General Chat

jean apology accepted.sorry to hear about your mum.take care lisax

The CSA have a lot to answer for,,, My husband received a letter saying that someone had named him as the'probable' father of their child. When he rang them ., he was told that the claimant couldnt give an address for the father,,just a name so they targetted all men of that name throughout the country hoping that they would get the right one, What a bloody set up..!!!Fortunalty we have a good partnership and i trust my husband but i can imagine how this could cause terrible upset in some families. I think that majority of people in these offices have no idea how to deal with humans,,,they are just porgrammed with standard answers like,,' i hear what you are saying'...How many of you have heard that one,,?

As a finance professional I would say that the whole tax and benefits system has got so complicated over the last few years that even professionals are having trouble understanding it. And the inefficiency is incredible. For example: Why tax people earning £90 a week and then employ people to give it back? Why calculate N I contributions on a weekly basis but tax on an annual basis? Why divide benefits into contribution-related and non-contributory then pay virtually identical awards in either case, albeit with a different name? The thing smells of gerrymandering on a massive scale with both claimants and government employees administering the system having a vested interest in the status quo.

Message for Donna Jarrett Donna, I know this may sound hard but if your hubby is paying for his ex's mortgage and it is not taken into account by the CSA - then he should stop paying it. I know he would want to keep a roof over his children's heads but the CSA make the judgement of what his ex needs to provide for the children including housing. If his ex finds things difficult if he did stop paying the mortgage then perhaps she would then stop spongeing off him and the state and get herself a job. My husband and I split when my 3 boys were reasonably young, youngest was 7 and I stopped working part time and got a full time job instead. It was difficult but with the help of family and friends managed fine. Your hubby's ex should get out there and help support her children instead of relying on others. Janet

My daughter has had problems with tax credit they sent her a letter claiming £690 back because they said she had been claiming for 2 children when on their records she only has one she has two teenagers She pointed this out to them and they said they would search the records and get back to her A few days later another letter arrived to say they agreed yes she has 2 Children and the amount owing had reduced after many letters &'phone calls they finally admitted they had made an error The eldest one who is 16 is going to college in Septmber so she duly filled the form accordingly and this week she got a letter to say that no payments can be made for him until he actually starts in September and would she please inform them 14 days before he is due to start They will then activate payment and any out standing amounts will be paid to her at the end of the financial year Bren

jean i think it is a little unfair to say we are whining .my husband is in a middle class job works bloody hard and has to travel to london every day to earn this money. i have a child of twelve and have worked from the age of sixteen i am now thirty three.i am not whining just stating a fact that this tax credit system and the people that work for them are very incompitant.i can understand that you are going through a hard time at the moment but thats no reason to take it out on us who have grievences against the tax office!

deborah'in my experience it wasn't my fault that i was classed as someone else thats down to the tax office.half the time they don't know what there doing.to blame joe bloggs for your mistakes is wrong.what are you getting paid for

hi i for one think the whole of the benefits system needs a overhaul, i have just been turned down yet again for disability benefit dispite having a blue badge issued to me,take loads of pills have arthritus in neck spine and knees and have a walking stick,and a drs report they say i can walk to far and lift 2lb sugar, so i don't need any extra money for help.even though i can't mow the lawn and one of my adult kids come shopping with me. and on bad days can be in bed.and i live alone, i worked for 30yrs since i was 12 and never claimed until ill 2 half years ago. i know loads of people with the same condition and they get it. thats my moan sandra

Spot on Deb, Jean very harsh and uncalled for. Sorry for your situation, I know it's hard when family members need to be cared for, I care for my parents, and Aunty, and until my husband recovered sufficiently from his stroke, him too and my children. When I had my children, I chose not to work, they became my job, so to speak, and as Debbie said I didn't ask for these tax credits, we were encouraged to apply for them and then got all sorts of stress thrown at us. My husband would be better off on the sick, but he needs to work, for his own self respect and sanity, he is not and never has been a stay at home man. So we are not whining, I could say the same for you when you complain you can only get £45 a week, which I assume is Carers Allowance, for looking after your mother. We are just putting our side across, regarding the unthought out tax credits, and yes you are entitled to your opinion of course, but it didn't have to be in such a nasty way. And yes you are right I wasn't made to have my children, we had them because they were wanted and planned and my husband has always worked damned hard to keep them and now my son is taking his AS levels, my daughter is working in local government and taking a part time degree and I am very proud of them, thank you very much. Rant ended. M.

Jean Why cant we Whine on, the thing is when I had my children I never expected anything. But then government starts going on about all the different Tax Credits, and to apply and see what your entitled to . Well I am not going to say no if they are offering. What people are moaning about is they offer it but when you claim it there are so many stupid forms to fill in, and if something goes wrong like Deborah earlier said you should check your forms properly cause it's us that are making the mistakes but most of the time its the Tax office. Off my soap box now Debbie

Sue Thie is very similar to what happened to my daughter. my comment to the government is, " get the benefits etc that are already set up, working correctly before you introduce others" The staff involved have not had the correct training obviously.

My daughter is a single parent and was working until last May. She was claiming Working Families Tax Credit, which she was entitled to, paid into her bank-no problems. She had to give up her job through no fault of her own, and phoned Inland Revenue to tell them she would no longer be working. She was told that as she had been awarded the tax credits, it lasted for the year whether or not she was working. She queried this on more than one occassion, and was told it was correct. Last October her benefits were suddenly reduced without warning to £73 per week from about £125. When she phoned the helpline she was told as she had been overpaid she had to pay them back out of her benefits. This was through no fault of hers, but still she had to pay back the overpayments which were over £400. She almost had a breakdown over this and if it wasn't for us helping out with food, clothes etc. I don't know what would have happened. Now her son is at school, she wants to get another job, but is frightened to in case something similar happens again. She has always worked since she left school, and doesn't like to be thought a 'sponger', but I can understand her worries. Sue

When we first claimed child and working tax credit, my husband was in work, after he had his stroke, I contacted the Inland Revenue to inform them he was not entitled to the working tax credit. Both letters I sent were ignored, in all I made over 50 phone calls to helpline and got absolutely nowhere. Payments went into the bank for my husband, even though he was no longer working. I ended up contacting a complaints department and was assured it would be sorted, next thing, my child tax credit is reduced, without warning. It turns out the payments my husband had received were taken out of my child tax credit, I appealed against this last September and I am still waiting to have the appeal heard, even though I was assured it would be sorted in four months. My husband started back to work in March, on a six months scheme for the disabled and we are still waiting for his payments to resume, and I have read every award, letter, filled in and returned the yearly review. Tax credit people think it's so funny that in all we have received over 40 tax credit awards, all different. Things were much easier and less stressful when we had working families tax credits. I never become abusive, but one girl on the helpline was downright insolent, accused me of lying on my forms, I ended up in tears, which I don't do very often, but she knew she could get away with it, because I only had her first name. A supervisor tried his best to find out who she was, but couldn't. Most of our awards have gone to pay our telephone bill. M.

No-one can accuse the Inland Revenue of competence.

"Children's tax credit - You've Earned it" --- BUT we are not going to give you any. My crime -- I worked hard, got good qualifications, put in the time and effort to progress in my career, chose to continue working when my children were born, am married to someone with a similar attitude to work. I have no objection to paying extra tax to pay for services or payments for those in need. I accept that I was lucky to be born with certain abilities. But what really bugs me is that I am doing what this government wants by working and contributing to the economy, but they chose to penalise me for it. I get no free nursery education (yes you can get the vouchers - but the nurseries won't take them), no afterschool clubs and now no children's tax credit. I was brought up to believe that by working hard you did the best for both your family and the country. The message I'm getting at the moment is -- you work hard and we'll tax you to the hilt -- but don't expect anything in return. Ann

Deb, As soon as I got the letter I phoned to sort it out, I hadnt changed my details, I had no need to, but for some reason they had been changed for me. They had the details of my last contact with them which had been months previously. It was all very peculiar, and no one could give a reason why it had been done. All my details where correct, they hadnt been given any false information, just some how doubled our income, from their end. But not to worry all is ok now, and I wasnt abusive to them I have worked in a call centre and know what it is like, but you can get your point across and let them know that you are ****** off without being rude or swearing. Maggie. PS I wouldnt like to do your job at all, I bet you must get some right mouthfulls of people.

We get the working tax credit and child tax credits. Everything was ticking along quite nicely when all of a sudden I got a review notice from them. They had reduced our credits by a huge amount. Reading through the letter and not being able to understand why they had done this. I then noticed the bit where it details your earnings. Someone had been messing with the buttons on the computor cos they had put me and my husband down as both earning excactly the same amount of money. Seeing has I hadnt worked for a couple of years and still dont I wasnt best pleased. The resulting phone bollcking sorted it out eventually with them giving me back the missing credits but no reason as to why they had decided that we both worked and earn precisely the same amount.....very strange. Maggie

When I claimed child tax credit for my 2 children when it first came out I was sent a letter accusing me of making them up - even though I had been paid child benefit for both and have both birth certs. When I argued, I was told that I was fraudulently claiming from an address I didn't live at, even though I've been in my current house for 12 years and all my tax coding notices are sent there. It has only just sorted itself out a year on.

when it comes to the inland revenue.they are incompitant.anyone else had problems well to start with alittle but that was to be expected.but in the past three months they have really cocked up.three months ago got a phone call to tell my husband that he was married to someone else and it certainly wasn't me so we assumed they had amended the details.then i get my tax credit review back with my husband and his national insurance number and this lady again.she had a foreign name and according to them lived in surrey with my national insurance number.why is the tax office so eager to get things right when it comes to thir money and details but when it's jo bloggs they couldn't care less.