Tax credits

James

Because you are responsible for one persons claim, whether it is tax payable or tax credits. They are responsible for millions of people.

I used to work in, and latterly manage a dole office, it was not uncommon for a complex case or manual tax rebate to take one officer a whole day to calculate. Naturally these places are not staffed to deal with one claim per officer a day so there was almost inevitably a backlog.

The systems are so complicated and labour intensive,the training inadequate and the staffing so tight that I always felt we were never able to give the public the service they deserved. I'm not saying there aren't lazy people employed there who need "strong management" (and members of the public who think it is acceptable to verbally or physically abuse the staff and are then surprised when they get short shrift in response) but on the whole the people who work in these places do want to provide a good service, but the govt haven't always spent taxpayers money in the places that is going to get the public the best service.

The other thing to add to hwat Ursa Majors comments is that frequently the IT sytems arent up to scratch which then create lots of work for staff as they create errors. There was a phase early on with TCs that they used to have to tell people that they couldnt report more than one change at once and people would have to ring back the next day to report another change because the computers couldnt cope with it.

Particularly in TCs there are also staff training issues. If you call them 99% of them will say CB is a condition that has to be met to get CTC and/or additions on claims when it isnt. Without the right support/IT/Training it can make life seriously hard work for people on the ground eg on the helpline



RIch

And a few Job Centre staff that think it is ok to verbally abuse the claimant. I had one guy in the Job Centre make offensive remarks to me but that seems to be ok.
Had I done the same to him I would have been thrown out and my claim stopped.

Thanks to all of you who have replied your advice is invaluable and has put my mind at rest.
I also decided it was time to get tough and have made that call to the CSA thanks guys. I can now sleep tonight.

Lissy xx

Hi,

Just thought I would throw in a few thoughts to help put your mind at ease.

Child Tax Credits are normally paid to 'The Parent With Care', the easiest way for HMRC to determine this is by paying it to the parent that holds the CB book.

The fact that your children spend at most a couple of nights a week at 'dad's' house is neither here or there - so should not affect your claim in any way, nor will it allow him to make a claim.

You can try to reach an agreement without a full blown CSA order, or go for a full CSA claim.

Be strong, your kids deserve it, and so do you.

TUF

Thanks Tuf your advice is much appreciated. I have gone on noe for over two years suporting my 3 children on my own without any financial support from their Dad. I don't relish the prospect of going down the CSA route at all but your right my children and myself do deserve it its about time I stopped being soft!!
Lissy x

It is just unfortunate that your claim for child maintenance will only be dated from the day you make you claim.

When I claimed in March I didn't hear anything so rang back in May. They had "lost" my claim so I had to do the whole process again.

I have made an official complaint as I have now lost 2 months worth of backpayments.

I would therefore recommend you make a note of the person fullname and the date and time you called - just in case.

Good luck

Mumsty