child tax credit new baby confusion

sunflowergirl

Hello,

We have 2 children and an income of £12250 (one of them is a new baby in october 2007 )we were recieving £380 every 4 weeks, now today payments have gone down to £333 for every 4 weeks until my little girl is one years old when payments go up to £379!

I rang the helpline and was told this is correct and how they are worked out for the tax year but it sounds strange to me as I thought you had a higher rate for the first year then payments went down.
Does anyone understand the system and can tell me if this is okay.
many thanks

[Deleted User]

Sounds as though it could be because there is an overpayment being recovered. Once this is cleared your payments will increase again. Have they given you a reason why it has decreased?

Have a look at your most recent award notice, it will show your provisional payments going in to this financial year.

sunflowergirl

Hi,
Thank you for your reply, We have never been overpaid as far as we know and this info is from the final award letter which shows the provisional payments for this year ahead. I have just put these figures into entitled to and it comes out less than they quote we should be recieving.

sunflowergirl

The reason given on the phone was "this is how the figures are worked out for this tax year". the person I spoke to was confused and spoke to a supervisor.

JimmyTheWig

I agree it sounds wrong. You get a higher amount when you have a baby under one.
Have they, for one reason or another, been paying you too much and so are reducing your payments to claw it back?
It is income dependent to some extent, so if your circumstances have changed then this might explain what has happened.

Can you get them to send you how they worked it out, or explain it to you slowly enough for you to write it down. Maybe if you posted the calculations here someone might be able to spot what's going on.

[Deleted User]

If you need to get a full explanation I am sure you could arrange an interview at a local Enquiry Centre. That way you have the award in front of you in black and white and the adviser can look at the details on the system.

It is quite difficult to give accurate advice without seeing the award and/or the system.

mitchaa

You should have been receiving £1845+£1845+£545 up until your 3rd child was born.

This works out at £4235/13 = £325.77 every 4 weeks.

From October 2007- Oct 2008, you are entitled to the additional baby element of £545per year + a further £1845 for your 3rd child so your payments from october 2007 should have been

£325.77 for your 2 children
£41.92 baby element (£545/13)
£141.92 for your 3rd child

From Oct 2007 upto April 2008 you should have been getting £509.61 every 4 weeks.

The payments have recently been changed upto £2085 per child,so £2085 x 3 + £545 family element + £545 baby = £7345/13 = £565 every 4 wks

So in summary

You should have been getting £325.77 every 4wks up until Oct 2007.

From Oct 2007-April 2008 you should have been getting £509.61 every 4 wks.

From April 08 -Oct 08 (your newborns 1st birthday) You should be getting £565 every 4 wks

From October 08 onwards you should be getting £523.08

Sounds like you've been overpaid in the past and are now making up these overpayments in arrears.

sunflowergirl

Thanks that makes sense.
I have 2 children but can understand what you mean

stephen25uk

mitchaa wrote: »

You should have been receiving £1845+£1845+£545 up until your 3rd child was born.

This works out at £4235/13 = £325.77 every 4 weeks.

From October 2007- Oct 2008, you are entitled to the additional baby element of £545per year + a further £1845 for your 3rd child so your payments from october 2007 should have been

£325.77 for your 2 children
£41.92 baby element (£545/13)
£141.92 for your 3rd child

From Oct 2007 upto April 2008 you should have been getting £509.61 every 4 weeks.

The payments have recently been changed upto £2085 per child,so £2085 x 3 + £545 family element + £545 baby = £7345/13 = £565 every 4 wks

So in summary

You should have been getting £325.77 every 4wks up until Oct 2007.

From Oct 2007-April 2008 you should have been getting £509.61 every 4 wks.

From April 08 -Oct 08 (your newborns 1st birthday) You should be getting £565 every 4 wks

From October 08 onwards you should be getting £523.08

Sounds like you've been overpaid in the past and are now making up these overpayments in arrears.

can i ask how you orks tax credits out,i have been on entitled to and it looks like i am being paid less then it says i should be getting,i earn 19000 my wife earns 6500 from 2008 -2009 i will earn 18000 na dmy wife will earn the same,we have 2 childre 1 8yo and 1 18mnths so both over 1 any help would be great

[Deleted User]

Have a look at the rates table http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/taxcredits.htm

If you work out all of the elements you qualify for, add them all together.

Deduct the first income threshold (£6420) from your total income.

Then deduct 39p from the total amount for every £1 you earn above the threshold.

Then to work out your weekly amount divide the award by 52 (or divide by 13 to give your 4 weekly amount).

I also meant to add that the family and baby elements will not be tapered/reduced until the household income has reached £50k

[Deleted User]

stephen25uk wrote: »

can i ask how you orks tax credits out,i have been on entitled to and it looks like i am being paid less then it says i should be getting,i earn 19000 my wife earns 6500 from 2008 -2009 i will earn 18000 na dmy wife will earn the same,we have 2 childre 1 8yo and 1 18mnths so both over 1 any help would be great

You may be getting less due to recovery of an overpayment.

If you give a bit more info I can try to work out how much you should be getting paid - but obviously the igure I would give would exclude any overpayment being recovered.

How many hours p/w do you both work?
Is there anyone in the household disabled?
Do you pay any childcare costs?
Do you receive any benefits?