Tax Credit Briefing discussion

I need to apply for tax credits, but the only way to apply seems to by with a form only available by ringing HMRC. I have been ringing up to 10 times a day for 3 weeks but have not been put through even once. The recorded message says that there are too many in the queue and, infuriatingly, that 'I might call back'. It seems to me like I'm being denied tax credits by not being allowed to apply. where can I complain, or is there another way of getting a form?

Actually, it's not correct to say that if the DWP is at fault, you don't need to repay the overpayment. You are obliged to point-out to DWP their mistake- easier said than done. Sorry- this next bit is complicated, but it's worth following....

When my son turned 3 and was entitled to pre-school allowance, I thought "they know how old he is; they're the guys who pay it; I shouldn't need to tell them his childcare costs have dropped" but none-the-less, on the premise "tell 'em, tell 'em, tell 'em" I did. But the person on the end of the phone noted the new childcare costs as £390 per week instead of £390 a month . You'd think someone would have noticed a waitress working 16 hours a week at £5.83 an hour claiming £390 a week, but no, they didn't. Problem was, I didn't either- those forms are incredibly difficult to follow- so it wasn't until several weeks later that I realised. When I did, I called them and was told that I would need to repay the overpayment. I suggested that they check their records which would show they were at fault (phone-calls are recorded for training purposes etc) but I was told that it made no difference- I would still need to repay the overpayment. That was in April.

In October I phoned to check I was getting maximum tax credits (I needed the information for another form) and was told that I was. A couple of weeks later, the guy I had spoken to at that time phoned me to tell me they had been reviewing my query for training, and he had noticed that way back in April when the person amended my childcare costs following the notification of their error, they had backdated the new information to when it had applied (january) but for the new tax year, the information hadn't been amended, so it was still wrong! I'd again been getting overpaid for 6 months, and hadn't noticed because my payments had gone down- but this was because they were starting to take-back the amount that I had been overpaid! He suggested I appeal because it was very obviously the error of DWP, and said he would send me an appeal form.

I got the form, completed it, and phoned several times to check on progress. Eventually, six weeks later, it became apparent that the form was lost in the system. I got another form, completed it, and submitted it. Three months after submitting the first form, I got a response telling me that as I was obliged to notify of them of their error and had not done so, I must repay the overpayment which had resulted. It was about £1500.

I am a single parent with sole custody of my son, and from my earnings of £90 a week, I'm supposed to pay back £1500 to DWP which was overpaid because of THEIR mistake.

Sometimes "Tell 'em, tell 'em, tell 'em" still isn't enough.