last week we received the UC migration letter - given how stressed I am right now, I am seriously considering not claiming, mainly because we would not be eligible after the initial 12 months (due to savings). But that's for another thread.

HillStreetBlues

When were you notified about the CI?

olgadapolga

HillStreetBlues said:

When were you notified about the CI?

Yesterday. Letter dated 6th October, delivered yesterday.

Spoonie_Turtle

olgadapolga said:

I've been notified that I have a compliance interview in just over a week's time. 
…
Oh, and last week we received the UC migration letter - given how stressed I am right now, I am seriously considering not claiming, mainly because we would not be eligible after the initial 12 months (due to savings). But that's for another thread.

You have three months to apply for UC so don't worry about that yet, just focus on the compliance interview
(Sorry I can't help with your actual questions.)

HillStreetBlues

I feel all you can do is keep trying on the phone, as someone is clearly living is cloud cuckoo land expecting for you to get all that info in a week.
If you can't get though, all you can do is write (and keep a copy) to the college/ LEA  and anyone else you need information from, and get a proof of posting.
Then when they ask for said info, if you haven't have a reply, show them the letter you sent with the proof of posting and tell them you are still waiting for a reply and once you have it you will give it to them.

sheramber

The  best time to phone is usually as soon as lines open. Start dialling  just beforehand to be at the front of the queue.

olgadapolga

Thank you to everyone who responded.

I finally managed to get through, mid-morning (I had tried several times first thing in the morning but they were always too busy and disconnected the call).

The person I spoke to said not to worry about it too much, it was more to do with ensuring that the information they have about our circumstances are correct for when (if) we decide to migrate to UC (our deadline is at the end of  January 2024, so we had almost four months in which to claim - actually I think it was four months from the date of the letter).

The only information I have is the information from the college, health records and receipts for clothes. I have told them that I don't have the rest of the information so we'll just see how it goes next week. I'll update again afterwards.

Newcad

Yes there are reports that they are currently giving 4 months to make the claim for UC on migration letters instead of the usual three.

It isn't clear just why they are doing that, but is probably because of the Christmas period.

Even if you have savings above £16k so would only be eligible to UC for 12 months, and even though it will be reduced by £174 for savings between £6k an £16k, that's still 12 months worth of UC money in your pocket.

(If you feel that you don't need the money then claim it anyway, and give it to charity).

ElwoodBlues

Newcad said:

Yes there are reports that they are currently giving 4 months to make the claim for UC on migration letters instead of the usual three.

It isn't clear just why they are doing that, but is probably because of the Christmas period.

Even if you have savings above £16k so would only be eligible to UC for 12 months, and even though it will be reduced by £174 for savings between £6k an £16k, that's still 12 months worth of UC money in your pocket.

(If you feel that you don't need the money then claim it anyway, and give it to charity).

Yes, they say in the letter it's 3 months, but if you don't do it in time they write to you again and give you an extra month to claim and keep the transitional protection. But they will stop paying your tax credits after 3 months regardless. That's what happened to me anyway. Obviously, if you don't claim within the time period, you'll lose transitional protection and won't be eligible until your capital is below 16k. Lady in the job centre yesterday doing my id checks was aware that I had been on tax credits before, so maybe they'll extend the transitional protection longer, at their discretion?

TheEmerald

olgadapolga
 Please do not worry I have just had my telephone interview  after 3 weeks of trying to get all the information requested and repeatedly trying to speak to someone about the situation.
The call was about 5 minutes long and was basically to check they have the right details if we apply for UC and really was not anything to worry about.

olgadapolga

ElwoodBlues said:

Newcad said:

Yes there are reports that they are currently giving 4 months to make the claim for UC on migration letters instead of the usual three.

It isn't clear just why they are doing that, but is probably because of the Christmas period.

Even if you have savings above £16k so would only be eligible to UC for 12 months, and even though it will be reduced by £174 for savings between £6k an £16k, that's still 12 months worth of UC money in your pocket.

(If you feel that you don't need the money then claim it anyway, and give it to charity).

Yes, they say in the letter it's 3 months, but if you don't do it in time they write to you again and give you an extra month to claim and keep the transitional protection. But they will stop paying your tax credits after 3 months regardless. That's what happened to me anyway. Obviously, if you don't claim within the time period, you'll lose transitional protection and won't be eligible until your capital is below 16k. Lady in the job centre yesterday doing my id checks was aware that I had been on tax credits before, so maybe they'll extend the transitional protection longer, at their discretion?

I received my migration letter last week, dated 29th September with a "claim by" date of 29th January 2024 ~ so that's four months. This is the first letter we've had about it.

I'll ask the person I speak to next week about it anyway. I have questions as DH is self-employed and I need to know how tax credits is going to handle this (I've read somewhere that it will need an estimate of self-employed profits at the point of migration).