Can someone please help me understand whether we'd be eligible for tax credits? I'm currently on maternity leave with my second and final child (not directly relevant to question). I work four days a week - 28 hours - in my job, earning £27000ish, pro rated to £23300. I want to apply for a job which is 14 hours, earning £34000, pro rated to £13800. My husband works full time for £23300: In the new job, I would be paying over £700 a month for a two day / two child nursery space. So: Four day job - household income £46600ish, childcare £1420 Two day job - household income £37100, childcare £710 Entitledto seems to suggest that we wouldn't get any tax credit help because I would only be working 14 hours - but if I call it 16 hours on the same income, we'd get £86 a week. So 2 hours is the difference between us being eligible for nearly £400 a month? Please don't think I am expecting the system to pick up the tab for our choice to have children, and my current wish to reduce my hours. I am trying to find the best way to develop my career, while also spending more time caring for my children. It's a department head role which would allow me to progress to director - i.e. higher tax rate - roles in the future once the kids are at school - so I will be contributing back to the system!

Hi Ladies and Gents, I just wanted to make you aware how quickly Working Tax Credit takes to sort. I notified HMRC on Tuesday 10th last week of my new status and I received my award notice yesterday with first interim payment in my bank on 16th. With all further payments adjusted in tandem with my Child Tax Credit on the 26th. I have trawled the net to find out time span and couldn't find out anything. So this will be the current state of play it seems. Hope this helps anyone for information.

I have read a number of threads relating to Nurses who work in an assessment or advisory roll for ATOS. I enclose a copy of parts of their code of conduct which clearly state there duties to people under their care. The following are the Nursing and Midwifery council rules for record keeping Record keeping: Guidance for nurses and midwives • 42. You must keep clear and accurate records of the discussions you have, the assessments you make, the treatment and medicines you give and how effective these have been • 43. You must complete records as soon as possible after an event has occurred • 44. You must not tamper with original records in any way • 45. You must ensure any entries you make in someone's paper records are clearly and legibly signed, dated and timed • 46. You must ensure any entries you make in someone's electronic records are clearly attributable to you • 47. You must ensure all records are kept securely ________________________________________ This section relates to the nurses Duty of Care Duty of Care • 32. You must act without delay if you believe that you, a colleague or anyone else may be putting someone at risk • 33. You must inform someone in authority if you experience problems that prevent you working within this code or other nationally agreed standards • 34. You must report your concerns in writing if problems in the environment of care are putting people at risk This section relates to Competence • 38. You must have the knowledge and skills for safe and effective practice when working without direct supervision • 39. You must recognise and work within the limits of your competence • 40. You must keep your knowledge and skills up to date throughout your working life • 41. You must take part in appropriate learning and practice activities that maintain and develop your competence and performance In a number of recent treads Nurses have submitted reports based on assessments that have had major differences to the recordings. I refer you to the section on record keeping. Nurses have also been made aware of changes made. See second section. One nurse was reportedly acting as a Mental Health Advisor when she was employed by the local council to advise in family planning. Please read the section on competence . The only comment I will make is How are they getting away with it ?

That's helpful, remove my thread so I have to re-type in everything again! Anyone know how to get one of these forms. Website directs me to phone number, phone number directs me to website. (or previous words to that effect)

Hello, I am on here asking for help with for my brother who has started a new job. Me brother is working for a private healthcare company as a Support Worker for a client with Learning Disabilities. His issue is that his shift patterns in my eyes possibly breach HSE/Working Time Directive. The shifts are, Early 07:30-14:30, Late 14:00-21:30 and Nights 21:30-07.30. The night shifts are sleep in shifts where he is paid £40 for the night unless he is needed and then he gets his normal hourly wage. My concerns are that they have told him that there are no breaks during shifts which I understand from the WTD/HSE that a 20 minute uninterrupted break is entitled if a worker works 6 hours. Further, they state that he must work a Late shift 14:00-21:30, directly followed by a night shift 21:30-07:30 (sleep in or working depending on client needs) and then do the early shift as well meaning he would be at his place of work for a little over 24 hours straight. My concern is that this is a breach of the WTD/HSE daily rest period of 11 hours, however I am unsure as the night shift means he could sleep all night or work all night, again it is all dependent on the clients needs. So my question is, what is the legality of this, I have worked in healthcare, learning disabilities and trained as a nurse but never have I even heard of a shift pattern like this.

Hello, I wonder if you can advise? I took a CA and signed on and said that "my contract" had ended, then a letter came today from the JSA stating that my former employer had said that I left voluntarily and I need to fill it in to as "why I left" and send it back to the JSA What should I do? It was a agreement governed by solicitors etc. I thought it was confidential and can not be disclosed to any one. I also have something else to throw in the mix, I started working again and last week have worked more than 16 hours so should I sign off and then if I don't get the hours sign back on again as technically i have a new job now? meaning my former employer will be the agency rather than the company that I worked for which led to the CA. Thanks very much Gav

Hi, My friend is in need of some advice so I am helping her look for a solution She is a care worker for a family, employed by a company to look after a child needing 24hr care There are meant to be at team of 4 working shifts however they can't seem to keep people employed So there are 2 regular careers inc I'm friend and bank staff / agency staff when they can get them My friend only has a 30hr contract but is expected to work 40-50 hours every week and has for over a year now They are doing this so she is not entitled to a full time holiday pay surely this can't be legal What I am looking for is a law which says she is entitled to a new 40 hr contract or full holiday entitlement I really appreciate any help you can provide Action_Man

after a period of self employment then a period of unemployment to aug 2012 where i found employment 4 days per week 6hrs per day min 24 hrs to 30 hrs per week.i was asked about a week ago by local authority benefits section that i was not entitled to housing benefit.but was rather suprised i was not claiming working tax credits my wife does get child tax credits but i dont seem to be getting working tax credits.so when my wifes renewal form came last week i included my earnings for the period enclosed proof of being on benefits and enclosed p60 with forms .total gross earnings £10.903.86p. it said on the form from hmrc they had paid my wife £7593.84p child tax credits.had previouly wrote to hmrc in preston informing them of this employment but had no response from them with regards to working tax credits.so perhaps as they did not reply im not entitled to this help.married man 3 children under 16 yrs in school.so im not sure if im doing this all right here.am i please let me know thank you

Our company has had a long-standing arrangement that staff can work from home, for at least two days a month. After this it is generally at the manager's discretion, but it is very rarely declined on the basis that a home-based employee that is working is better than an employee that is not. I suffer from rapid cycling bipolar disorder, and have on several occasions had to take extra work-from-home days due to anxiety issues preventing me from leaving the house. Our systems are all online, and I can usually be almost as productive. As such, my previous line manager (who now manages the department) always recommended I work from home rather than drag myself in and make things worse, potentially leading to actual time off. The new line manager has now brought in rules for home working; the main one being that 24 hours must be given in all cases. If not, the day must be taken as holiday or sick leave. He has informed me separately that I do not need to give this notice, as I don't usually get this much myself! However, he has also notified me that my performance has to match the rest of the department to 'justify' allowing me to work from home instead of enforced sick or holiday. I appreciate that they are probably allowed to force you not to work, but I just don't understand the logic behind it - surely the company is better off with me working, albeit not in the office, than not working at all?

Ok so first of all I'm not proud of what I've done but I really need help. Last year march I was getting income support and other benefits because I'm a single parent and I have a 5 yr old daughter. I was keen to get out of benefits and start working so I got a job as a trainee beauty therapist. It was not apprenticeship but train while you work so I was given 600 pounds a month as salary and I was working 42 hours a week. After about 2-3 months I had to leave the job but I didn't notify HMRC that I stopped working. I was scared that they would stop paying me working tax credits and child tax credits. I thought I would go back to benefits until I got another job but My employer ( who was giving me 600 p/m) never gave me any pay slips or even p60 That you are meant to get after yo stop working or p 45 or any document. So I was stuck with not applying for benefits and not telling hmrc about stopping work. Now Last month I called HMRC and told them that I have just stopped working ( koz I was done with being scared that they would find out, But now I'm scared that they will still find out . They said ok and the changes will take place in 28 days. Now I'm sooooooo scared that they will find out That i havent worked since 10 months. There must be a system for them to find out right?? Though there was no paper work but my employer took my N.I number before I started working so I believe Im going to be in trouble soon. I also sent HMRC my tax form stating I was working the same. Please don't judge me and just tell me what should I do. I havent heard anythin from HMRC since I told them that I've stopped working. Nothing about an investigation or anything bad. What should I do now? Will they definitely find out that I wasn't working? Or should I just stay quiet and let the matter die as they know I'm not working anymore. Or should I just confess and may be they will b lenient that way Please help me. Thank you so much

This letter was received today. Arrow made contact several months ago to the named person. The debt was registered at another address and wrote to someone with the same name at another address. Arrow were informed that they have never lived at the address and never heard anything since until today.

Hello, I would be very appreciative for any help or direction into a recent debt I've just received. Last Thursday I had a letter from 'advantis' regarding a debt to HMRC for £8347 of which I have no previous correspondence or information. After I picked myself up off the floor I rang the company immediately and was basically told I had over-payments totaling the amount above from 2004. I asked them to allow me time to contact HMRC and see if this is a mistake and I would obviously call them back. Firstly, I'm long term unemployed with no savings currently living at fathers until I can find new accommodation. I have no assets and had to sell my previous home due to debts (cleared) after divorce. I am contacting the HMRC Mon morning to start an appeal process (If that's possible) and pray they have made some kind of mistake. I will also make an apt with the local CAB so I can actually talk face to face with someone or maybe approach a Solicitor. Whilst this process begins I would appreciate and welcome any advice you could suggest, I'm extremely worried the DCA will try to levy my debt against my fathers home just because I'm living there? If the debt stands what help can I get managing it ? Thank you for your time and any assistance you can offer.

Hi there peeps, just a quick couple of questions to see whether I would be in my rights to question my employer on this issue. 1) I work for a very large company and am a part time worker, my two working days a week are monday and tuesdays. On mondays I work 9am-5.30pm. The problem I have is with bank holidays as obviously they always fall on Mondays. We are firstly told anyway that all part-timers who work on a Monday have to book it off as holiday on a compulsory basis but we have been told that we get extra holiday allowance as a result of this? I'm not questioning this part at all, just giving you the full picture! The problem I have is that we are all rota'd in to work one bank holiday a year. The company chooses to have opening hours of 9am-5pm on a bank holiday. All part-timers who work past 5pm on a Monday and are working their scheduled bank holiday have since been told we have to take the extra time after 5pm as holiday or make up the time, even though it is the company choosing to shut early?! This seems extremely unfair to me seeing as I would work until my normal finishing time if I could. I have been part time at this company for 3 years and have never been asked to do this before. I know it seems like a petty thing to argue over seeing as it's just half an hour, but I'm also asking on behalf of other colleagues who usually work til half past 6 or even 7 o clock. The company has taken a strange turn in recent months and where it used to be a nice place to work it is slowly changing for the worse and this is one of the things making it so. It's the principle of it really. Do I have any leverage to say I'm not making the time up or taking holiday seeing as it's the company's choice to shut early not mine? 2) My other question revolves around emergency dependant leave for part time employees. I was half an hour late into work one morning because I had to rush my little boy into the doctors to get some antibiotics as he had a dangerously high fever with tonsillitis. I left him with my MIL and made it to work, yet they are saying at the moment that I am entitled to 4 days emergency dependant leave and have to either take a full days leave or make the time up? I checked in my employee handbook and it says emergency leave for dependants is pro-rata'd in hours for part time employees just the same way holiday is so in my mind this means I should be able to take just the half an hour? It stings a bit as I could've stayed home all day but I made the effort to get in when I didn't want to leave my little boy as he was so unwell and they seem to be getting difficult about it. Anyway sorry about the essay, any advice would be much appreciated!

I remember reading somewhere that if you work for less than 35 hours a week, you're still expected to job hunt. What happens to disabled who can work; but can't work full time to their disabilities? In theory, I could probably work 16 hours a week; but because it would have to be when I can, it's not going to happen.

Hello, My mother died a month ago, I am disabled, my GP advised me to claim ESA and issued me with a "Sick Note" saying I can only work 8 hours. I got sent the summary, and it mentioned my work; but didn't state a wage. So I sent the signature confirming the statement but included a covering letter, in that it stated I earn £262 a month from work and included the sick note signing me off for 3 months but still being able to work 8 hours. As well as my most recent wage slip. DWP then sent me a letter stating I have no income over than DLA. I phoned them and told them this is wrong as I work, so that said that was already on the system. I got sent another award letter saying ESA was backdated to the date Mum died, and the only income I have is DLA. I heard about permitted work; but I assumed that's only the case if you get accepted onto WRAG or SG. I am being paid the full assessment rate of £71 a week. I'm really worried there has been some sort of cock up here and I am going to have to pay back some of the £71 a week. But in my defense I sent letters, wage slips and even a sick note saying I work 8 hours. Does anyone have any experience of a situation like this?

I usually earn £15400 per year, last year my employer gave us all a consolidated one of pay rise of £950, this will make my annual income over the threshold for working tax credits. I will not get be getting this payment again and for tax year 2013-2014 my pay will drop back down to normal. What should i do as i cant afford to lose my working tax credits, understand i will have been overpaid for last year and happy to pay back. But cant afford to lose full entitlement as on my own with 2 kids.

Hi all, I am new to this so please bear with me. My wife & I are both unemployed and every two weeks we have to go to Working Links to search for jobs, (as though we don't do this every day at home). We have always had £6. traveling expenses paid to us, but since the middle of January we have to hand in a petrol VAT receipt to claim the £6 expenses. We have been told it has to be a VAT receipt so that they can claim the VAT, and if not we will not get our traveling expense. As we live in a remote area we are unable to use public transport and so have to go by car. Please can anyone confirm if this is correct or even legal for them to be claiming the VAT back?

Hi all and I welcome any advice please I applied for a job back in September last year. I passed the phone interview and a week later went for the personal interview and got the job. I knew there was some weekend work involved but I am a single parent and my children went to their dads every other weekend so I could work every other Saturday. After a month of working there (and knowing my personal circumstances) they put me down to work Sundays and late evenings.I have twins aged 9 and and a 15 year old boy. I told them that these shifts were no good to me and I would have to look for another job. The main manager and another lower manager had a meeting with me about the hours I could work and they agreed that I was a really good worker and they did not want to loose me and they would trial my hours for 3 months and if all worked out then that would be ok. Nothing was signed only verbal. The 20 hours that I could work are 10-5 Monday to Friday and every other Saturday 9-6. This has been working fine for 4 months. My boss said to me today that come the summer I would have to work late evenings and Sundays. This is worrying me because although I have a 15 year old they bicker and I do not like the idea of kids looking after kids. I have a childminder that works until 530 during the week nut does not work at all at the weekends. Any advice I would be grateful for Kindest regards

Hi folks CSA has been in touch and have been given the figures etc on what to pay In regards to amounts, If the Ex who is now engaged (proof in paper) is living with the guy and he has a very successful buildings company Should my payments stay the same even knowing this information ? or would they lower knowing that she is with a new guy earning loads ? Thanks all

Hi all, hope someone can help me out:?: I have been working for my employer for over 2 years working a 12 noon - 8pm shift. I am the carer of my parents who are old and unwell (Father has had 2 heart attacks in the last 6 months and my mother has parkinson's disease) I have been forced to work 9am - 5pm as part of the business needs with only one day notice from monday gone. I have told my manager there is nobody else to look after my parents in the mornings as I am the only child still living at home. My sister in law who is currently working part time (after recovering from cancer and being off work for over a year) is able to come over and look after them in the afternoon and evenings. I have spoken to my manager and his manager and both have been very unhelpful. A colleague of mine who is the carer of her disabled mother had the same problem but after discussing with my manager she has stayed on the 12-8 shift. I have spoken to HR about the matter and seems like they are siding with the business and not understanding the family situation at home. They are still looking into the matter and will hopefully let me know the decision tomorrow. In my contract it states I am contracted to work any 8 hour shift between 8am & 8pm. I really need to get my old shift back as I am worried sick something may happen to my parents while they are home alone. A family friend has kindly offered to pop over for an hour in the morning this week to make sure my parents are ok but she has her own children to look after and I don't feel right asking for the help as they my parents and not someone else's responsibility. I am just really worried leaving them on their own as they rely on me so much What has annoyed me the most is the fact my colleague spoke to our manager to look after her disabled mother in the mornings and without any problems was able to carry on with that shift. Can someone please help me in the right direction? Thanks in advance

Hi, I am on Income related Esa and the claim is in my name, my partner wants to apply for a job which is only 5 hours per week and amounts to around £35 per week, is she allowed to do this and will the amount she earns be taken off our Esa? I have tried finding this info online to no avail Thanks.

I currently work for a further educationinstitute where in addition to our teaching duties we have administrativeduties too. In 2011 we had a new line manager who introduced a policy of a workfrom home day and I managed to secure a Monday as my work from home day toassist with childcare. This was a scheduled work from home day agreed andtimetabled by the line manager as part of self-managed time but not arrangedvia HR. In late 2012 we had a new HR manager whodeemed that self-maanged time was not a right. The operational needs of theinstitution needed to be put first. I mentioned flexible working arrangementsand was told that this needed to go through HR but I quote " I do not knowthat much about HR policy" and "In twenty years I have not heard ofpeople having time off for childcare" The timetabling for this term was then donein late December and it seemed that I had Monday free so I felt that there wasno need to apply for the flexible working especially since other peoples'requests seemed to have been met too. I then went on annual leave in mid-Decemberand came back to work yesterday (Tuesday). Luckily, I had checked my email atthe weekend and discovered that I had been timetabled for admin duties on theMonday. I emailed the line manager immediately and was told that I should makean official application via HR. I was due to have a meeting regarding courseplanning with the line manager today. However, she needed to postpone it andsuggested next Monday as an alternative date. I reminded her about my application for flexible working. She respondedby saying that the assumption was that until I received official permissionfrom HR that I would come in on a Monday. In the meantime someone else applying forflexible working on childcare grounds has not been told that. Also, otherpeople have had the timetable work out in their favour due to health issues, orthe fact that they work elsewhere on particular evenings even though they arealso on full-time contracts. I feel slightly miffed by the situation buthave I got any grounds to complain about any of this treatment. Unfortunately,I suspect the answer may be no!

Hi all, a benefit specific question for the experts as it seems to have our Job Center stumped. My husband and I are claiming JSA Contribution, in a joint claim. I am the lead claimant. He has now managed to secure a job working 15 hours a week at £6.21 per hour. We called the JSA to inform them of this and find out how it would affect our benefit etc and the guy on the phone pretty much contradicted himself and we got nowhere other than him saying we needed to go into the Job Center to let them know. Down at the Job center however the guy on the front desk seemed to think there was an issue as well. While he agreed my benefit wouldn't be effected he couldn't tell us how my husbands would be. I'm hoping someone here will be able to help. They were going on about something to do with a £5 dispensation (I think that's what it was called) but that would get wiped out because he was working for more than that... I'm just very confused. We're due to go back in on Friday because he was referring it to the manager (!) to get their decision. But if anyone is able to help us out with some info in the mean time that'd really help because we need to get our finances back in line, especially as we've just had a £400 debt his our doorstep from the taxman that we'd not known about before. Our previous workplace's accountant was utterly useless it seems. Any help is always appreciated, this site is brilliant PS: does anyone know how to work out what tax my husband should be paying once he gets his first pay day? Or how much the Taxman might take each month to pay off the outstanding bill?

Been registered for a long time but never really needed to ask for help much but hopefully someone can help me. Got an ipad on contract from vodafone and have only had it for 4 months and it has broke, it does not boot up anymore. What are my rights? can I ask vodafone for a replacement or do I have to have it picked up by them for repair?

We were paying on and off £40 a month electric and £40 gas, and the meter wasn't read by anybody including me between Jan 2009 and August 2012. During that period we missed some payments and they sent some guy round to talk us about debt, no appointment, we were out and we were charged Gas 2 visits x£40 Electric 2 visits x £40 He didn't look at the meters which were outside to get a reading. It occurred to me that they had taken this action on estimated debt. Finally I phoned in some actual readings and we got a huge refund £890 credit to our electricity account. But we owed the £ 800 on the gas so I asked them to transfer the balance across. They agreed and then a meter reader appeared as if by magic and read the meters. New bills arrived more or less the same as the earlier ones. then they contacted us and said the meter appeared to have slowed down or stopped. They immediately sent out a MASSIVE electricity bill based on guesswork. Later refered to as a "CATCH UP BILL" I objected. They fitted a new meter and after 30 days I phoned in the reading of 180 units. Then they said they had "METERED our useage for the time the meter had stopped, which was some time between 2009 and Aug 2012, they decided it had slowed down for all of that period and we owed them a few £hundred then a ping pong discussion by email ensued, me asking for my credit back and them eventually reducing the amount they claim I owe to £29. But they refuse to admit they are guessing when the meter stopped or slowed and what our useage was, they claim it is METERED but they have multiplied our use in September x 2 years, saying the CATCH UP bill and their charter allows them to do that. I asked for the unsolicited visits to be refunded, they refused saying our contract allowed them to do that. I asked to see the contract, they said it was verbal I asked to hear the contract, they said the tape was wiped. I asked if I could have information how to take this to the Ombudsman, they said they would reffer it to senior management, but would like to exhaust all avenues with me first. Thoughts? Advice?? Similar experiences?? I just think it's wrong that they cut corners by not reading the meter, knew we had a crumby old meter and didn't bother renewing it, and cannot know what our useage has been, I don't like paying for guesstimates!