Splitting up and a new CTC claim - a warning

newnhak

I split up with my partner last month and rang up CTCon 23rd April to start a new single claim as everything had previously been in his name.

At the beginning they told me they had a specialist team and implied it would be a smooth transition.

This has not been the case at all. In the last few weeks I have :-

• been asked to reconfirm my work details (which they already had) but they now ask for PAYE ref which I was given incorrectly from work (missing one digit) and it took 4 phone calls for me to resolve. (OK I had the PAYE ref wrong but you think the tax office - being experts would have spotted a missing digit issue)
• been asked (by letter)reconfirm my childcare provider (which they already had) and then I was also asked to send in a copy of the contract (which i dont have and so I had to get them to ring my childcare provider to confirm)
• been asked (by letter) for my child benefit number even though I explained on the phone that this was also in the process of being changed over and had not been processed yet
• been asked for birth certificates for both my children.

i am going to write a letter of complaint because this has been far from easy and is still not resolved. It is just lucky that I have enough money currently to cover my childcare costs as I work full-time.

But to anyone out there in a similar situation make sure you get your claim in early and you follow up so you are not waiting for money only to find that there is another hoop to jump through.

Rgds

K

Conor_3

So your actual complaint is about being asked to provide documentary evidence as any new claimant would do.

newnhak

I am complaining that all of this information was already held by child tax credit (they have already seen all of this documentary evidence) and that they said that they would make things easy for me but that it has not been easy at all.

If I was completely new to them then all of their requests would have been reasonable.

hotblu

newnhak wrote: »

I am complaining that all of this information was already held by child tax credit (they have already seen all of this documentary evidence) and that they said that they would make things easy for me but that it has not been easy at all.

If I was completely new to them then all of their requests would have been reasonable.

By the sounds of it your entitlement to Tax Credits is going to dramtically increase going from joint to single claim. They are now checking all details provided- which may not have been checked previously. They say patience is a virtue...

newnhak

I dunno - I was always the only wage earner when we were together and still earning the same now. I am guessing it will go up slightly because of the childcare.

I guess people think I am ranting an d I guess I am but I also wanted to let people know it isnt as straightforward to change over as they make out. Oh well - I guess most people would have it in the mothers name anyway

Conor_3

Not really. Just a bit surprised that you're surprised that this has happened when they've got the information already given the well known inability of some public sector workers to graduate from the School of the Bleeding Obvious. To be fair though, it's not the fault of the people asking you for the information - they're just doing what they're told to even though to them its blatantly stupid as well.

Morty_007

newnhak wrote: »

I split up with my partner last month and rang up CTCon 23rd April to start a new single claim as everything had previously been in his name.

I would guess that this is the issue here. If it was in his name and now you are changing it to yours, they have to get the information about you and apply it to the claim and they can't get that from his file because of

1.the Data Protection Act
and
2. the information might have changed...after all, your circumstances have...

Sorry to be so calm and rational about it, it must be an absolute nightmare to have to wade through the red tape when you are already suffering from the breakdown of a relationship.

I hope things get easier for you
Morty
x

newnhak

Yeah I dont blame the guys on the end of the phone but I do think the system is very annoying. I would like to point out that the child benefit office did not want to see the birth certificates again as they go by the children - maybe they work a different system.

I understand the data protection rules as I worked with them for 10 years but I do think some of it is now very over the top.

And yes I accept maybe I am over-sensitive given the circumstances. Anyway thankyou for letting me get it off my chest.