It Is So Wrong ....

Reproduced from the TCC Forum, with kind permission of 'romanirai'.


Thank Goodness for Finding TCC !! It has given us some much needed help as really I was at a total loss how to begin tackling an Appeal !!

However we still seem to be no further forward several months on with my husband nearly having a nervous breakdown !!

When we first became aware that we had a problem with our Tax Credits back in June this year, like so many people who have been faced with the prospect of a supposed large overpayment, at first it was total disbelief at how could this have possibly happened. When I had done all the paperwork so carefully and I thought correctly, since 2002 when my husband first applied for Disabled Persons Tax Credits. Then we went into total 'Panic Mode' as the overpayment was in the region of some £8000 !!

As my Husband is disabled, he is only able to work part time self employed, just over the minimum level for Tax Credits and his income is very low. I stopped working at a small part time job to help him and look after my elderly Mother, so we really are on a low income and rely on the Tax Credits.

When I phoned them to ask how this overpayment could have possibly happened and go so far back as 2006, they seemed rather amused that we hadn't realised before, especially as they had stopped paying us a month before I had phoned. Apparently they had taken us off their system completely, so the review we had filled in for payments for this current year wasn't valid at all and we would have to make a completely new application for Tax Credits altogether.

I explained that my husband's work hours etc. had not changed and he was still working just the same and nothing had changed, except that he had been advised to apply for Pension Credit as he was over 60 and on a low income, to make up his income to an Applicable amount.

I had checked that he was allowed to receive Working Tax Credits and Pension Credits at the same time. His Pension Credit took into account the amount of Tax Credits we were supposed to have received !! He fills in a Tax Return each year with his Self Employed earnings anyway. This was sent in each year with the Annual Review up until he received the Pension Credit, the forms then indicated that if he was on Pension Credit he didn't need to send in his Self Employed earnings with it.

Tax Credits were informed when he started to receive Pension Credit. The only explanation they could give me when I phoned to ask what had gone wrong, was that when I had advised them about a year ago that I had given up my small job that I had for 2 hours a week they had accidentally recorded that my husband had stopped his work as well !!

How can this happen when one keeps filling in Annual Reviews and one keeps receiving back Award Notices that one reads and thinks are correct. It is truly hard to believe that there is no process in place to advise people that there is any kind of a problem with their claims until years later. It is truly disgusting !!

I have followed the advice from TCC and requested a SAR pack [and found lots of mistakes in dates of births etc.]. However that was at the beginning of September and I haven't had a disc yet with the recordings of telephone conversations. How long should I have to wait or do I have to request this separately ?

And so it goes on !! Having filled in a totally new claim form for Tax Credits months ago and not hearing a word of acknowledgement from them at all and keep thinking the Appeal might be affecting it. I phoned in desperation several weeks ago to be told the application hadn't even been processed yet, as the dates of birth for my husband on the form didn't match up with their records !!

Their record was wrong again, although I had in the past notified them the correct date !!

Again, no one advises you there is a problem, you are just left to worry !! Several weeks on I still haven't heard anything. Our only income since June is a small amount of Pension Credit, my husband has been so worried by all this he isn't able to work. How long does it take to get a response from the enquiry?

As you suggested I wrote a short letter with the Appeal Form. Should I now go through the whole SAR pack and point out every mistake they have made in the past and send that to them, or wait for a reply from them ?

Any information or advice would be appreciated.

It is so wrong that all this begins to 'take over ones life' !!

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