Update: I telephoned 2 weeks ago demanding this be sorted out that day as I was tired of being fobbed off, only to be told by a young lad that he was passing my case back down to my local IR Office for an urgent review. I Waited a week and telephoned again to be told that they had passed it down as agreed but there was no update as yet. Then the day after I had called my local office wrote me a letter stating that the Childrens Tax Relief claims were currently being looked into and if I needed any further advice then I could contact them on a new number. This morning they sent me another letter and it states (after almost 6 months and at least 10 phone calls) that my husband received the money as part of his tax code for both years in question. The lady says that If I dispute this then its up to us to prove otherwise within 30 days or she will close the case. Now this is where I am stuffed, because I am sure I sent the p45's off to them initially as requested and now I don't have them, and they said they haven't go them either. I am 80% sure that we havent received this benefit during 02/03 as previously 2 seperate operators in Yprkshire have told me that we didn't receive it, and one of them even gave me the breakdown of what I would be getting. Now I feel this is a ploy to put me off but I need to know if there is a way I can obtain duplicate p45's for the tax years 2001/2 and 2002/3 Thanks

Hi all, It's been a while since I've had chance to pop in so I'll just update you. Last week received a payment into the back under DWP LIS, I guess this is the backdated incapacity benefit they owe us from january to now. We then received a backdated DLA payment aswell as we appealed the inital DLA decision to only award one component at the lowest rate, and that was successful so this is also for the mobility component at the lowest rate. Also, we have just received another backdated payment again under the DWP LIS heading, I believe this is for backdated income support that was given to us at the reduced rate of 80% while the appeal was going on. We still arent 100% sure of the figures we will be getting as they are in the final stages of being looked at, but I am fairly sure we will be getting the Incapacity benefit, income support, child tax credit at maximum less a figure for overpayment, plus dla every 4 weeks.

I'm back again lol. Yesterday we had 2 failed payments, (I know i'm totally at fault as I should have cancelled them but i didnt realise the date). So Natwest have bounced both of them and replaced them with their own charge of £76. All I want to know is if there is a head office number for Natwest, because when I look online it seems that you have to call the local branch (who were totally unhelpful the first time). As I said before, we have been so careful to keep within our limits, but we are still waiting on the DWP backdating our Incapacity Benefit and DLA claim. (My hubby has had strokes and is unfit for work). They said we were entitled to it going back to February, when they stopped it in the first place in error, but theyre taking such a long time to work out the figures and meanwhile we are on the reduced rate of Income support, and child tax credit but nothing else, and as a family of 5 its a bit hard some weeks to get everything paid. Thanks

I phoned again yesterday to ask what was happening with my claim. The operator said that there was unfortunately still no update on her screen. But she could see that I had called on May 2nd and had been advised to call back in 4-6 weeks, so she said she would telephone the department and ask if they could hurry it through (pity they didnt hurry it through when they got it on Jan 25th lol). So still no cheque for me either.

Here, there is a thread in the Utilities: Gas & water section of this site that might help you a little: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/utilities-gas-electricity-water/100405-utilities-trust-fund.html May not be what you're lucking for and I've never used any of them but have a read anyway.

Well done, glad to hear you got it sorted out.

And come to think of it, I neither have received my copy of documents from the DWP despite their 40 days notice passing.

Hi Patrick. After speaking to the Dr he has received no forms from the DWP at all, all the information he has been given has come from us, and him reading our letters from the DWP, Jobcentres etc. He wrote the appeal letter for us (charge of £14 per letter), and yesterday we received a letter from the DWP saying that 'we have received your appeal, please grant us 11 weeks to get back to you with an answer'. Also, when we phoned the council last week to ask how much longer the Incapacity Backpayment was likely to take, the lady said that our case had had to be rebuilt from scratch, as it was quite complex, and that somebody was dealing with it at that very moment, but she didnt know how long it would take, as they don't work to any time limits. She also said, that it wasn't like we had been left without any money because we were still in receipt of our IS and CTC!! Yeah, I know that, but I wouldn't mind them hurrying up with the £800 or so that has to be backdated!! Incapacity benefit is several pounds higher than IS so I wish they'd hurry up with it. Why dont these people have any given time frame to work to, it's about time that they did. It would be a damn sight better if they had someone standing behind them giving them a good kick up the backside cos blimey, most of them need it. Anyway, rant over lol

On a website called lone parent it said this: " PARENTS WHO LIVE ABROAD The CSA has no power to pursue NRP's (Non resident parent) for maintenance if they do not live in the U.K. unless the NRP works for a British company abroad and is paid via a U.K. payroll, or works for the British Armed Forces, a U.K Local Authority, U.K National Health Service, U.K Civil Service abroad. Otherwise the CSA will cancel a child maintenance assessment if the NRP has left the country. The PWC would in this instance need to pursue child maintenance through the courts."

Just an update on mine, I phoned our MP case worker again and asked her to look into this and see why it's taking so long, as it has been 4 months now and each time I call them I get no further forward. She has assured me she will call them and see what is going on but I havent had any feedback yet. Has anyone else actually received a cheque yet?

Still no joy with mine and its been 4 months now. I have spoken on the telephone with my MP's case worker and she is looking into it but I have had no feedback from her yet. I also faxed a complaint for them to deal with but that'll probably take another 2 weeks to be put on the system aswell!! I will post when I hear anything back from the MP. Have any of the people who sent letters around the same time as me (January) heard or recieved anything yet??? Thanks.

I dont know if this works for all companies, but with CTC I have sent them a SARN request which is just a letter asking that they send me ALL details of my account, including phone calls etc. This is invaluable if you need to file a complaint against them, as I am doing with Child Tax credits presently as due to their incompetence of paying me into an old account aswell as sending me giros they were making double payment, so they are now claiming I was overpaid, even though I obviously never got the money from the old bank account so who knows where that went. Heres a draft of my letter, it is free to request the info, and they have 40 days to comply. It would just prove that you did send the documents in in the first place, as they arent allowed to amend or alter any of the records. DATA COMPLIANCE OFFICER Their address Ref; (your child ben number) Data Protection Act 1998 Subject Access Request Dear Sir or Madam, Please would you supply me with a complete list of personal data you hold on me. You should be aware that personal data can be held in written information, e-mails, electronic documents, photographs, CCTV images, telephone conversations and include recorded opinions about, or intentions regarding myself. Additionally, where there has been any event in the account history over this period which has required any manual intervention by any member of your staff or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention in relation to my account. If you are unable to supply the information in relation to manual intervention because there has been no such manual intervention, then please be kind enough to confirm this in your response to this request. This is my request to access ALL the data held by you and any other company associated with you about myself. You should be fully aware of the statutory obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 and that any failure to comply with this request could result in a contravention of the said act. You have 40 Days in which to comply. Yours sincerely Mrs XXXXXX

HM Revenue & Customs: How to complain to the Child Benefit Office I would send a letter to the directors complaints team, or even fax your complaint as it would be quicker (libraries cost about a quid), saying that their ineptitude has caused you financial hardship and you want this sorted out asap or you will complain to the Ombudsman. The exact same thing happened to us, but it was with tax credits rather than child ben, but even so we were left without ctc for 8 weeks due to them paying it into a frozen account. We demanded cash giro payments whilst they sorted it out, and they did agree to this so it might be worth a go. Hope it helps a bit

very crafty, and the big kick in the teeth is that we wereonly overdrawn by £2.45

my goodness, so we have another one to come aswell, how can they charge twice for the same item, when they havent paid it in the first place.

I posted cos I was rather annoyed (well a lot annoyed) when it happened yesterday and I needed to let off steam. Since moving to Natwest we have been extra careful not to incur ANY charges whatsoever, until someone else's ck up causes us too. I will be onto the Income Support folks but their argument will be that the payment was sent out on the Saturday and it's not their fault. I can see it a mile off. The IS Should have gone into the bank on the Thursday but they will manage to wriggle out of it. As I have already paid the charge I will just need to reclaim it using the normal steps. Is this standard with natwest that they take the charge the same day. I havent come across this before as with Abbey I used to get a statement giving me a date for about two weeks in advance of when the charges would be taken.

Thanks. I do know the procedure lol, Abbey were real buggers, they put up a gargantuan fight but as someone said before, that was to my benefit cos I got extra interest!! I asked nicely in Natwest but the bloke was rather rude to be honest, he said funds should have been there to cover it, I mentioned the bank charges fiasco and court and he just said: "Do whatever you want to us, take us to court" then he turned his back on me and walked away. The most rude person i have ever spoken to in my life.

Hi all, My hubby has been on benefits since suffering 2 strokes, and for the last 4 months they have really messed him about with his benefits, totally stopping his Incapacity, then giving us a smaller amount of IS while everythiing was looked into. Then last Thursday we awoke to find no income support had gone in, so it left us about £30 to live off all week. We phoned and they said it had been automatically frozen due to a bank of england interest rise and she was sorry that it hadn't been re-started automatically. She eventually sent us a giro but with it being a bank holiday we couldnt get it into the bank until Tuesday. However, on Tuesday our Severn Trent Water D/D came out, and obviously put us overdrawn by £25. Today I have looked and they have bounced the DD but taken their own charge of £38.00!!!!! How can they do this within 1 day, their charge is more than what the Direct Debit was for in the first place. This is the first time we have ever incurred a charge with them. I'm disgusted so here's me starting my thread just incase this sets us off on a downward spiral of charges!

Thanks for all your help Patrick. This afternoon we received a hand written letter which I suspected was going to be more bad news, but it was actually the opposite for once. It seems that we have WON our appeal to have our Incapacity Benefit re-instated. The letter reads: We have looked again at our decision. You asked us to look again at a decision about Incapacity Benefit issued to you on 18/01/08 and 05/03/08. We have looked again at the facts and evidence we used to make our decision. As a result we have changed the decision. * You are now entitled to £138.55 a week from 18/01/08 to 09/04/08. * You are now entitled to £143.95 a week from 10/04/08 to --------. Arreas of benefit will be caluclated and your benefit re-instated as soon as possible. We had sent the initial letter asking for a review, then an appeal letter, and I also sent another one confirming it WAS an appeal letter when they replied stating that the Appeal word hadn't been used (even though it had been several times!). With the second appeal letter we also enclosed the letter written by the Dr and specialist. So it seems they eventually do agree that he isnt fit for work. Shame about all the stress that has been caused because of their incompetence in the first place. I have still requested all information that the DWP hold on my husbands medical state, I am awaiting this being sent. I also still plan to file the complaint you mentioned as I am not happy with this having happened in the first place, even though the outcome at the moment seems quite promising.

we asked for her help regarding my other post and she's done nothing at all. I have been advised to write to her opposition but I havent done so yet.

shes about as much use as you know what

Further to my post on 16th April I am STILL waiting on my cheque. I phoned again yesterday and evetually somebody answered and she kept checking different details etc, then when she came back to the phone she said Leeds have got a processing backlog of between 4-6 weeks due to having to deal with claims from this year first. She said I shouldn't have been given a timescale in the first place. Needless to say I wasn't happy so grudgingly she gave me the address of Leeds for where to send my complaint. Who else is there that you can complain about the service (or lack of) from these people, surely theres got to be somebody who they answer to cos I would like to get in touch with them aswell. Thanks

In reply to post 25 I found this little bit of info a while ago when i was looking for figures etc: Youth Information Child Tax Credit (CTC) It does mention families with seperate parents, etc. Hope it gives you a little bit of info. Kerrie

Sorry One more Q!! Also as the carer's rate has been given, does anyone know if my hubby will be moved back on to Incapacity Benefit because of this new development. (Oh yes) he also has his Pathways to work interview tomorrow morning (for 4 hours) so I will post again with the outcome of that.

Hi Folks. Finally got the DLA decision this morning and as we expected, they have missed several points out. For a start they put You are NOT at risk of: dizzy spells, blackouts, collapsing. They have also got several other small bits of info wrong. Basically he has been granted the lowest rate of care that they give at £17.10 per week backdated for the last 12 weeks. My hubby also had a Dr's appointment this afternoon and the doc isn't happy with what he read so he has said he would write another appeal letter to them (lol). Hubby will be taking the letter to the CAB as soon as he can get an appoinment so that our finaces can get sorted out a bit more. We were told that DLA would be granted, but from what I read DLA hasn't been granted but a carers rate has been given instead. I am unsure as to whether we can appeal this, cos as least they have granted us something. We dont' really know if he was entitled to anything higher. Also there is no mential of being partially sighted on their letter?? Would this change anything.