It has been reported that thousands of families with disabled children have lost out on up to £4,400 a year in potential tax credits after an administrative error by the authorities. This mistake has amounted to an estimated 28,000 families, who are eligible for disability living allowance (DLA) during 2011-2014, missing out on an additional tax credit premium ranging between £60 and £84 a week…an amount which could make a big difference to many households.
The charity Contact a Family called for a compensation fund to be set up to help the families, saying it was not their fault that they lost out on what collectively amounted to tens of millions of pounds in entitlements.The non-payment of the tax credit premiums appears to have been a result of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) failing to inform HMRC about families’ eligibility for the award over a three-year period. Thankfully, the government has revealed in last year’s autumn statement that it had set aside £360m over six years to ensure these families receive child disability tax credits in future, but the payments will be backdated only to April, meaning individual families may have lost out on entitlements totalling up to £20,000 over the past five years.
Una Summerson, Contact a Family head of policy and public affairs, comments:
“One thing is certain: this isn’t the fault of families. When you tick a box on a government form indicating you are in receipt of tax credits you reasonably expect it’s there for a reason – and there’s a process in place that allows government departments to share this information”.
Make sure you’re claiming everything you’re entitled to:
At this time of year money can be incredibly tight, which is why Contact a Family have put together a vast array of helpful resources designed to lend hand in making sure you’re claiming everything you’re entitled to this winter. Money Matters – checklist when your child has additional needs, Help with fuel bills and keeping warm and the recently re-designed Claiming Disability Living Allowance for children are just a few examples of the fantastic guides which they have produced to date. Follow the link to their resource library to check out the rest of the help they have to offer – remember they are free to parent carers.
The following information was provided by the wonderful people at Contact a Family, to order any one of their guides you can call their freephone helpline, and as always for further clarification on any aspect of this article don’t hesitate to call NPUK directly on our 24 hour helpline at 0191 415 0693 – we are always here to help!
