Okay. I've just been made redundant, so my yearly income is less than I was expecting it to be.
My wife and I get a small amount of tax credits from HMRC. Due to the drop in income I was expecting any credits to go up, but nooooooooooo, they want to give me less benefits because I'm earning less! How the F**k does that work?
The drop in tax credit is almost as much as I'll get on the dole. What's the point?

Could the government make the tax credit system in this county any more complicated if they tried?

I do have to say that they've been rather good to me so far in my attempts to resolve a £5000 cock-up.

the only thing i can say is try try try again ,you may get a peep who understands the system.

It's quite simple - somebody somewhere has screwed up They probably paid you too much before and instead of telling you this vital bit of info, they readjust your entitlement to claw it back. It's happened to us a few times At one point they wanted to pay us £280 per week when both the wife and I were working full time and earning £50k+ between us. By the time they got that one sorted out we lost our entitlement for 2 years (and we paid back the money they deposited in our account).

I've got more faith in a junkie never taking drugs again than them getting their sums right!

Al

Apparently is wasn't a screw up. I don't get working tax credit any more as I'm not working. But they won't back date any drop in income to when I was working. What I don't get is that it's supposed to be based on your income over a year, not on a month by month basis. This year I have worked and earned less than I told them I was expecting to.
I've just sat and done the maths. My dole money is only worth £5 per week once you've taken off the drop in tax credits.
Can anyone here live off £5 per week?

Lev, you should qualify for contribution based job seeker's allowance.

£65 a week for the first 6 months.

Plus, if your having trouble, apply for everything you can get!
Now that the purple one is only a part time student she has to pay counsel tax, she had to fill in a number of forms and when she was at the council office she asked what else she was eligible for, they gave her various forms and she filled them out. She didn't qualify for any help with her council tax (because she has an 18 hour/week job), but because she doesn't work more than 18 hours a week, she is eligible for something as part of housing benefit...
Go down and ask, certainly our council office was very helpful

You should contact the Childrens Tax Credits office too, after you have sorted out your job seekers allowance, ours was recalculated and we're another £50 better off until I find a job.

If you phone them before you sort out the JSA, you have to let them know, or they'll punish you further down the line.

Just been to sign on and found that out.
The staff were less than helpful. There are two types: Income based and contribution based.
Income based means they look at my wife's income and our savings etc, they deduct a lot so I hardly get anything every week. The only good point it they will pay some of my mortgage interest after three months (again means tested on my wife's income and savings). Another financial penalty for those who are married.
Contribution based means there are no deductions, but there's no help with the mortgage.

What's annoying is that even I'd given them details of wages, savings, mortage etc, they refused to tell me how much of the mortgage interest they'd pay (after three months), or how much I'd get every week if I went for income based.

I had to pick which I wanted with no idea which was better for me.