Tax credits overpayment advice

sjaypink

Pam17 wrote: »

It is not common practise when dealing with a disputed overpayment to listen to all calls made by the claimant. Generally only household notes are read. Not all DOP staff have the facility to access recorded calls.

Making a "Subject Access Request" under the Data Protection Act is a very good idea. TCO will supply copies of all correspondence and a CD of all recorded calls. You can then ask for a review of your case once you have the proof in your hands.

thanks for this, i thought i had read everything going about tc, but i did not know they can supply cds? is this required under the dpa, or their (tc) choice wether to supply? i received all letters sent & recieved, computer system print outs and call log data entries- date , time, info given and call operators notes.....
does any1 know about cds?

lka200

I was also overpaid apparently I have no idea how this happened as i told them of EVERY yes EVERY change, these changes were all relating to income fluctuations and they were very slight. Each time i phoned up to inform them of a change they weren't really interested and just said"as long as you dont earn above 25 grand it wont matter"...very blase in my opinion.
The problem with recovering these overpayments is that they are recovered the following tax year to what they happened which isn't helpful at all.
Many peoples circumstances have changed by this time and having to repay can be crippling. If the TC could just get things right in the tax year that they happen in it would save a lot of hassle for everyone.
Eg if they realised an overpayment had occured and started to recover say within 12 weeks im sure people could cope more with it.
I suggest that unless you have had to actually deal with the tax credits system then but out as you have absolutely no idea of how things work.
People are posting on this thread for advise on how they can deal with these overpayments..not get a load of abuse.

System

sjaypink wrote: »

thanks for this, i thought i had read everything going about tc, but i did not know they can supply cds? is this required under the dpa, or their (tc) choice wether to supply? i received all letters sent & recieved, computer system print outs and call log data entries- date , time, info given and call operators notes.....
does any1 know about cds?

You do need to specifically request a copy of all recorded calls and mention that you are making a "Subject Access Request". Apparently they are the magic words :rolleyes:

System

lka200 wrote: »

The problem with recovering these overpayments is that they are recovered the following tax year to what they happened which isn't helpful at all.
Many peoples circumstances have changed by this time and having to repay can be crippling. If the TC could just get things right in the tax year that they happen in it would save a lot of hassle for everyone.

If a claimant is experiencing financial difficulty because of the recovery of an overpayment from their award they can appeal the amount being recovered and ask for it to be reduced.