I am trying to sort out a complex overpayment case going back to 03-04, 04-05 & 05-06. I asked the intermediaries Helpline if they could tell me why the overpayments arose.

For 2 of the years the reason is quite clear (although in dispute in one case), but for 04-05 I was told it was because the client had failed to notify a change of circs. in 3 months. The change - I was told - was that income had reduced by more than £500 per annum, & as a result of non-notification the whole of that year's award was treated as a recoverable overpayment. I was told that the reg. under which such reductions had to be notified applied then, but does not apply now.

I may be losing the plot, but I certainly have no recollection of a requirement to notify a reduction & cannot see the point of it as it only increases (other things being equal) the entitlement. Can someone please confirm my suspicion that there never was such a requirement.

I am also trying to check the award calculations. Can anyone please let me know what the first threshold figure was for the 3 years mentioned above? I know it was £5220 for 06-07 but can't find the earlier years in Toolkit or elsewhere.

Thresholds:

03-04 £5,060

04-05 £5,060

05-06 £5,220

well Derek, it's a bit of stumper...
i recall there was a change in the reg to notify required changes, down from 3 months to 1 month, but as you say...a reduction in income...!!??!
a late notification could result in a loss of increased tax credit, but to treat the whole year's award as overpaid...pfffffffff...all i'm saying is i don't think it's you who has lost the plot...

The 2005 edition of the regs in the Sweet and Maxwell series gives in reg 21 the requirement to notify changes of circs which may decrease the rate at which TCs are payable and restricts disclosure to:
- changes of circs which cause entitlement to cease under the Act - that is, when you become or cease to be part of a couple or are no longer in the UK;
- changes in childcare costs.
Anything that INCREASED your entitlement to TCs could only be backdated for 3 months from the date of notification (reg 25, clearly anicipating that this could happen).

The regs were exactly the same in 2006, and I can see no sign that they had been amended before 2005 in any way relevant to this query.

They didn't just fail to send in a renewal form, did they? That could have led to them being overpaid "on account", so to speak, from April to whenever they were caught up with..

Derek

Ask them to quote the non-existent regulation.

That should stop any correspondence for 5 months.

John

John - Only 5 months - they are improving!

Thank you for all the replies. I think the adviser was confusing it with the need to notify any reduction of >£10 per week in childcare. I put this to him but he denied it!

I think ariadne is probably right - failure (according to TCO) to complete an annual return properly. But the whole thing is a complete mess with letters from TCO to Client mixing up information for different claim years, not answering what was asked etc. etc. Par for the course there then!

Incidentally, the adviser who quoted the need to notify >£500 reduction also insisted the tax credit system is a simple one. When I politely demurred he said it was simple because if claimants didn't understand it all they had to do was ring the helpline or come to someone like the CAB. I then suggested it was best to put this philosophical discussion on one side.

I wonder if anyone else thinks it's simple.

if it were simple, advisers would be able to give accurate information from looking at the screens. rarely happens.

what really gets me is that they can recite alice in wonderland nonsense, like 'you didn't tell us about the reduction in your income - that means the whole year's award is overpaid' without even questionning themselves...

it seems to me that the whole administration of tax credits has been founded on an IT delivery system that is incapable of delivering, and having put all the eggs in that very expensive basket, the cost of rectification to proper public service standards is so scary, they won't even admit it's screwed...assholes!