We had a letter from the Department of Work and Pensions who've told us off for not telling them that Col was getting a Suffolk County Council pension. We thought we had told them......... the Tax Office certainly knew but I had no idea that HMRC and DWP didn't communicate, so we've been getting too much Employment Support Allowance money for the last few months which is akin to fraud. They'll claim it back from us of course.............thank heavens we saved the inheritance from my Dad is something I say quite frequently! Time to tighten belts again methinks.
Back Tomorrow
Sue
No, they don't talk to one another, then when they are told they don't listen!
ReplyDeleteJulie xxxxxxxxxx
That's bad news. Can you ask to pay it off in small amounts so as to leave your capital whole?
ReplyDeleteWe'll have to pay it back whichever way they work out
DeleteDot the i's and cross the t's is the name of the game.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it frustrating how none of these government departments communicate with each other?! I am sure they do it on purpose to try and catch us out, or perhaps that is me being cynical once again.
ReplyDeleteLove the cards.
Wonder how they realised. We had that happen one year with tax and they took it back every month for a year. It wasn't our fault as it happened.
ReplyDeleteThey haven't said how they'll take it back yet
DeleteWhen is visiting time...just in case! x
ReplyDeleteDartmoor would be nice!
DeleteAnother one here wondering, If 'they' don't communicate with each other, how did the DWP discover the payments you've been receiving?
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping it's resolved without too much inconvenience to you and Col. I'd ask if repayment could be make in small increments to 'ease the pain' ~ Cathy
I suppose they do communicate, just not very quickly
DeleteHi I know only too well that the dwp and tax offices work in mysterious ways. I received a notice of coding that stated that i receive state pension, i wish. At 61 i am not eligible for another 5 years. I rang and told them, they said that they were notified by the dwp. I rang them and they said that the tax office are always doing this.
ReplyDeleteI rang the tax office back and must have got the most oldest doddery employee there, I explained the situation numerous times. Patience was now stretched to the limit and I said "does amyone know what they are doing there? With that she said "I will write to you". Slamming down the phone. Over two weeks have
gone by, no letter as yet. But i notice that they are clawing back the £80 tax they say i owe from my meagre work pension. A stiff letter is in order to them.
Oh no- thats even worse than our situation
DeleteThanks, sorry in my tax office rant i forgot to say you cards are lovely.
DeleteLovely cards! How annoying they didn't work together and work it out. Hope it won't affect things too much.
ReplyDeleteI would double check. Perhaps you have. The DWP in my opinion are thieves. Plus its their inefficiency that you now have a debt - is there an appeal system? Other than that love the cards.
ReplyDeleteI help several people with benefits. I saw one was getting too much and given a large back payment. I rang and explained to a very dim person who kept telling me that they don't make mistakes. Later that day a nice lady rang me and agreed it was wrong and totally their fault so they will adjust in future but they wont take the back pay back! We have it in writing now!
ReplyDeleteThat is annoying, My daughter who is a single parent and working gets family tax credit and small help with housing benifit, she has to send her wage slips every month to them so they know what she is earning, last month she got a letter to say they had over paid her by nearly £2,000 which they are claiming back by cutting her tax credits until the the over payment is paid back, its there mistake now she is struggling and said she was better off not working.
ReplyDeleteIf they didn't make things do sodden complicated in the first place it would help a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteThey get really ugly here in Canada, most letters contain threats in bold text. Yet they make so many mistakes and take no responsibility whatsoever. My husband just applied for his government pension, born and bred Canadian, after an age got a form saying immigrants needed to state the date they arrived in Canada and with whom. I said to reply with his birth date and say he was with his mother! In reality it was a lot of photocopying and notarizing documents, phone calls and visits to the office.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it ludicrous that Govt. departments are incapable of speaking to each other?
ReplyDelete