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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Income support, JSA and tax credits  →  Thread

Working Tax Credit - not working 16 hours at start of claim

WBrame
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Money Advice, Ipswich Housing Action Group

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Total Posts: 23

Joined: 31 August 2010

I have a client who claimed CTC and WTC in December 2016 and finally we have a decision that she is entitled to CTC but not WTC.

Client started a job in December 2016 which is when she claimed CTC and WTC, contract was for 16 hours and client is sure she did work 16 hours but the wage slips show less hours than this (some are 13.25hrs, some are 12.5hrs) , she was paid 4 weekly so it’s quite easy to work out the average hours.

Client admits that she did not check her wage slips against her time sheets so she had not noticed she was paid for less.

Client does not work for this company any longer so may be difficult to get proof.

My question is that if when she made a claim for CTC and WTC she was NOT working 16 hours but later on we have proof that she did 16 hours per week in a different job can we ask them to pay her from that date?

At the moment the CTC has only just been awarded but the WTC is a flat out refusal even though they have proof she was working 16 hours from April 2017. Just wondering if we can argue the case from April onwards?

Thanks for any input

Mark Willis
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Welfare rights worker - CPAG in Scotland

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Total Posts: 142

Joined: 17 June 2010

Hi WBrame

Presumably she has received a final decision for 2016/17 , and an initial decision for 2017/18 around the same time. She can request a mandatory reconsideration of each of these decisions, although if late, reasons needed. Challenging the current year decision seems more straightforward if she was working 16 hours from 6 April 2017. But it is also arguable that the final decision for 2016/17 is wrong on the information before the decision maker because from a certain date she started working 16 hours. So I would say yes to both questions, but a mandatory reconsideration is the best route using form WTC/AP - otherwise it will likely be treated as a change of circumstances which can only be backdated 1 month.

Mark