Child Tax Credits drama

[Liam88]

Hi, hope everyone's well,

I have a bit of an issue with child tax credits,

My son came to live with me full time on the 10th March this year, my ex partner rang the child benefit on that day and cancelled her child benefit claim, however she was under the impression she did not need to notify the child tax credits aswell as she thought it was on the same system, i didn't know this until roughly middle of April.

I applied for Child Benefit and Child Tax Credits on the 13th March back dating both from the 10th, the Child Benefit came back in my name roughly 3 weeks later, however i was still waiting for the Child Tax Credits, so in mid April i rang them for an update, they told me a claim was already on their system which is how i found out my ex partner didn't notify them of the change in circumstances. I explained the situation and all they could do was send out forms to us both with questions on to determine who was the main carer for the child, however this hasnt sorted things out and it continues to be processed/investigated.

I have a feeling my ex partner may of purposely not notified the Child Tax Credits in the first place to get an extra payment out of them, after all shes now had three four-weekly payments since the 10th march and its quite obvious she knows if shes getting the money for the child then im not which isnt right, she should of sorted it long before now but again i have a feeling she may of lied on the forms she was sent because she may not want to pay back the over payments shes received.

Ive rang the HMRC 13 times since March for updates, while i can appreciate they cant just "take my word" for it and stop someone elses claim i would of hoped for a little more action to of been taken to help resolve this faster, its now at the stage where my ex partner realising her mistake cant even notify them that shes no longer the childs main carer and to stop her claim, which ive had verified as it sounded odd to me, ive had no money from them at all and were fast approaching 12 weeks. They sent me yet another form last week with questions on, out of 10 only 2 applied due to his age, one of them being "who has been the main carer for **** from 25/02/14 to present, which i don't understand where they've got that date from? it should be 10/03/14.

To let you know, he came to live with me full time on the 10/03/14, i have the child benefit for my son in my name dating from 17/03/14 (a week later as their claims start from the following Monday) his doctors are in the process of being switched over to my local surgery, his clothes and toys are at my house, what ever the mother has for him at her house is her business but the bulk of his things are at mine, both me and the mother are in full agreeance i am the main carer and i am to receive the the Child Tax Credits.

Its quite stressful not knowing which way this is going to go, when this was suppose to be a simple thing to be sorted within 3 weeks, im behind on bills, and relying on family more than usual due to being low on money as a result of this, i was told about hardship payments around 2/3 weeks ago but ive heard nothing from it, i have even brought it up the last two times ive rang for an update but was just told someone would be in contact.

Thanks for reading any help/advice would be hugely appreciated.

[Froot]

Re: Child Tax Credits drama

Hi there, it's possible they are still trying to gather information probably because she didn't notify them the same time as child benefit. When my sister came to live with me it was child benefit that look a long time to process maybe it's the other way round for you. I'd keep onto them though. Good luck

[bluebottle]

Re: Child Tax Credits drama

If your ex knew your son was no longer in her custody and was under a duty to inform HMRC of this, did not inform them and continued to receive Child Tax Credits, knowing or believing she was not entitled to receive them, the least HMRC can do is ask her to pay the money back and the worst they can do is to prosecute her for failing to inform them of a change of circumstances.

HMRC, along with other public authorities, is under a legal obligation to deal with peoples' affairs in a timely manner. However, the point at which it ceases to be dealing with a person's affairs in a timely manner is 13 weeks and becomes extracting the urine is 13 weeks and 1 day. If a public authority cannot give a definitive reason as to why they are taking longer than 13 weeks to deal with a person's affairs, potentially, they are acting unlawfully.

You might wish to get in touch with your MP who can insert the toe of their boot up the backside of the relevant Minister or Secretary of State.

[Liam88]

Re: Child Tax Credits drama

Hi all,

Update to this, we're in the 16th week of his claim and I had a call on Tuesday to say that a decision had been reached that It had been decided i am not the main carer and that the mother still is, despite us both filling in a form over a month ago at the same time in the same room clearly stating that I have been the child's main carer since the 10th March this year. I had two options given to me by a lady from the extra support department at the hmrc, either I can appeal the decision or i can get get the mother to now ring up (which she couldn't beforeas it was in a decisions process) and notify them that she isn't the main carer any more which would solve the matter instantly BUT I would have to reclaim and could only get 4 weeks backdated, I told her this was nonsense and said I would get the mother to ring them and notify them she hasn't been the child's main carer since March 10th and then instructed the lady from hmrc that I also wanted this appealing for the full money owed from 10th March, she said she would ring me back yesterday but hasn't, il leave it till 3 pm and then contact them, thing is over the course of these 16 weeks I've ran up a phone bill to hmrc of over £200 and still counting so I won't be settling for 4 weeks money which would about cover the phone call costs..

It's been a very stressful 4 months, I finally got around to sending a letter of complaint to them last Monday as 3 out of 4 times when I rang their call centre I was lied to or misinformed which was verified as such by the next person I rang which I was adding to the stress.

[bluebottle]

Re: Child Tax Credits drama

Liam,

I feel it might be prudent for you to speak to your MP about your experiences with HMRC. Their attitude and conduct is wholly unacceptable. This may need to be investigated by the Parliamentary Ombudsman if HMRC continues to push you from pillar to post.

[Liam88]

Re: Child Tax Credits drama

Hi bluebottle, I think that's a good idea aswell, thing is there's a lot more detail to all this aswell, they've made a right mess of this and aggrevated the situation by fobbing me off with lies and misinformation, iv always made every phone call and letter/form crystal clear as to the situation and even had the mother write to them stating "dad is sons main carer and has been since the 10th of march" so how the hell can they make a decision which goes against what we both say and then there's the matter of them paying the mother still when she's made attempt after attempt of trying to notify them of the change of circumstances, she has actually put into writing that she isn't responsible for the child and they still wanted to pay her?

How would I go about contacting my mobile and which one etc? Much appreciated.

[Kati]

Re: Child Tax Credits drama

Liam88,

use this to find out who your MP is ... http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/ - you just put in your postcode :tinysmile_grin_t: