Thread: Child Benefit and Tax Credits

Dear All,

Can anyone help with my claim for Child Benefit and Tax Credits.

I've been seperated for 4 years and now divorced for 18 months, I'm co-habiting with my girlfriend who is great and we look after my 3 kids at home for half the week and with my ex-wife who has them the other half the week, each and every week. I also send about £160 per month in support of a child I have who lives abroad.

I'm currently an unemployed IT Project Manager and Solution Architect looking for work, and for some time (4 years since my seperation) it has been a major financial problem for me that I am not entitled to Child Benefit or Tax Credits, according to all the Benefits Agencies I've spoken to over that period.

My ex-wife has always received Child Benefit and Tax Credits, yet despite the fact we have to pay for two separate households, provide two sets of accommodation, clothes, toys, transport, sports, entertainment etc, I have been told by HMRC today "Only 1 parent can receive these benefits."

I decided to make a Child Benefit claim recently dated 08/09/09, and I would like to know if I should claim Tax Credits now, or wait for the outcome of my Child Benefit claim?

I called HMRC today about my Child Benefit claim... In summary they said "the claim will take 3 months for a decision, it is a "Rival Claim" despite the fact we are two distinct parents with equal entitlement as single parents (there is only an insignificant (compared to the cost of providing two entire households) saving of food and light each week), only one parent can claim Child Benefit and Tax Credits, there is no escalation possible, appeal or accelerated process for cases of poverty or hardship (people who are unemployed and/or in debt)."

To me this is a violation of my Human Rights to family life and should be actioned. There must be thousands of parents in my position who have endured benefit discrimination for years and it must stop.

Can anyone help, advise or sends links to progress my claim?

Would anyone wish to join me in a class action against HMRC as the amount they owe me is up to £40K? Incidentally about equal to the amount of debt I have had to run up in the last 4 years, in the absence of normal state benefits for families with children. If I'd received these benefits that other parents enjoy, I would either not be in debt or would have considerably lower debts.

In anticipation, thank you all for your support and comments.

For your guidance I've done a rough calculation of my entitlement with my 3 kids based in my UK home, on current benefit levels...

4 years of seperation is 208 weeks with £20 for the first child and £13.20 for each other child per week = £4,160.00 for my first child + £5,491.00 for my 2 other children = £9,651.00 I'm owed... Ouch!

It gets even more serious with Tax Credits... I called HMRC two weeks ago and over the phone they calculated my weekly entitlement based on me being currently unemployed... Would you believe it's £182.00 per week.

Now assuming I've been unable to find work for half the last 4 years, which I'll need to calculate, that's 208 weeks divided by 2 x £182.00 = £18,928 minimum I am owed in Tax Credits... Very big ouch!

A total minimum of £28,579 I'm missing in state benefits for families with children...

Does anyone know an accurate calculation for this given earnings and periods of no employment?

Now let's look at the national picture...

There's about 280,000 single fathers with kids at home... The average family is now 1.8 children so Child Benefit entitlement is £20 x 1 + 0.8 x £13.20 = £30.56 per week Child Benefit for average fathers.

Now this next calculation is very rough so I'm taking a basic proportion compared to my actual Tax Credits quote from HMRC... £182.00 divided by 1.8 national average kids x 3 my kids = £109.20 per week national average Tax Credits per week for average single fathers.

Now if every claim is on average 4 years like mine, and on average there's work for half the time and unemployment for the remainder, that's 208 weeks x £30.56 Child Benefit = £6,356.48 Child Benefit arrears per average father x 280,000 UK fathers = £1.78bn in missing Child Benefit nationally, for Tax Credits that's 208 weeks divided by 2 x £109.20 = £11,336.00 in Tax Credit arrears per father x 280,000 UK fathers = £3.174bn in missing Tax Credits.

These figures were staggering for me when I realised and nationally I'm not surprised these claims are being deliberately surpressed.

Many thanks to all.