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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Children and childcare  →  Thread

OP when kids go abroad… issue around ’main carer’

Nan
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Generalist team - Hammersmith & Fulham CAB

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Total Posts: 155

Joined: 8 July 2010

Any thoughts welcome.

Am dealing with an overpayment that has already been to tribunal regarding the dates involved but the overpayment is continuing to be understood as recoverable by HMRC. They didn’t agree with COP26 argument so I am pursuing through complaints procedure.

The situation is thus: Single parent gets CTC for 4 kids. Kids and Mum go to Egypt for a holiday. Dad lives in Egypt. Mum returns to UK, and kids stay in Egypt for an anticipated 3-6 months and are enrolled in school. Mum returns to UK, and calls tax credits to inform them that the children are temporarily in Egypt but she will still be contributing towards them. HMRC ask Mum if she is still the main carer. Mum says yes as from her point of view, they are abroad temporarily and she is still contributing to their wellbeing financially.

HMRC are saying that because Dad is in Egypt, this means she is no longer main carer. HMRC knew kids were in Egypt and presumably didn’t clarify at the time who they were staying with (they are young and therefore were definitely staying with adults). Is there any merit to my argument that Mum called HMRC and informed them that the kids were abroad and therefore her statement that she was still the main carer was not deceptive as HMRC did not probe enough to uncover whether she was or wasn’t.

I am struggling to find DMG about main carer in this context.

Thanks in advance!

Rebecca

ClairemHodgson
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Solicitor, SC Law, Harrow

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Joined: 13 April 2016

i should have thought you’d struggle on this.

if “who is the main carer” is a question of fact (which really it has to be), i don’t see how you’re going to be able to persuade tribunal that mother is main carer when she is here and children are in egypt.