Tax credits stopped, lost job

[surrey_36]

In may HMRC stopped my tax credits because they said my renewal pack had been returned. I could not understand this as it definitely had not been posted to me and why would it be returned, its not recorded post or anything. Anyway, I had to go several weeks with no tax credits, had problems with everything, unable to put petrol in the car, couldn't get to work, lied to work said i was sick when it was just that i couldn't get there, got in a mess because they wanted a doctors note, ended up telling the truth but ended up with a warning. It was a stressful time!

 

Recently my partner moved in with me, I called HMRC to tell them of my change of circumstances. They said my tax credits would stop but they would send me out a form straight away and if i completed and returned immediately the tax credits should start again 2-3 weeks. The form did not arrive 3 weeks later they were about to send a 3rd form out when the postman came to my door and said your not at no 7 are you?? "Some of your post is address to no.7!" - I am not 7 i am 27. I went to no 7 and they had a whole stack of HMRC letters dating back to pre-april 2016. I have NO IDEA how my address changed with them to the wrong number, I have lived at the same address for over 14 years, not moved at all. So the error is definitely on their part.

 

Anyway, once again i went weeks without tax credits - could not survive this time, completely run out of funds, no petrol,m even last Monday could get kids to school so they had day off, too far to walk, childminder has not been paid, and i could not get to work. Now my job is lost and I have no income so now cannot even claim the working tax credits!

 

I plan to go sell employed again but this is going to take time to build up.

 

I contacted HMRC several times and told them my situation that i would lose my job etc, they tried to say the address problem would have been my fault - but how - i have been here for years! hardly even been on holiday let alone move. They sent me a small hardship payment the first time the credits were stopped around april and then sent me another £100 a couple of weeks ago, but now i've lost my job - anyone else had the same trouble?

Edited November 19, 2016 by honeybee13
Paras.

[surrey_36]

can anyone help me with advice on this?

would be really grateful..

[GamerNic]

I don't think I have good news for you but some information....

 

Until they process the joint tax credit claim there's not much you can do. You must give it 3 weeks to arrive (last time I checked timescale anyway), so if you sent it recorded check it arrived, if not call as soon as the 3 weeks are up (not before as it's pointless).

 

Once it's on the system you need to give it 3 weeks to process. If there are any queries it could be longer. Last I checked (July) only extremely dire situations get any hardship payments. To give you an idea, there's a tool you can use to check on things - google tax credits where's my reply - I put in the date of your first post 19/11/16 and it said You can expect to receive a reply by 24/12/2016.

 

The address thing may have happened because another government dept has the wrong address and updated everyone, but there is no way to tell for sure, the system doesn't show this. Just check everyone else has the right address, especially child benefit in case the same happens there.